Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith can’t seem to catch a break these days.
While that makes him seem like some sort of victim, it’s more self-inflicted bad luck than anything else. The second-year head coach took the Michigan State job before the 2024 season, leaving his alma mater in Corvallis high and dry. He decided to chase bigger goals in the Big Ten as Oregon State slid further into irrelevance without a conference as the Pac-12 imploded.
Since leaving Corvallis, Smith has known nothing but disappointment. He went 5-7 in his first season with the Spartans and then followed that up with a 3-8 start to his second campaign.
The back-slide from 2024 to 2025 has been something that no one saw coming, but Smith’s even-keeled demeanor throughout the frustrating season has rubbed fans the wrong way.
Granted, Smith is just a calm guy, but fans would love nothing more than for him to scream at players, fellow coaches, or even the refs. Heck, he can yell at the fans and they’d probably take it at this point. There’s just not enough emotion in that locker room from the team’s leader, and that seems to be trickling into the play on the field.
Smith has been on the hot seat ever since a home loss to 1-4 UCLA rocked the program, and fans have turned on him in a hurry. Since that loss, Michigan State has shown very few signs of life, and everyone is seemingly ready to move on.
However, there’s a pricey buyout of about $30 million standing in the way.
That’s right, Alan Haller negotiated one of the worst deals that included a massive buyout, and it’s going to affect the program both in the short and long-terms. It already has. If not for the buyout being so high, Smith probably would’ve already been fired.
There is one way around that buyout, however. If Smith took another job, the buyout would be reduced about 50 percent. Cutting it in half would make it a much more manageable move for J Batt.
Fans had been begging for Oregon State to take him back, and the move would have made sense given the fact that the Beavers fired Trent Bray earlier this season. Unfortunately, a recent development now makes that look not only unlikely, but completely out of the question.
According to Oregon Live, Oregon State seems to be down to two candidates: Alabama co-offensive coordinator JaMarcus Shephard and Montana State head coach Brent Vigen.
Not great for the “maybe he can just go back home” crowd.
While it would be best-case scenario to see Smith take another job, it’s looking more and more unlikely the longer his losing streak gets. He was once rumored to be a candidate for the UCLA job, but his recent lack of success has turned seemingly everyone off to that idea.
It looks like Michigan State will either have to pony up and pay him $30 million or keep him around for another year.