“Wow. I am excited. Excited to be here.”
44 year old Jonathan Smith is coming to Michigan State after 6 years coaching the Oregon State Football team, his alma mater.
“Been here 48 hours and I’m so impressed with all I have seen on campus.”
MSU Vice President of Athletics Alan Haller says Smith was the best of the 12 candidates he interviewed.
‘There was tremendous interest in this position. Michigan State is absolutely viewed as a great job in college football. We got the right guy.”
At Oregon State Smith’s team was 18 and 7 over the past 2 seasons. He replaces Mel Tucker, who was fired after sexual harassment allegations.
“Cannot thank you enough for the outpouring of support from the community already.”
Smith has a 7 year contract that will pay him over 50 million dollars.
“Cannot wait to dive into it.”
