The worst-kept secret in East Lansing is the fact that Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith is sitting squarely on the hot seat.
The Spartans just lost their third straight game, this time at home to 1-4 UCLA by 25 points. The game wasn’t even close after the first quarter, and that’s concerning when you consider the Bruins just fired their head coach a few weeks ago and just picked up their first win over a team that fired its head coach this past weekend.
UCLA may soon be responsible for ending two coaching tenures.
Former Michigan State players have been pretty vocal in recent days about the state of the program, and they’ve even offered some suggestions. Trae Waynes believes that James Franklin is the answer, Matt Seybert believes the answer is Max Bullough, and Demetrious Cox believes that he should be on the coaching staff as a defensive assistant.
Cox posted a tweet on Wednesday that should act as a wake-up call for Smith.
@MSU_Football Any assistant positions open? We gotta get back on this energy 🚫✈️🌹 pic.twitter.com/lBDl9qUOpX
— Demetrious Cox (@i_AM_SEVEN7) October 15, 2025
The former Michigan State defensive back from the glory days of Spartan football threw his hat into the ring as an assistant coaching option to help out the secondary. The Spartans are down so bad that former players are volunteering their services to help get the defense back to its glory days.
If Michigan State is ever going to rebound and get back to those glory days, it’ll have to at least listen to the opinions of some former players. These guys know what it takes to win in East Lansing.
Whether or not Smith makes it past this season (or even this weekend), next season’s coaching staff needs to connect with former players and make them feel like they’re part of the program. It has to be frustrating for these guys who left the program in a great spot to see it fall on hard times with no end in sight. Connecting them back to the program will only help — just ask Tom Izzo how that works out.