Jonathan Smith
Jonathan Smith went 43–50 on the field as a head coach, 2018–2025, at Oregon State and Michigan State; 38–50 officially, after the NCAA vacated five wins (2024). Share
- Record
- 38–50 official; 43–50 on the field
- Seasons
- 8
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jan 18, 1979
- Alma mater
- Oregon State 2001
- Best season
- 2022 10–3, No. 17
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Oregon State | 2–10 | 6th | |||
| 2019 | Oregon State | 5–7 | T–2nd | |||
| 2020 | Oregon State | 2–5 | 4th | |||
| 2021 | Oregon State | 7–6 | 3rd | LA Bowl L | ||
| 2022 | Oregon State | 10–3 | T–5th | Las Vegas Bowl W | 17 | |
| 2023 | Oregon State | 8–4 | T–4th | Sun L | ||
| 2024 | Michigan State | 5–7 (0–7 official) | 17th | |||
| 2025 | Michigan State | 4–8 | T–16th |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Jack Colletto2022 Paul Hornung Award
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 20 | 4–16 | 20% |
| Against top-10 teams | 10 | 3–7 | 30% |
| Against rivals | 11 | 2–9 | 18% |
| Conference games | 70 | 27–43 | 39% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 33 | 15–18 | 45% |
| At home | 48 | 28–20 | 58% |
| On the road | 41 | 12–29 | 29% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 3–1 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 34 | 26–8 | 76% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 59 | 17–42 | 29% |
His own 93 games on file, 2018–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Wilcox 2018–2023 | 4–2 | California | 6 | |
| David Shaw 2018–2022 | 2–3 | Stanford | 5 | |
| Kyle Whittingham 2019–2023 | 2–3 | Utah | 5 | |
| Herm Edwards 2018–2021 | 2–2 | Arizona State | 4 | |
| Mario Cristobal 2018–2021 | 1–3 | Oregon | 4 | |
| Dan Lanning 2022–2024 | 1–2 | Oregon | 3 | |
| Nick Rolovich 2019–2021 | 0–3 | Hawai’i, Washington State | 3 |
Jonathan Smith’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Oregonseries | 7 | 2–5 |
| Californiaseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Stanfordseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Washingtonseries | 6 | 1–5 |
| Washington Stateseries | 6 | 1–5 |
| Arizona Stateseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Utahseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Coloradoseries | 4 | 3–1 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Michigan State for the 2024 season from Oregon State, where he was head coach.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Other roles
- Team captain, Oregon State 2000 (his playing career)
From each season’s Wikipedia article.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | Oregon State | Graduate assistant | |
| 2004–09 | Idaho | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2010–11 | Montana | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2012–13 | Boise State | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2014–17 | Washington | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2018–23 | Oregon State | Head coach | |
| 2024–25 | Michigan State | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Dennis EricksonOregon State, Idaho
- Mike RileyOregon State
- Nick HoltIdaho
- Robb AkeyIdaho
- Robin PflugradMontana
- Chris PetersenBoise State, Washington
- Bob GregoryBoise State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Kefense HynsonOregon State
- Mike RileyOregon State, Nebraska, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, San Antonio Riders, San Diego Chargers, San Antonio Commanders, New Jersey Generals
- Trent BrayOregon State
Worked under (7)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Erickson | Oregon State | 2002 | Graduate assistant | |
| Mike Riley | Oregon State | 2003 | Graduate assistant | |
| Nick Holt | Idaho | 2004–05 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Dennis Erickson | Idaho | 2006 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Robb Akey | Idaho | 2007–09 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Robin Pflugrad | Montana | 2010–11 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Chris Petersen | Boise State | 2012–13 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Bob Gregory | Boise State | 2013 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Chris Petersen | Washington | 2014–17 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (3)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kefense Hynson | Oregon State, 2018–23: wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator | Oregon State | |
| Mike Riley | Oregon State, 2018: consultant | Oregon State, Nebraska, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, San Antonio Riders, San Diego Chargers, San Antonio Commanders, New Jersey Generals | |
| Trent Bray | Oregon State, 2018–21: linebackers coach; 2022–23: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Oregon State |
Other assistants under him (5)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Brian Lindgren | Oregon State, 2018–23: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Michigan State, 2024–25: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jim Michalczik | Oregon State, 2018–23: associate head coach, running game coordinator and offensive line coach; Michigan State, 2024–25: associate head coach, running game coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Tim Tibesar | Oregon State, 2018–21: defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach | |
| Chad Wilt | Michigan State, 2024–25: co-STC and defensive ends coach | |
| Joe Rossi | Michigan State, 2024–25: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Washington | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $91,000 | $700,008 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Washington | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $96,000 | $441,534 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Washington | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $70,000 | $426,504 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Washington | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $70,000 | $425,004 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Smith’s teams went for it on 30% of fourth downs and on 51% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 49% of plays and took 26.7 seconds a play, 2018–2025.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 12 g | Oregon State | 36 of 116 31% | 46% | 52% | 23.2 | +0.06 | |
| 2019 12 g | Oregon State | 24 of 91 26% | 46% | 54% | 24.2 | +0.14 | |
| 2020 7 g | Oregon State | 19 of 54 35% | 51% | 50% | 23.3 | +0.15 | |
| 2021 13 g | Oregon State | 23 of 73 32% | 50% | 42% | 27.0 | +0.20 | |
| 2022 13 g | Oregon State | 23 of 82 28% | 56% | 41% | 28.5 | +0.08 | |
| 2023 13 g | Oregon State | 30 of 81 37% | 68% | 49% | 28.5 | +0.14 | |
| 2024 12 g | Michigan State | 22 of 90 24% | 43% | 53% | 28.9 | −0.02 | |
| 2025 12 g | Michigan State | 27 of 96 28% | 50% | 54% | 27.9 | +0.05 | |
| All 94 g | 204 of 683 30% | 51% | 49% | 26.7 | +0.10 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.