The Jonathan Smith Conundrum for MSU AD J Batt

The most important person in the Michigan State athletics universe is athletic director J Batt. What he does in the coming weeks or months could shape the direction of MSU football for a long, long time.

It's pretty fair to say that the Jonathan Smith era has not gone well so far. Michigan State is too proud of a program to be happy with a coach holding an 8-12 overall record and a 3-11 mark against fellow Big Ten schools. Smith is now 0-2 against rival Michigan after a 31-20 loss on Saturday night.

For the average person, especially in an era where Indiana and Vanderbilt are suddenly College Football Playoff contenders, it's completely fair to look at Smith and think "MSU can do better."

Perhaps that is the case. But things are a little bit more complicated than that.

Factors for Batt, Smith

Michigan State University Athletic Director J Batt, right, speaks on stage with MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz during a panel discussion hosted by the Lansing Economic Club on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Buyout $$$

Imagine paying someone $33 million to NOT work for you anymore. If Batt were to fire Smith, that's pretty much exactly what he would be doing. That type of decision is difficult to make, business-wise.

Smith is only in year two of a seven-year deal. Terminating a contract with five years to go is, well, costly.

If Batt were to do that, it would be the third-biggest buyout in college football history, only behind Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M ($77 million) and James Franklin and Penn State ($49 million).

The Coaching Carousel

Oct 11, 2025; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin answers questions from the media following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

The other issue is that this is really not a great year for Michigan State to be looking for another head football coach.

As of Saturday, the following jobs are already open: Florida, Penn State, Arkansas, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Oklahoma State, and Oregon State. Those are just the bigger schools.

More coaches are going to get fired, too. Perhaps they are at places with more pull or prestige than Michigan State.

Basically, what Batt has to weigh is how certain he is that MSU can find an actual, permanent solution at head coach who will also excite the fanbase a little bit. That does not look like a guarantee right now.

What also complicates it further is that it may be more difficult to convince a coach to uproot his life and go to East Lansing when his predecessor took a massive career risk by coming to MSU and then got ousted after two seasons.

It's an era where turnarounds can happen in one offseason, but it would also be understandable for a coach to want some time to figure things out a bit.

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