Jonathan Smith assesses his job as a head coach: 'Not good enough'

It’s less than two full seasons into the Jonathan Smith tenure at Michigan State. So, it’s still early. At the same time, things aren’t going the way anyone had planned.

Coming out of Saturday’s overtime loss to Minnesota, Smith addressed the media. There, he admitted that based solely on his record, he hasn’t done a good enough job to this point at Michigan State.

“Look, not good enough,” Jonathan Smith said. “You look at the win-loss record, we’re trying to win more than we lose, and we’re not doing that.”

Michigan State hired Jonathan Smith going into the 2024 season. At the time, the Spartans were coming off a 4-8 season that saw former head coach Mel Tucker get fired midseason amid the scandal. He’d take over and go 5-7 in that first season before going 3-6 so far in 2025. That includes an 0-6 Big Ten record so far for an overall mark of 8-13 in his two seasons in East Lansing.

Prior to coming to Michigan State, Smith spent six seasons as the head coach at Oregon State, his alma mater. There, he would take his time building the program, not making a bowl until his fourth season. By his fifth season, he had double-digit wins. However, he left as the Pac-12 fell apart and the Beavers were left behind.

One challenge for Smith is that he took over Oregon State prior to NIL and the Transfer Portal. That wasn’t the case when he got to Michigan State and now better results are expected quicker around the country.

Jonathan Smith entered Saturday’s game against Minnesota trying to spark the offense. He’d bench Aidan Chiles, who followed him from Oregon State to Michigan State, for redshirt freshman Alessio Milivojevic. In the passing game, at least, it did seem to work, as Milivojevic threw for 311 yards and a touchdown. He did have -53 rushing yards, though, including seven sacks.

Michigan State will need to finish out the season on a 3-0 run to go bowling. If they do so, it will be their first bowl trip since 2021. It’s not an easy schedule ahead, though not impossible, with Penn State, Iowa, and Maryland waiting in the wings.

Another major challenge going against Jonathan Smith is the school’s change in athletic director. He was hired by Alan Haller. However, Haller is out and new athletic director J Batt doesn’t have his own reputation tied to Smith in the same way. In fact, it’s not uncommon for ADs to want to hire their own coaches. Beyond that, Smith had his buyout cut in half by Haller’s departure. Still in October, it was reported that Smith has a $33 million buyout.