Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith adds co-special teams coordinator tag to RBs coach Keith Bhonapha
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State and Jonathan Smith are a step closer to finalizing the Spartan football coaching staff for the 2024 season. Smith announced on Wednesday that running backs coach and assistant head coach Keith Bhonapha will serve as the program’s co-special teams coordinator.
A press release issued by Michigan State on Wednesday afternoon stated that Bhonapha will handle play-calling duties for Michigan State’s special teams.
Bhonapha (pronounced BONE-uh-fuh) will collaborate with Chad Wilt, who was named co-special teams coordinator last week. Wilt will also serve as defensive rush ends coach.
Smith has one coaching vacancy remaining on his staff. It’s believed that Smith will fill that slot with a safeties coach.
“I have been on three different coaching staffs with Keith and I am very impressed with his football knowledge and expertise. He fully understands what we’re trying to accomplish on the offensive side of the ball, and also has extensive experience coaching special teams,” Smith said via a Michigan State press release in December when Bhonapha was hired.
Bhonapha seved as special teams coach at Washington in 2021. Bhonapha and Smith were both on the Huskies staff from 2014-18.
Bhonapha helped coach special teams at Hawai’i from 2003-05 as a graduate assistant.
“I am a developmental coach that is based on fundamentals,” Bhonapha said in a university-released interview on social media last week. “When it comes to my room, I like my room to be loose. I like guys to have fun. We are going to work hard when it comes to individual. They know the standard of what we want the practice standard to look like.”
Bhonapha has helped coach 15 teams to bowl games, including Oregon State’s 2023 team which went 8-4 in the regular season and was running backs coach for Washington’s College Football Playoff team in 2016.
Bhonapha was also Washington’s recruiting coordinator from 2014-19, helping the Huskies land three Top 25 recruiting classes. While at Washington, Bhonapha coached in five bowl games, including three New Year’s Six appearances (2015 Cactus Bowl, 2016 CFP Semifinal at the Peach Bowl, 2017 Fiesta Bowl, 2019 Rose Bowl, 2019 Las Vegas Bowl).
“When you talk about what are the core values of a running back, we talk about effort, attitude and toughness,” Bhonapha said in the Michigan State video release.
