The Tricky Future of Michigan State Football
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It's clear to this point that the Jonathan Smith era at Michigan State has not gone very well, at least so far. People already felt uneasy about the direction of things before the Spartans took on UCLA on Saturday, but after a 38-13 loss sent MSU to 3-3 overall and 0-3 against the Big Ten, the pressure is really starting the build.
Barring anything unforeseen, Smith is probably going to be granted the guaranteed six final games of the season to turn things around. Even if they don't, there are forces at play that might keep him here, such as his substantial buyout and the unusual number of openings that are already popping up.
For this episode of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, now is a good time to take a closer look at what MSU's future is with Smith as the head coach, along with the things that might keep him in East Lansing and what could also make him go.
Watch the MSU Spartans Insider Podcast here:
In addition, a partial transcript of Smith's Monday afternoon press conference has been provided.
Jonathan Smith
SMITH: We got back into the building yesterday and took a deep dive on things and really talked a lot about the halfway point. Let's face it, six games in, 3-3 (record), and coming off a loss that was not good enough, obviously.
And it led, on the leadership of this team, discussion of what we want this thing to look like moving forward, any potential issues we might have, and it was great. A lot of accountability amongst the team, responsibility, coaches included.
I thought it was a really healthy day in regards to taking a deep look at where (we need to improve). Call it a lack of execution at times, and some of the guys trying to do too much, wanting to make a play for the team type thing and get outside the responsibility, and we got exposed multiple times through that.
And so guys (were) kind of owning up, talking about it, tweaked a little bit of how we looked at the video. Offensively, they watched it all as a unit, not just breaking down into your individual positions.
I thought that was healthy in regards to guys taking accountability. 'I could do this better...' And then they went back to work, a little bit shorter, but went back on the field and addressed it and tried to make some corrections that way because we do.
We've got to play better. You think about us as coaches, myself to start, we've got to get this team playing to their potential, and that was well short on Saturday.
And so we look at reasons why that takes place and then think about considerations of changes; schematically, how you approach it, practice, personnel, the whole thing.
So I thought it was a really good Sunday, and we got to be able to transition because we know where we're headed to work (in Indiana). Maybe the best team, one of the best teams in the country, playing really, really good football at their place. That'll be a serious, serious challenge that we've got to get ourselves prepared for.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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