MSU introduces Jonathan Smith as football coach
Transcript
00:00 (applause)
00:14 Wow, I am excited, excited to be here.
00:25 Similar to Alan, I want to thank some people as well.
00:28 Start with you for being here today in this beautiful setup.
00:31 First time in here.
00:33 Been here 48 hours and continue to be so impressed
00:36 with all I've seen on campus and here.
00:38 I want to thank the Board of Trustees,
00:40 Interim President Woodruff for entrusting me
00:43 to lead this program.
00:45 And for in particular, I do want to thank Alan.
00:48 A lot of what he just spoke about, I completely agree with.
00:52 Initial conversations, vision, alignment, the fit.
00:58 We spoke throughout this process.
01:00 I thought he did a great job on a professional side.
01:03 Important to me as the process went,
01:06 not to be a distraction for either side.
01:08 And I thought he did an outstanding job of that.
01:10 Cannot, cannot thank him enough.
01:13 Definitely want to thank Oregon State University.
01:16 All that that place has done for me and my family.
01:19 Leaving there obviously was an important,
01:22 difficult decision.
01:23 But I go back to again, the fit of this place
01:26 and cannot be more excited about moving forward.
01:30 That place will always be special to me.
01:33 I want to thank the people of this community
01:35 in regards to reaching out and make a warm welcome
01:38 from not only me, but for my family,
01:41 even just the last 48 hours.
01:42 The opportunity to sit down with Coach D yesterday
01:45 in my office and talk about the place.
01:47 The text messages that I have gotten
01:49 from other head coaches here at this university
01:52 welcoming me and my family,
01:54 talking about their own kids
01:55 and cannot wait to connect to them,
01:58 learn about the schools and whatnot.
02:01 So I cannot thank you for the outpouring of support
02:03 from this community already.
02:05 Cannot wait to dive into it in the near future.
02:10 Also, most importantly,
02:12 and I thought I'd do this, it's going to be tough,
02:13 but I got to thank this crew right,
02:15 right in front of me.
02:19 These decisions are not easy.
02:22 I want to chase championships at the highest level,
02:25 but at the same time,
02:26 create an atmosphere for my family to be special.
02:30 And that's where I go back to this fit.
02:32 I appreciate you guys, Candice, Robert, Bella, and Charles
02:36 for coming along and believing in this ride
02:39 that we're undertaking.
02:41 So thank you.
02:42 I thought I would start
02:44 just like I started the team meeting yesterday,
02:47 getting to know these guys,
02:48 first time around them 9 a.m. yesterday,
02:51 and really just telling my story.
02:53 Walked up in front of them and told my story like this.
02:57 Jonathan Smith, 44 years old,
02:59 born in Pasadena, California,
03:01 Huntington Hospital, but about a mile
03:04 from the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl.
03:07 Grew up in Pasadena, went to Glendora High School.
03:10 At that point, playing high school football,
03:12 it grew in me, I wanted to coach football.
03:16 Loved it, had a great experience,
03:18 got toward the end of my senior year,
03:20 knew I wanted to chase this dream of coaching,
03:22 and I thought I could do it at the college level
03:24 to learn more and more.
03:27 Ended up getting an opportunity
03:28 at Oregon State University to walk on there.
03:31 Thought would be I go walk on there,
03:33 at the highest level I could get to
03:34 is just learn about ball and all of that.
03:38 Mike Riley, the head coach at the time,
03:40 looked me in the eye and said,
03:41 "Yeah, you're gonna be paying for it,
03:43 "but you'll be treated just like everybody else
03:45 "in that locker room."
03:46 The man stuck to his word,
03:48 had an unbelievable experience there,
03:50 learned a ton, friendships, all of that.
03:52 First year I walk into Oregon State,
03:55 my first position coach to get exposed to this great game,
03:59 guy by the name of Paul Crist.
04:01 Paul Crist was the offensive coordinator
04:03 and a quarterback coach, opened my eyes to schematics,
04:06 which I was desperately wanting to learn about.
04:09 He treated me awesome for my first couple of years.
04:12 Two years into it, Mike Riley leaves
04:14 and we're going through a transition.
04:15 You're gonna hear a little bit about that.
04:16 We're going through a transition.
04:18 Again, speaking as if to the players,
04:20 transition, Dennis Erickson comes in,
04:23 ended up winning a few games the next couple of years,
04:25 knew I wanted to get into coaching.
04:26 Dennis Erickson allows me to start my coaching career.
04:29 After that, being a graduate assistant,
04:31 graduate assistant right there at Oregon State.
04:34 Two years of being a graduate assistant,
04:35 I got my first opportunity to be a full-time coach
04:38 at the University of Idaho.
04:39 I wanna thank Nick Holt for that opportunity.
04:41 Learned a ton from him and experienced that.
04:43 Was at Idaho for six years,
04:45 went through three different head coaches at that time.
04:48 Transition, different head coach, schematics, all of that.
04:50 I learned a bunch through that experience of six years.
04:54 Got to the point though I wanted to continue
04:55 to progress in the profession.
04:59 Went to the University of Montana.
05:00 Robin Flugrad gives me my first opportunity to call plays,
05:03 be an offensive coordinator.
05:04 Loved Missoula, Montana for two years.
05:07 And then I got a call after that
05:09 by a guy named Chris Peterson.
05:12 Chris Peterson's down at Boise State,
05:14 gives me the opportunity to be a quarterback coach
05:16 down there.
05:16 Went down to Boise, two years there.
05:19 Great experience, met a bunch of good coaches
05:21 at the same time and players.
05:23 And then after two years,
05:24 Chris Peterson decides to transition
05:26 to the University of Washington.
05:28 Thinks enough of me to bring me along.
05:31 Goes to the University of Washington
05:33 as the offensive coordinator, quarterback coach.
05:36 Again, transition, new culture.
05:38 Learned a ton from those four years.
05:41 After a couple of years of transition,
05:43 building the culture in our third year,
05:45 we went to the college football playoff in 2016.
05:48 Sounds like we were following a university
05:49 the year before in the college football playoff.
05:52 A great, great experience
05:54 and winning the Pac-12 championship.
05:56 And that led to an opportunity to go back to the alma mater
05:59 and take on this idea of being a head coach.
06:01 Place was, got there six years ago.
06:05 A place was not having a ton of success,
06:07 had some turmoil, different things going on
06:09 and was excited about diving into it.
06:11 Learning the players, changing the culture,
06:14 creating a space where people could do their best work
06:17 and we dove into it.
06:19 Had a lot of great memories, connections,
06:22 recruiting, brought a staff down there
06:24 that we put together that worked for six years straight.
06:28 Seven out of the 10 coaches there
06:30 for those six years were there the entire time.
06:32 You get 10 position coaches,
06:33 seven of them were there with me for six years.
06:36 And then like Alan mentioned,
06:37 last couple of years had a little bit more success,
06:40 got to the point to where this,
06:41 end of the year conversations
06:44 and I kept coming back to this idea
06:46 of playing at the highest level,
06:48 playing in a place where you could fit
06:51 and be the type of dad, father, husband you wanna be,
06:54 let alone for myself and for the staff wanna create.
06:59 And that leads me all the way to this point,
07:01 standing in front of you guys now, the team yesterday,
07:04 that's a little bit of my story.
07:06 Let me tell you a little bit why
07:09 I'm so excited about Michigan State.
07:11 I think again, we go back to this fit,
07:14 let's talk schematics, Alan mentioned it.
07:16 Yes, we wanna make a physical brand of football
07:18 on both sides of the ball,
07:21 but at the same time lead to an innovative offense
07:23 in regards to, yeah, we're gonna take a chance
07:25 once in a while, make it physical, create explosive plays,
07:29 defensively make it hard on the defense,
07:32 not just by the physicality to play with,
07:34 but the schematics on that end.
07:37 I think Michigan State's a place where you can develop.
07:40 Michigan State's not just diving
07:42 to a team meeting yesterday,
07:43 diving into the idea of being a program,
07:46 a program of substance on and off the field,
07:49 a program where we're gonna dive into lives
07:52 and beyond just being able to teach them
07:54 how to be in the deep third and coverage,
07:56 or wanna run a 15 yard in route.
07:58 We wanna be a place of substance on and off the field.
08:03 We are gonna be process oriented,
08:04 and this takes a minute.
08:06 You stick to a process January all the way through December,
08:09 you stick to a process Sunday to Saturday,
08:11 you stick to a process to start a practice
08:13 at the end of practice.
08:15 And I felt Michigan State fit that
08:17 and allowed for a lot of that.
08:19 I think Michigan State's a national brand.
08:21 I know football's a big deal around here,
08:22 but there's a lot of big time deals around here in sports.
08:26 I'm looking at Coach Izzo right now.
08:28 Can't wait, I've never gone to a college ice hockey game.
08:31 Cannot wait to go down and check some of that out.
08:35 I thought the fit was good as well,
08:37 is because let's face it, there's an in-state rivalry,
08:40 and I appreciate in-state rivalries.
08:42 I think those things are meaningful.
08:44 It's a great thing about college football
08:46 is to have a rivalry like that.
08:48 Every spot I've mentioned earlier in my career,
08:51 I know what that is like in being able to compete
08:55 in that year round.
08:58 And so that'll, again, mean a ton.
09:01 I'm excited, again, to deeply dive in
09:03 and connect in with these players.
09:05 Priority number one, and through conversations with Alan,
09:08 he knows this, is about the current roster right here.
09:11 The current roster, and that we're gonna take
09:13 an opportunity again tomorrow to dive into these lives,
09:16 learn about 'em, learn their stories,
09:19 why they chose Michigan State.
09:21 I cannot wait to start on that.
09:23 Not to sugarcoat, recruiting is vitally important.
09:25 We're gonna put the staff together
09:27 and dive into that as well.
09:28 But you go out and recruit,
09:29 you gotta know what you currently are working with.
09:32 And again, retaining that roster will be vitally important.
09:37 I've got confidence in this move.
09:39 I cannot overstate the idea of transition of family
09:44 all the way over here.
09:45 I cannot overstate how important and confident
09:49 I think we are in this thing.
09:51 I shouldn't say think.
09:53 We are confident in this thing,
09:55 and so excited to be here and really get started.
09:58 This is a big day, get on stage,
10:00 got the press conference to go.
10:02 We're gonna answer some questions with the press.
10:03 We've got a basketball game to go to tonight.
10:06 I'm looking forward to diving into these players
10:07 and getting to that meeting room and setting plans
10:09 and really getting started.
10:11 Because it's gonna take some work.
10:12 I think a lot of us in this room understand
10:14 this is gonna take some work,
10:15 and I am definitely excited and up for the challenge
10:18 and opportunity that's in front of us.
10:22 I'm gonna stop there and just echo again.
10:24 I can't thank this community enough for the warm welcome.
10:27 I am fired up to get going, and let's go do this thing.
10:30 Go great.
10:31 (audience applauding)
10:34 (audience cheering)
10:37 (applause)
10:39 (applause)