I won’t even wait for the post-game press conference to listen to what Jonathan Smith has to say about the loss to Michigan on Saturday night. What he says ultimately won’t alter reality.
Michigan State’s program is in a bad place. It’s in a dangerous place. And a clear change needs to be made.
Smith can offer up the sacrifice of a coordinator prior to the next game, but it won’t much matter. The Jonathan Smith experiment has failed. It lasted about 1.5 years, but it can officially be declared a failure. The second-year head coach was hired to rebuild the program after Mel Tucker began running it back into the ground, and all he did was throw the lifeless body of Spartan football into the grave that was already dug and now he’s throwing dirt on it.
It’s over. It’s done. It’s time.
This loss to Michigan on Saturday night, marking the fourth straight in the rivalry, felt a lot like John L. Smith’s loss to Notre Dame in 2006. It felt like the finale. It felt like the end.
And it very well should be. Smith entered the game knowing that he was already on the hot seat and he was criticized for how he handled the rivalry a year earlier, and he did nothing to correct his mistakes. The team still came out flat with zero emotion and coasted to a 10-0 deficit after 15 minutes. And then it was 24-7 after three quarters. And then a couple of blown opportunities really sealed the game and Michigan’s Jordan Marshall delivered a dagger to go up 31-13.
Smith failed — and it’s not entirely his fault.
Alan Haller went against the donors’ wishes and found a head coach on his own and then quietly moved forward in the process. Instead of going with who the donors wanted, or even just consulting them, he reportedly identified Smith on his own and the people who pay big money to support the program were left in the dark. They were never behind this hire, and that’s not on Smith.
Not only were they never in on Smith, but the Spartans took a risk by bringing in a personality that didn’t quite fit with the program.
Yes, Smith was a little lower key than most coaches rumored to be interested in Michigan State and he kind of kept quiet and stoic Mark Dantonio-like, but he also didn’t have the fire that the legendary Spartan head coach had. He couldn’t fire up a room like Dantonio could. He didn’t have the same hatred and passion for the rivalry that Dantonio did.
And that’s not entirely on him. That’s on the fit. He’s perfect for a West Coast program with lower expectations. He’s a good coach, he’s just a horrible fit for the program.
Michigan State will likely move on from him by the end of the season and the next coach will have to fit a certain criteria that J Batt, the fans, and donors agree upon, but Smith was just not the right guy.
That’s OK. He’ll land on his feet. But it’s time for Michigan State to move on.