Oregon State's Jonathan Smith Addresses MSU Rumors After Loss To Rival Oregon
After Oregon State fell to in-state rival Oregon, 31-7, in the 127th rendition of the "Civil War" game, Beavers head coach Jonathan Smith was asked several questions pertaining to his future at his alma mater.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced which suggested Smith was the leading candidate for Michigan State football's head coach vacancy after a more than two month long search conducted by MSU athletic director Alan Haller. Those reports were doubled-down upon on Friday night, when NBC Sports confirmed Haller had zeroed in on Smith as his preferred candidate to be the next coach of the Spartans, prior to Michigan State's 42-0 season-finale loss to No. 11 Penn State.
Smith was about the reports which had started to circulate earlier in the week and in the hours ahead of both Michigan State and Oregon State's final regular season games of this year.
"No decisions have been made," Smith said, regarding his future. "I asked this team to take an approach [of being] locked in for four months, and that was little bit the start of the conversation with so much uncertainty with the 'Pac-2', which has taken place. I've taken the same approach. So, decisions, time and all that — I've been locked in for the last four months and we'll go from there."
Smith was also asked if he addressed the rumors with his team at any point this week leading up to Friday night's game against Oregon.
"We've talked about outside noise throughout the year," Smith replied. "I talked to the team just a couple of days ago about a bunch of rumors, and talked [about how] all this has to stay locked in through this game. I appreciate this group because I think they've done it for four months."
According to NBC's report, Haller and Michigan State could wrap up its head coach search as quickly as this weekend. The Spartans and Beavers both playing their regular season finales on Friday allows more time for Haller and Smith to work out the details of a potential contract, if Smith in fact desires the position.
Asked when he will make a decision regarding his future, Smith replied, "Don't know. To be determined. Don't know."
Oregon State is facing an uncertain future due to the landscape-changing conference realignment which has hit college athletics in 2023. A founding member of the original Pacific Coast Conference (later known as the Pac-8, Pac-10 and Pac-12 Conference), Oregon State and Washington State have been left without a home after the other 10 members of their conference have announced plans to depart to three separate conferences (Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC).
It's believed that the Beavers' uncertain future has opened the door for Michigan State to poach Smith from his alma mater, due to the added financial resources the Spartans will enjoy in the new, 18-member Big Ten Conference next season and beyond.
"I think there's a process that you reevaluate every year," Smith said when asked how the Pac-12's dissolution could impact his coaching future. "We kind of spoke to it as it's not just myself, [its] every position coach, every player now with the transfer portal. I think you go through a season, you dive into it and then you reevaluate."
After Smith's name emerged as being at the top of Michigan State's wishlist, Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes released a statement saying he and Smith "have had ongoing discussions for over a month on his future at Oregon State", which Smith confirmed Friday night.
"Scott and this administration have done a lot of work, tried to navigate unprecedented times," Smith said. "And so, we've met weekly and talked about that approach. It's not just for football —the athletic department, the scheduling and all that. So, that's been a weekly conversation."
In his statement, Barnes also said he was working on "a new contract and guaranteed compensation" for Smith to remain in Corvalis, Oregon. Following the game against the Ducks, Smith would not go into detail regarding any talk of contract negotiations with Barnes.
"I'm going to keep those between me and Scott," he said. "Like I said, we've met weekly throughout this entire season with so many things going on. I felt well-informed."
The head coach at Oregon State since 2018, Smith has led the Beavers to a 34-35 overall record in six seasons. Oregon State has recorded three consecutive winning seasons over the last three years however, a feat the program had not accomplished previously since 2007-09. A 10-3 record in 2022 landed Oregon State at No. 17 in last year's final Associated Press poll, and earned Smith the Pac-12's 'Coach of the Year' award. The Beavers went 8-4 through this year's regular season, and were ranked No. 16 by the College Football Playoff committee prior to this weekend's games.
"Coaching this year's been fun," Smith said. "I appreciate this group. Yeah, there's some adversity, distraction going on, but I've enjoyed every minute of this year so far and those guys in the locker room. I really appreciated 'Senior Week' last week, recognizing those guys because I've got a deep appreciation for them."
While Smith has orchestrated a fine turnaround at his alma mater, there are questions as to whether he would be a fit with the Spartans. The 44-year-old has never coached east of the Rocky Mountains during his 21-year career. With minimal ties to the Midwest, some question Smith's ability to recruit keystone areas for Michigan State in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and other states.
Smith was a four-year starter for the Beavers at quarterback from 1998-2001, helping lead Oregon State to its best season in school history as a junior in 2000. Under then-head coach Dennis Erickson, the Beavers went 11-1, won a share of the Pac-10 Conference championship and finished at No. 5 and No. 4 of the Coaches and AP polls, respectively — the highest finish in each poll in program history.
Entering the coaching ranks in 2002, Smith spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Oregon State before becoming the quarterbacks coach at Idaho (2004-09). Smith's next job was as the offensive coordinator at Montana (2012-13), before he joined one of the winningest head coaches in the college game — Chris Petersen — to become the QB coach Boise State (2012-13). Following Petersen to Washington to serve as his offensive coordinator in 2014, Smith spent three seasons with the Huskies before earning his first head coach job back at Oregon State (2018-present).
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