Jonathan Smith isn’t reading your tweets - but J. Batt might be

Jonathan Smith doesn’t care what you posted after Saturday’s game.

Michigan State’s head football coach isn’t scrolling X to check buyout chatter. He’s not lurking on message boards or refreshing comment sections to gauge the mood in East Lansing. When Smith said today, “I don’t follow a ton of it, I’ll be honest,” he means it.

Smith isn’t reading your tweets.

But J. Batt probably is.

Smith lives in the film room, not the feed. He’s focused on missed assignments, not mentions. His world right now is about accountability - players trying to do too much, gaps missed, and energy misplaced. That's how he explained it, in part, today during his press conference. He’s pushing to restore confidence and simplify schemes, trying to keep the football building steady through turbulence that’s starting to define year two.

Inside that building, Sunday was about ownership. Coaches and players calling each other out, taking responsibility, watching tape together. But outside the building, the noise is deafening. A 3–3 record and another “we weren’t good enough” press conference have patience in short supply.

Smith thinks he has what it takes in the locker room to turn this thing around.

"We want to (have) great energy, passion, (and) compete at the highest level," he said. "And part of that ... comes with the other side of things when it doesn't go right, so it's not a big, big surprise to me. I'll go back to the confidence and really steadfast(ness of) the people in that building that we've got, that we can right the ship here."

The majority of the reporters' questions at Smith's weekly press conference at Spartan Stadium today focused on Smith's future, his reaction to the restless fan base, and how he thinks it affects his team.

Fans see it. The media see it. Donors feel it. And while Smith can afford to tune it out, Michigan State athletic director J. Batt can’t.

Batt’s job lives in the space Smith avoids - the swirl of donor expectations, NIL realities, ticket renewals, and public sentiment. He’s the one who...

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