Jonathan Smith is looking forward to Maryland, despite an unclear future
Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith says that there has been no discussion about his future with the program
These are strange times for Michigan State football.
On Saturday, Michigan State suffered another heartbreaking loss on the gridiron. Despite being a 17-point underdog on the road at Iowa, the Spartans held a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter - and a three-point lead with 90 seconds remaining. But, for the second time in the last three games, Michigan State snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the final seconds.
As soon as the game went final, a 20-17 loss for the Spartans, fans and members of the media began to speculate about the future of beleaguered head coach Jonathan Smith. Some thought that a press conference would be called on Sunday announcing the end of the Smith era in East Lansing.
That was not the case.
For better or for worse, Michigan State athletic director J Batt is approaching the Smith situation differently than most of his peers who also share the challenge of a struggling football this year.
At least 14 head coaches have already been fired, some as long ago as Sept. 14. This list includes high-profile programs such as Penn State, UCLA, Auburn, LSU, and Florida.
But other programs, such as Baylor, Wisconsin, Florida State and Maryland (Michigan State's upcoming opponent this Saturday) have recently announced that their head coaches would be returning next year. These announcements have also been accompanied be a statement of support from the athletic director.
But J Batt has been perfectly silent so far on the topic of Jonathan Smith's future. This silence has only fanned the flames of speculation.
Instead of an announcement of an emergency press conference on Sunday, an email was sent out in the early afternoon informing the media of the standard weekly press conference schedule. Per usual, Smith would address the media at noon on Monday.
The mood in the media room on Monday was that of tense anticipation. Would Batt take to the podium instead of Smith? If he did, would he announce the firing of the head football coach or would he issue a statement of support?
At around 12:10 p.m., it was Smith and not Batt who entered the Tom and Lupe Izzo Family Media Center in the North End Zone of Spartan Stadium. Smith, dressed casually in a green sweatshirt, took to the podium just like every other Monday in his tenure.
In a very business-as-usual manner, Smith followed his weekly precedent and proceeded to give a three-minute recap of his thoughts on the Iowa game and on the rest of the season.
Smith talked about how he was proud of the effort on defense and the fact that the Spartans forced two turnovers. He said that he just wanted the defense to be able to finish better in those two-minute drill situations that ultimately produced the game-winning scores for the opponents.
Smith talked about the resilience of quarterback Alessio Milivojevic, and the strong play of the tight end group. He said that the offense just needed to get one or two more first downs in the fourth quarter. Smith also noted that the special teams needs to be better.
Then, he shifted gears and talked about how excited his players were to have the opportunity to play one more game together in an NFL stadium (Ford Field) in Detroit against a Maryland team that is also struggling. Smith mention that the Terrapins generate a lot of turnovers and have a "young quarterback (who is) pretty electric," referring to true freshman signal-caller Malik Washington.
"I know (Maryland is) going to want to finish things the right way," Smith said "We've got an opportunity to do it with them."
It was all a strangely normal way to begin a press conference. It took a few more minutes for the elephant in the room to finally make its presence known.
Finally, five minutes into the media availability session, the question on everyone's mind was finally asked by Stephen Brooks of 247Sports:
"Jonathan, just how confident are you that you and the staff will be back in this position next year?"
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