Former Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith was named the next head coach at Michigan State on Saturday. The players in Corvallis are distraught and disappointed. Mostly the latter.
D.J. Uiagalelei, who is completely stuck in limbo after one season with the Beavers, was the first to speak out online. Smith put him in a really tough spot.
He was not alone.
Smith played quarterback at Oregon State and led his alma mater to just its third 10-win+ season in program history. Although a bigger opportunity was obviously something that excited him, as we know now, there was some thought that the 44-year-old head coach might not want to leave.
His comments after the Civil War made it seem like there was going to be a period of reflection.
No decisions have been made. I asked this team to take an approach [of being] locked in for four months. And now it’s a little bit the start of conversations with so much uncertainty with the Pac-2. I’ve taken the same approach. So, decisions, time and all of that, we’ve been locked in for the last couple months. We’ll go from there.
— Jonathan Smith on Friday night
Less than 24 hour later, Smith was off to East Lansing.
Considering that the Spartans have been searching for their next head coach for months now, it is hard to believe that “no decisions had been made” just one day prior to the decision being made. Especially after his comments when asked about when he knew he was leaving Oregon State upon arrival at Michigan State.
We took our time and feel good about it.
I felt confident, I’ll be honest with you, but I do want to sleep on it one more night type thing. But in my mind, it’s been a long time.
— Jonathan Smith on Sunday
Basically, Smith lied. That is where the resentment lies amongst the Beavers.
Damn 😂😂😂😂😂
As a man, I respect honesty and transparency more than anything.
— Oregon State leading wide receiver Anthony Gould
Fellow pass-catcher, Silas Bolden, responded with one emoji: 🧐
As did defensive back Alton Julian, three times: 🤔🤔🤔
Running back Damien Martinez, one of the top-20 rushers in the nation, chose to repost other people’s commentary over his own.
So much I wanna say but y’all saying it fa me 😂
can’t do the fake, LOVE the REAL Beaver Nation 🧡
— Damien Martinez
He then proceeded to share the following messages from fans:
- “No loyalty. If I was a player hearing this, I would be LIVID! No way this guy was giving 100% to his team this year. WOW.”
- “Who woulda thought when we said in august that it was us against the word… that it was also us against our coach?”
Four-star quarterback Aidan Chiles was the third-highest ranked commitment in Oregon State history. He was down bad after Smith’s departure and posted a very direct, emotional lyric from Rod Wave.
The Beavers are clearly upset by what happened, but perhaps more so how it played out.
College football is a business, yes. This is going to happen.
It doesn’t mean that the players aren’t going to feel some type of way. Especially when the coach that left them says, verbatim, that he was looking to leave them for “a long time.”