Michigan State Football Fires Head Coach Jonathan Smith

After almost two calendar years to the day, Jonathan Smith is out as the Head Coach at Michigan State. In his short tenure in East Lansing, Smith achieved zero bowl game appearances, zero rivalry game wins, and a 9-15 overall record (4-14 in the Big Ten). As of Sunday, November 30, new MSU Athletic Director J Batt had seen enough, and Michigan State officially announced the firing. Smith was two years into a seven year contract worth $53 million in total, which leaves MSU with $33.5 still owed to their now-former Head Coach.

This firing comes less than 24 hours following Michigan State’s fourth win of the 2025 season, a 38-28 victory over Maryland at Ford Field, bringing the final record of this year’s squad to a disappointing 4-8. This output is especially unfortunate, considering that Smith’s Spartans held late leads in three of the eight losses (Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa). Had even two of these games produced a different outcome, the Spartans would be 6-6 and bowl eligible for the first time since 2021, and the conversation around Jonathan Smith would be a very different one.

The Right Move?

The conclusion of the 2025 season on Saturday night extended MSU’s streak of losing seasons to four in a row, a string of underperforming expectations that had not previously happened in Spartan football history since 1979-1983. Smith was brought in to East Lansing in direct contrast with the man he replaced: Mel Tucker. Head Coach from 2020-2023, Tucker was known for his flashy, headline worthy coaching attitude and recruiting strategy. After the Tucker era ended to the tune of a scandal and lawsuit, Michigan State was in search of stability, and a return to the more hard-nosed, traditional values of Spartan football. As the HC at Oregon State, Smith embodied many of these characteristics. He was able to rebuild a struggling program in OSU (his alma mater) on the basis of player development, discipline, physicality, and a strong rushing attack featured in his pro-style offense.

These traits never manifested themselves in his time at the helm of the Michigan State Spartans. In his two seasons, beyond the simple evidence of a 5-7 record turning into a 4-8 record, there was little, if any, maturity and development of players to be seen. The best example of this is quarterback Aidan Chiles. A former 4-star recruit and top-200 player, the Southern California product spent three years in Jonathan Smith’s system, and never quite lived up to expectations. As a former quarterback and offensive-minded Head Coach, this speaks volumes about the ability and effectiveness (or lack thereof) of Smith’s system.

In terms of identity, with Oregon State, Smith led a team that was a run-heavy squad, one that consistently controlled the line of scrimmage, and was effective in the play action passing game. Without strong offensive lines, and against far better competition, Smith’s teams at MSU were unable to become the physical juggernaut that Jonathan Smith had envisioned.

There are several other reasons that J Batt decided to pull the plug on the Smith era. From stale recruiting classes and on-field issues like clock management and penalties, to more contemporary issues in the world of college football, like NIL fundraising and questionable ability to motivate donors to open their checkbooks, there was undoubtedly a long list of knocks on Jonathan Smith. But at the end of the day, nothing sums up the need for a change in the MSU football program better than this: the attendance at Michigan State’s season finale versus Maryland at Ford Field.

The first time Michigan State held a home game in downtown Detroit to wrap up a season, it came during the tumultuous 2023 campaign, that featured interim Head Coach Harlon Barnett’s Spartans taking the field against a high-powered Penn State Nittany Lions team. Even despite a scandal-ridden season, multiple transfers departing the team, and the future of MSU football hanging in the balance, Spartan fans showed out to support their team, nearly selling out Ford Field. Flash forward to 2025. This year, while disappointing, and unfortunately once again not without fallout from a scandal, MSU’s players have continued to show out and leave everything on the field. Regardless of this, the attendance was abysmal. Almost every upper deck seat was open, and the lower bowl looked to be at half capacity. Even the reported attendance of 30,317 (approx. 20k less than the 2023 PSU game) likely overshot the true amount of fans in Detroit.

Why has the fanbase become so apathetic? While many of the program’s problems are no fault of his, this apathy and poor crowd is a direct response to Jonathan Smith being the Head Coach at MSU. If the numbers themselves don’t prove it to you, the numerous “Fire Smith” chants that rung out around Ford Field Saturday night will. A team, and even a fanbase, to some degree, reflect the demeanor and attitude of their head coach. MSU has come up short time and time again, and Jonathan Smith has managed to make one of the great fanbases in college athletics completely apathetic, giving up on their beloved football team. His ho-hum, stone faced attitude did not come off as calm and collected, rather as indifferent and incompetent. And this inability to fire up his fans, to get his players to rally around him, and likely to convince the higher-ups at Michigan State that the program was in good hands, ultimately are what led to the quick conclusion of the Jonathan Smith era.

What Happens Now?

As rumors fly online about the future of the program, several names have been suggested for the next coach at Michigan State. One that has consistently been brought up is Pat Fitzgerald, the former longtime Northwestern University Head Coach. As of this article being published, no official announcement has been made, but things seem to be trending towards the former Wildcat being the next HC at MSU.

Once again, Spartan Nation sits at the cusp of a new era in MSU Football. Be sure to stay tuned as TOC provides your coaching search, transfer portal, and offseason updates. In the meantime, let us know in the comments below if you believe the firing was the correct move, if it was at the wrong time, and who your top candidate is for the now vacant Head Coach spot.