Michigan State expected to fire Jonathan Smith after another woeful season

Michigan State is expected to join the list of college football teams looking for a new coach.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Michigan State has plans to fire head coach Jonathan Smith after just two seasons and 24 games.

He led the team to a dismal 1-8 in the Big Ten this season, and a 4-8 record overall.

The brutal season marks the university’s fourth consecutive losing year, which is a stretch that hasn’t been seen since 1983, when it spanned across five years (1979-83). The historic mark likely forced Michigan State’s hand.

Smith will be owed $33 million of what was a seven-year deal.

Smith will leave with a 9-15 record on his resume across the two years. He also holds a 4-14 record against Big Ten opponents, including the 2024 season wins that were vacated due to NCAA violations committed by former head coach Mel Tucker and his staff. 

Smith is the second Big Ten coach to lose his job in the 2025 season, following former Penn State coach James Franklin.

The 46-year-old was hired by former athletic director Alan Haller in November 2023, just a few months after Tucker was fired. Now, new athletic director J Batt has a chance to find a better fit in the ever-changing college coaching carousel.

It will be the Spartans’ third coach since Mark Dantonio retired in 2019. Smith’s early exit also makes him the shortest tenured head coach in program history since Harry Kipke was only with the Spartans for one season in 1928.

Before arriving in East Lansing, Smith coached at Oregon State for five seasons, starting in 2018. He improved as time went on, having winning seasons in his final three campaigns that included two bowl games.

He finished his time on the West Coast with a 34-35 record.