Jonathan Smith Is A Good Hire For Michigan State, But Is He Good Enough For Spartan Fans?

The long search is now over. After quite possibly the most tumultuous season in the history of Michigan State football, the Spartans have found their guy in Jonathan Smith. He comes over from Oregon State. Oregon State is a difficult place to win; he won 10 games there last year and had them in the top 25 this season. I wrote an article bashing Mel Tucker about two months ago, and I figured I’d follow up by talking about this new hire by Michigan State.

It’s fine. It’s a fine hire. I think that just because MSU has some richer donors than they’ve ever had, their program has a certain inflated sense of self when it comes to who they can bring in to be their head coach. I’m going to try to look at this objectively. Do I find it absolutely hilarious that Michigan State thought two years ago that they had the next Nick Saban, and he ended up flaming out in disgrace? Yes, I do. But I’m not going to hold grudges. I have seen Michigan State in my lifetime be a top-five college football program over a three-year stretch. Do I think that Jonathan Smith is the guy who can get them back to that point? No, I don’t. But I also think that Mark Dantonio was lightning in a bottle. He was hired at the perfect time, coached at the right time, and beyond all else, he was loyal as shit. He was criticized for his loyalty, but he probably could’ve taken other jobs and never did. 

Smith does not inherit a great situation. Even before Mel Tucker got fired, this roster was severely lacking in many areas. I think he’ll do what he can to poach the transfer portal. Time flies, but this is a program that has been right around .500 since they made the playoff in 2015, and the athletic department has shown an inane inability to fuck a lot of shit up. In the short term, the best thing that Jonathan Smith will be able to do is stabilize a relatively unstable situation. I know that in the age of the transfer portal and NIL, everyone wants things to get turned around quickly, but it will take time at Michigan State. 

The one thing I can stay about Michigan State in 2023 that I haven’t always been able to stay is that I know they will have the resources to make sure that Jonathan Smith can build the best program he can. As brilliant as Dantonio was, it did sometimes feel like an uphill battle. It’s very clear that Smith’s players will play for him. There are a ton of things that went wrong with the Mel Tucker era, but I never actually felt like they had a culture. They had good players, and Mel Tucker‘s social media posts were pretty cool, but when it mattered most, they were often severely lacking in toughness. I think that Smith will be able to reestablish that culture and build a stable program. We will find out in the long term if stability is good enough for the fans in East Lansing.