As the time ticked off the clock following the first victory formation in months, Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith smiled and celebrated with his players.
It had to be a good feeling getting that winless monkey off his back and finally celebrating with his players who had nothing but good things to say about him after the game. He was given the game ball by his quarterback, he gave a game ball to Alante Brown in the locker room, and all the vibes were good after beating Maryland on Saturday night to finish the year 4-8.
Unfortunately, 4-8 isn’t going to cut it in East Lansing.
In his two years at Michigan State, he’s won just nine games and the fanbase turned on him after he lost to UCLA in early October. He’s been on the hot seat ever since, but it felt like he was coaching a different team on Saturday night. The Spartans came out motivated, took a 17-0 lead, nearly coughed it up in the second half, but a huge fourth-down call late secured the victory.
Smith did almost everything right against Maryland, and that fourth-down call to go for a touchdown instead of kicking a field goal to go up six was something fans wanted to see from him all year: aggressiveness. He made a gutsy call and it paid off — it sealed the first win since September.
Still, one question remains: did Smith do enough to keep his job?
Obviously one game cannot dictate whether a coach will keep his job or not, but his Spartans didn’t show any quit in the final month of the season and the players all seemed to back their head coach. J Batt watched the best coaching effort of the season in person at Ford Field on Saturday night, but he didn’t make himself available to the media. Did he like what he saw? Probably, but in my opinion, it’s too little too late.
The former Oregon State head coach sealed his fate in the UCLA, Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa losses. While the team never stopped fighting, coaching mistakes and horrendous late-game management were the difference between finishing 4-8 and going 8-4. There were too many avoidable mistakes throughout the season that likely did Smith in.
While I like Smith the person, I just don’t think the fit is there at Michigan State. The Maryland game was a good send-off, if that’s what it ends up being, but I just don’t think enough was done to save his job in the final month.