The Jonathan Smith era has officially come to an end. On Sunday afternoon, reports indicated that Michigan State would be moving on from Smith after two disappointing seasons.
The news is official, and everyone is ready to move on.
Sources: Michigan State plans to fire coach Jonathan Smith today. He went 1-8 in the Big Ten this season and his overall record in two seasons was 9-15. He's set to be owed $33 million. pic.twitter.com/M31wFM4CWi
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 30, 2025
Michigan State fans have been waiting for this news for months now, and Smith’s tenure will be remembered for lackluster on-field results, but it should also be noted that he wasn’t a bad guy nor a bad coach, he just didn’t turn things around fast enough — two years in today’s age of college football is too much time to be showing no signs of improvement.
Smith will land on his feet and he’ll be about $33 million richer thanks to his massive buyout, but now the real work begins for J Batt and the athletic department.
The fact that Batt made the move also shows that the donors got together and were able to pony up for that massive buyout. While there are no home run hires really left on the market, there are some potential great hires that the Spartans could take a look at.
I’ll get into coaching candidates in the next article, but for now, we have to look at what Smith did while he was in East Lansing — he wasn’t all bad.
After accepting the job and leaving his alma mater, Smith was able to turn around the 2024 recruiting class which was in the 70s when he took over. He flipped it into one of the top 40 classes in the nation in rapid fashion, and then he got Michigan State off to a solid start to the 2024 season thanks to some decent play from transfer quarterback Aidan Chiles.
Unfortunately, a rough patch in October really shifted momentum in the wrong direction and he would finish his first year just 5-7. There was promise, but he still had a lot to prove.
The program-building head coach then got off to another hot start in 2025 with a thrilling win over Boston College in overtime, and everyone seemed to buy back in. Unfortunately, that 3-0 start was followed up by eight straight losses and he finished the season with a win over Maryland at Ford Field. It wasn’t a good year, by any means, but the team never quit. Still, 4-8 just didn’t cut it.
New athletic director J Batt kept his decision under wraps until Sunday afternoon as the news became official that Smith would be fired after going just 9-15 in two years.
Now, the coaching search begins.