Tom Izzo welcomes new Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith: ‘An excellent addition’

EAST LANSING – Jonathan Smith started his college career as a walk-on at Oregon State and worked his way up to become a starter and key player for some of the program’s most successful teams.

He started his coaching career at his alma mater before working his way up the coaching ranks and eventually landing as the coach at Michigan State, where he was hired on Saturday to be the school’s next football coach.

Spartans basketball coach Tom Izzo did all of those things too: going from a walk-on at Northern Michigan to All-American to assistant to Spartans head coach.

As Smith joins him in Michigan State’s athletic department, Izzo sees the similarity.

“I think he’s very excited to be here, I think you’ll enjoy him, I think he’s come up a funny way too as a player and coach and GA and all the stuff that is good about things, and I think he’s going to be an excellent addition,” Izzo said.

Izzo opened his weekly press conference on Monday by welcoming Smith, two days after Smith was selected to replace former Spartans coach Mel Tucker. Smith now becomes the sixth man to serve as permanent head football coach since Izzo became head basketball coach in 1995.

Izzo said he had dinner with Smith and his wife on Sunday night, the day the new football coach arrived in East Lansing from Corvallis. The session lasted 90 minutes, Izzo said, of the two most important coaches at Michigan State getting to know each other.

Izzo also saw similarities in Smith’s previous situation to the one he inherits now. Oregon State sits down the road from a more well-known and school in Oregon. Smith found success there, winning 10 games last year and eight this year.

Now, he will walk into a similar situation in East Lansing, with a formidable in-state rival to contend with.

“I just think he brings maybe who we are,” Izzo said. “He has kind of a blue-collar attitude, too. Has developed players and, you know, has kind of been the program that nobody respected as much with Oregon right down the road and figured out a way to handle that and deal with it.”

Smith is likely to be in attendance when the Spartans next play on Tuesday at home against Georgia Southern.