Tom Izzo and Michigan State basketball are in the middle of another March run and that means everyone's attention is on the NCAA Tournament.
But don't sleep on Jonathan Smith and Michigan State football.
The Spartans have officially taken the field for spring ball, and the second-year head coach is looking to turn the program around after three consecutive bowl-less seasons.
When Smith was hired, Michigan State was lauded as the winner of the offseason. Smith was tabbed as the best hire of the 2024 offseason and that meant he had a lot of hype to live up to. Unfortunately, his Spartans went just 5-7 in his first season with a blowout loss to Rutgers in the season finale at Spartan Stadium.
It was a forgettable year and it instantly made rival fans forget that he was considered the top hire of the offseason. He was criticized heavily by just about everyone, including MSU fans, but yet he's still earning respect on a national level.
In fact, the New York Times recently revealed their top 25 head coaches in college football ahead of the 2025 season and Jonathan Smith made the cut along with five other Big Ten coaches.
State fans...I want you to take note of #24 on the New York Times' list of best coaches in CFB.
— Marc Ryan (@MarcRyanOnAir) March 26, 2025
Then I want you to hear this: They're right.
This season is when you'll begin to see the fruit, and you'll be a perennial Top 25 team thereafter. #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/iiWyrV449t
Smith comes in at No. 24 behind Ohio State's Ryan Day (No. 2), Oregon's Dan Lanning (No. 5), Penn State's James Franklin (No. 8), Indiana's Curt Cignetti (No. 11), and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz (No. 16).
Not bad for a "disappointing" head coach who was considered "in way over his head" and who just missed a bowl game in his first year at Michigan State while signing an average, at best, recruiting class.
Michigan State fans need to be patient with Smith because he is a proven winner.
It takes more than one year to fix the mess that was left behind by the Mel Tucker regime.