EAST LANSING– Following the conclusion of the football season with a win against Maryland, Michigan State has fired head coach Jonathan Smith. The move to part ways with Smith after two seasons at the helm was confirmed by the athletic department on Sunday.
“The 2025 football season has not lived up to our shared standards for Michigan State Football. 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,” MSU director of athletics J Batt said in an official statement. “We are appreciative of Coach Smith and the manner in which he represented Michigan State with class.”
Smith, previously the head coach at his alma mater Oregon State for six seasons, was hired by then MSU director of athletics Alan Haller after ten- and eight-win seasons with the Beavers. He signed a seven-year contract to become the Spartans’ head coach for $52.8 million on November 25th, 2023.
With the conclusion of the 2025 season, Smith’s initial contract has $38.25 million left on it with a buyout clause guaranteeing him 85% of that figure. With the dismissal of Smith on Sunday afternoon, it will officially cost MSU $33.5 million to cover the remaining five years he is owed.
Capping off his final season as MSU’s head coach, Smith and the Spartans went 4-8 with a single conference victory against Maryland.
In his time at Michigan State, Smith coached 24 total games, recording nine wins and 15 losses, operating at a 37.5-win percentage over a combined two seasons.
That record stands prior to the announcement of the vacated wins from the NCAA, which ruled Smith’s conference victories ineligible, marking the win against Maryland as Smith’s only Big Ten victory on paper.
Despite the chaos off the field, the main reason behind Smith’s firing was his inability to execute late in crucial games, along with his inability to finish close games that could have been winnable for the Spartans.
Throughout Smith’s coaching career at MSU, the Green and White suffered an average margin of defeat of 18.21 points over 14 conference losses, compared to an eight-point margin of victory over four conference wins.
The main reason behind Smith’s hiring was his offensive mind, bringing along his own quarterback and tight end from Oregon State in Aidan Chiles and Jack Velling. Expectations for this duo were high prior to their Spartan debut.
Ultimately, MSU’s offense failed to live up to those expectations and could not generate the points needed to win games. Chiles was benched indefinitely after game eight of the 2025 season against Michigan, replaced by redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic.
In 2024, MSU ranked 126th nationally in points per game with 17.5, and 91st nationally in 2025 with 23.1 points per game.
Smith was unable to secure victories against in-state rival Michigan and failed to make a bowl game despite his prior success at Oregon State, where he made back-to-back bowls in 2021 and 2022.
Following the 2024 season which MSU went 5-7 and 3-6 in conference play in what fans claimed to be a ‘rebuild year’, the Spartans’ record decreased with no improvement in 2025.
Two seasons below .500 were not enough to keep Smith around for another year. With the transfer portal opening and the recent hiring of new head coach Pat Fitzgerald, the future of MSU football is in the air.
