Michigan State fired football coach Jonathan Smith on Sunday, two years after he was hired by the Spartans.
“The 2025 football season has not lived up to our shared standards for Michigan State Football,” athletic director J Batt said in a release. “While that does not fall solely on Jonathan Smith, it’s become necessary to make a coaching change in order to chart a new direction for the program.”
The Spartans lost eight of their last nine games to finish 4-8 this season. Smith’s overall record at Michigan State was 9-15 and just 4-14 in the Big Ten. Smith is due more than $30 million, according to terms of his seven-year contract, and the school will have to spend many millions to find a replacement. The Spartans aren’t the only ones looking for a winning coach, either.
Smith was 34-35 over six seasons at Pac-12 member Oregon State, winning at least eight games in consecutive seasons for the first time in more than a decade at his alma mater. He went 5-7 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten during his debut season last year. His seat got warm when athletic director Alan Haller, who hired him, left the school last May.
Expectations were low for this season, and the results were worse.