OT: Oregon State promotes DC Trent Bray to Head Coach
OSU (NTOSU) fans seem pretty happy about this. Aside from just in general feeling glad for them after the year they've had, this is also probably bad news for MSU. Between Bray seemingly being very popular with the players and the perceived less than honorable way Smith left, it seems less likely now that Smith will be able to poach many players or recruits to follow him.
https://osubeavers.com/news/2023/11/28/trent-bray-named-oregon-state-football-head-coach
November 29th, 2023 at 12:50 AM ^
Good for Bray. As the newest Sparty, I hope Smith sucks in perpetuity
November 29th, 2023 at 6:22 AM ^
I hope he follows the same fate as Mike Riley who also was a beloved OSU alumn/coach who left OSU for Nebraska and realized the Big Ten ain't easy.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:08 AM ^
Nebraska hiring Mike Riley was always a head scratcher. Right up there with Sparty hiring Mel Tucker.
November 29th, 2023 at 10:17 AM ^
Riley was less of a head scratcher than Tucker was. I mean, Riley at least had a track record as a head coach and a winning record (93-80) at a school which hasn't had a lot football success over the years. He'd also (and I didn't realize this until I looked at his Wikipedia page) been a head coach in both the CFL (where he won two Grey Cups) and the NFL (where he was 14-34 over three years).
I still wouldn't have hired him. Or fired Bo Pelini, for that matter.
Tucker, though, had exactly one year as head coach at Colorado. One. Where he finished 5-7.
To be fair, Dantonio had put them in a bad position and they had to hire somebody. He did get one reasonably good year and a couple of victories over Michigan, so I guess that was worth however many tens of millions of dollars they will end up having paid him. And all the priceless bad publicity.
November 29th, 2023 at 10:28 AM ^
I miss Bo's press conferences.
November 29th, 2023 at 7:24 AM ^
The new Jonathan (L) Smith..
November 29th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
As the newest Sparty, I hope...
Wait, you're the newest Sparty? Holy misplaced modifiers, Batman!
November 29th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
switched teams to try to tank Sparty from the inside for eternity
I just switched back as they do that just fine themselves
November 29th, 2023 at 12:52 AM ^
Just in time to be one of two head coaches in the "Pac-12" next year. He's got a 50/50 shot at the conference championship.
November 29th, 2023 at 7:58 AM ^
As a power five conference, that would earn them an auto bid in the playoff, no?
November 29th, 2023 at 8:50 AM ^
Next year, the rules are the six highest-ranked conference champions, then the following 6 highest ranked teams. If the rules were in place this year the B10, SEC, ACC, B12 champs would all be in. Leaving #20 Oregon State (8-4), #22 Tulane (11-1), and #24 Liberty (12-0) battling for those last 2 spots.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:45 AM ^
It's going to be switched to the five highest ranked conference champions and 7 at-large bids, and a conference will be required to have at least 8 teams for its champion to be eligible for an automatic playoff berth.
November 29th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
Isn't the two team "pac-12" getting a waiver for a year or two so Oregon State, and Washington state don't get penalized for no one wanting to play with them?
November 29th, 2023 at 1:04 PM ^
They get a waiver to remain a conference with only two teams and still remain eligible for "championship events," not a waiver to receive an automatic playoff berth.
November 29th, 2023 at 4:31 PM ^
As far as I understand it just being a conference champion is not an automatic playoff berth.
November 29th, 2023 at 12:10 PM ^
PAC-2 coach of the year would look nice on a resume
November 29th, 2023 at 12:55 AM ^
West Coast Marcus Freeman?
November 29th, 2023 at 1:02 AM ^
My one observation is Jonathan Smith (kinda like Ryan Day tbh) seems like too much of a normal guy to be a college football coach.
November 29th, 2023 at 1:28 AM ^
That normality led to a very harmonious coaching staff with little turnover in Corvallis. People like to work for him.
I see two problems: he and the staff he's bringing with him have almost no connection to the Midwest at all. Makes recruiting tougher.
And the biggie: MSU culture. EL rejects a lot of transplants who don't fit in with the Disrespekt culture. Even school presidents. And Disrespekt isn't Smith at all.
November 29th, 2023 at 7:09 AM ^
You think Day is a normal guy?
"You beat me ... so I must hire a private investigator to find dirt on you."
That's normal?
November 29th, 2023 at 7:16 AM ^
Sounds like a Gen Z coach to me
November 29th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
Looks up from the phone book
It's… not?
November 29th, 2023 at 1:30 AM ^
I had not heard that the way Smith left was perceived as less than honorable. What was the issue?
November 29th, 2023 at 1:42 AM ^
It wasn't, really. Just the typical stuff. If you foster a family atmosphere - which Smith did and does - then leaving is seen as betrayal. But given AD/admin's incompetence in finding a post-Pac-12 landing spot most adults don't blame the coach for leaving.
MSU had to make the offer good because UCLA was sniffing. Smith has some roots in southern California.
November 29th, 2023 at 7:46 AM ^
I saw an article about their running back, I don't recall his name, saying Smith "lied to him" and told him a month or so ago that he wasn't going anywhere. That's pretty small potatoes and it's quite possible that was how he felt at that time. I don't know that I would call it "less than honorable" but that might be what the OP is referring to.
November 29th, 2023 at 8:07 AM ^
I assume you are referring to Damien Martinez. I saw something he said along the lines of he was staying put and would give the next coach a shot. That is very refreshing to hear and a bit shocking considering how good of a player he is. He would look fantastic behind Michigan's o-line but good on him.
November 29th, 2023 at 8:27 AM ^
There's talk around OSU that the preparation for the Oregon game was half-assed because he was more concerned with getting the MSU job. That players figured it out even though Smith denied it.
Michigan fans may recall the situation with Durkin and Maryland, and, yeah, many Michigan fans certainly did mind that.
November 29th, 2023 at 10:27 AM ^
Durkin was just our DC. I can't imagine a head coach doing that. Maybe he's a better fit with Sparty than I thought..
November 29th, 2023 at 8:44 AM ^
I don't think he did anything particularly egregious, given the state of the PAC N-1, but the OSU fans and players are all pretty upset. I think it stems from interviewing very early in the cycle and then neither keeping it secret successfully, nor being honest when repeatedly confronted and asked. It seems like the morale really went into the shitter, especially the final week for what would be their The Game where they cut practices short and cancelled meetings during the week and just looked completely checked out on the field.
November 29th, 2023 at 5:21 AM ^
Maybe a question fur a different post, but I was just thinking...
If Day was born on third base, where does that make Smith born from?
I'm thinking he was born on the bench, at best
November 29th, 2023 at 9:53 AM ^
He's taking over a program that's as close to rock bottom as possible, so it's like the stadium isn't even built yet. He's gotta install his own bases first
November 29th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
He was born on the bus.
November 29th, 2023 at 5:27 AM ^
2015 Oregon state was a rough first half. Second half we smoked them, but the first half was a near run.
November 29th, 2023 at 7:07 AM ^
That wasn't against Smith. He got the job in 2018.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:15 AM ^
Biggest thing I remember about that game was the Oregon State punt where the snap went about 10 miles over his head.
Also kind of thought it was neat that it was the first home game under Harbaugh. OSU was also the first home opponent when Harbaugh was our quarterback, his senior year.
November 29th, 2023 at 6:01 AM ^
Where are all the Spartans? I think it’s up to 15 to the portal since Tuck was fired. 11 in the last two days including 3 QBs and 3 WRs.
November 29th, 2023 at 6:15 AM ^
Not sure it's the worst thing for Smith. He's bringing a big chunk of his staff but really needs to establish some Midwest ties, DC under him would be a premium spot to do that.
Throw an offer at Jim Leonard he can't refuse.
November 29th, 2023 at 7:34 AM ^
Does anyone find it somewhat odd that Jim Leonard has fallen off the face of the earth? Two years ago, he was one of the hottest coaching names out there. Now? Nothing.
Something is up.
November 29th, 2023 at 8:02 AM ^
Rumor was he was angling to get Chryst fired at Wisky so he could take over during the season. No idea if it’s actually true, but would explain the lack of interest from other coaches
November 29th, 2023 at 8:27 AM ^
Ah, tried pulling the old Fulmer Gambit.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:02 AM ^
Brohm is the next great coach. What he did at Purdue and now Louisville is very impressive and I hope he coaches here when Jim leaves.
November 29th, 2023 at 10:50 AM ^
He's been working as an analyst for Bielema in Champaign. Commuting for work weekdays in Champaign and living in Madison.
November 29th, 2023 at 7:33 AM ^
Given the position that Oregon State is in right now (essentially homeless, from a conference standpoint), this is probably the easiest, even best thing for them to do for continuity, and in my limited look at a few Oregon State accounts, people seem to like this guy, so there's that.
They just need to find this team a conference to really see what they've got, I guess.
November 29th, 2023 at 8:56 AM ^
Wasn't Oregon State's defense their calling card? This seems like very bad news for MSU as I think most MSU fans were under the impression Smith was bringing his staff with him
November 29th, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
Smith is a former QB and offensive guy. He has brought the OL coach, the TE coach and one other I can't recall on offense. He will need to hire some defensive guys yeah but there should be plenty around as their salary pool has gone from $7M+ with Tugger to $10M so he has plenty of money to burn to find a Midwest guy.
Would be a bit funny if they brought back their Tressel which they wanted out of town towards end of Dantini's era.
MSU did a great job wasting $1m+ on Jay Johnson and Hazelton. Those guys should be charged with thievery.
MSU will benefit from not playing OSU and PSU annually; OSU is better than anyone from the P12 and PSU is about the same as prob the top 2. Remember Washington wasn't that good until the past few years and USC and Washington don't play defense. UCLA is pretty mediocre.
Smith will be a solid 8ish win guy IMO in time - the team is destitute of talent aside some young guys on defense and their transfer RB. If that is enough for the crazies over there who think they are going back to Dantoni era when Michigan and PSU were in the wilderness who knows. Portal will help as the players they are losing are pretty awful so replacing them with guys like Carter last year will be a benefit if they can find enough. Everyone there is assuming they get the hot shot QB Chiles that went to NTOSU in as a transfer now that the other 3 have vacated.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:06 AM ^
Fair point on the player transfers - all the Sparties think they're getting the OSU QB and this certainly makes it less likely. If you're an elite player, it's a pretty hard pitch these days to play for MSU. In today's game, I'm just having a hard time seeing Sparty make a 12 team playoff with any kind of consistency.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:22 AM ^
DJU's dad has less than positive things to say about Smith so that's unlikely. Their freshman, Chiles, might transfer, but like you said is going to MSU really worth it just to follow a coach?
November 29th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
They don't want DJU, they want Chiles. He did pretty darn good last year in limited action - they played him on the 3rd drive every game which was a good way to get his feet wet and he is a dual type QB so would be a good get. He is just going to get killed with their OL.
November 29th, 2023 at 9:06 AM ^
Can Jonathan Smith at least get Jeff Casteel???!?!?!!!?
November 29th, 2023 at 9:16 AM ^
I think Smith is a good coach but his introductory press conference wasn't great and made him come across a bit disingenuous and also maybe not quite ready for prime-time at a bigger program. Just some of his answers around why the move, what he saw at MSU that made him want to be the HC, etc. feels a bit like a guy jumping from a sinking ship and not necessarily a happy upgrade.