Smith ranks high in ESPN’s ranking of college coaches as players
Adam Rittenberg of ESPN recently did a ranking of all college football head coaches as players . Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith fared pretty well, coming in at number seven overall. Fellow Big Ten newcomer DeShaun Foster of UCLA sits right ahead of Smith at number six. Places five through two were Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Josh Huepel (Tennessee), and Eddie George (Bowling Green). Deion Sanders at Colorado took the top spot.
According to ESPN, Smith was a better college player than Scott Frost, Kyle Whittingham, Kirby Smart, Jeff Brohm, Marcus Freeman, Mario Cristobal, Kalen DeBoer, and Luke Fickell, among others.
Rittenberg had this to say about the Michigan State head coach:
Smith is one of the great underdog stories among current college coaches. He came to Oregon State as a walk-on quarterback from Glendora, California, but took over as the Beavers’ starter on Halloween 1998. Smith would start the final 38 games of his career, and set Oregon State records for passing yards (9,680), touchdown passes (55) and single-season passing yards (3,053 yards in 1999). He twice earned All-Pac-10 honors, twice served as captain and led Oregon State to an 11-win season and a No. 4 final AP ranking in 2000, when he earned Fiesta Bowl Offensive MVP honors in a win against Notre Dame.
That’s certainly a nice summary but we thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at Smith’s playing days at Oregon State.
As Rittenberg noted, Smith was originally a walk-on at Oregon State, and ultimately played in 41 games for the Beavers. Smith completed 50.6% of his passes for 9680 yards, 55 touchdowns, and 29 interceptions during his career in Corvallis, OR.
Unfortunately, individual game statistics from this period were difficult to find but we can still try to piece some things together.
In 1998, Oregon State went 5-6 (2-6 Pac 10) under second year head coach Mike Riley. Smith saw action in six games, taking over the starting role on October 31 in a 20-19 loss to Cal. The next weekend saw the Beavers fall to #3 UCLA, 41-34, but Oregon State closed 1998 on a positive note. They defeated their archrival, #15 Oregon, 44-41 in double overtime, where Smith completed this 50 yard pass to James Battle . For the year, Smith completed 81-181 passes (44.8%) for 1427 yards, 6 TD’s, and 5 interceptions.
After the Halloween 1998 game against California, Smith remained the Beavers’ starter for the rest of his college eligibility.
The 1999 season saw Dennis Erickson take over as head coach at Oregon State. The Beavers improved to 7-5 overall and 4-4 in the Pac 10 and finished the season at the Aloha Bowl. It was a rollercoaster year in Corvallis as Oregon State won their first three games against Nevada, Fresno State, and Georgia Southern before opening conference play 0-3 with losses to #16 USC, Washington, and Stanford. The Beavers rebounded with a 55-7 thrashing of UCLA to start a four-game winning streak. The season ended in disappointment, however, with losses to rival Oregon in Eugene and Hawaii in the Aloha Bowl.
Smith threw for 3053 yards, good for the Oregon State single season record, but only completed 48.7% of his passes. He had 15 touchdowns against only 7 interceptions in his 425 attempts for the year.
Despite the tough ending to 1999, Erickson and Smith continued the overall momentum into 2000 and led Oregon State to likely their best season ever. The Beavers finished 11-1 overall, 7-1 in the Pac 10, and won a share of the conference championship.
Oregon State opened Pac 10 play with a 31-21 win against #8 USC , their first victory against the Trojans since 1967. That led to a massive matchup the following week with #11 Washington in Seattle. The Huskies prevailed 33-30, a loss that ultimately kept Oregon State out of the Rose Bowl.
The Beavers went 7-0 to conclude the season, however, including a 23-13 win against #5 Oregon in the last regular season game and 41-9 beatdown of #10 Notre Dame in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl . Smith was stellar in both of these games, going 14-27 for 246 yards against the Ducks and 16-24 for 305 yards and 3 touchdowns before sitting out the final quarter against the Irish while, as Rittenberg pointed out, being named the Fiesta Bowl MVP. After the Fiesta Bowl triumph, Oregon State finished in the top five in both the coaches and AP polls.
For the year, Smith completed just over 50% of his passes for 2773 yards and 20 touchdowns against just 7 interceptions. Smith’s top targets in the 2000 season included future NFL wide receivers Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
Smith’s final year under center saw Oregon State start the year ranked in the top 10 but the 2001 Beavers came back down to earth a little bit. They were upset by Fresno State to open the year and, a couple weeks later, got demolished 38-7 by UCLA to open Pac 10 play. The highlight of the year was a 49-24 win at home against #8 Washington on November 10 but the season ended in Eugene with a 17-14 loss to #4 Oregon on December 1. After a record-setting run the year before, the 2001 Beavers finished just 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the Pac 10.
For his part, Smith had his highest completion percentage at 56.8% in 2001 but his yardage (2427) and touchdowns (14) dropped while his interceptions (10) rose.
Overall, Smith had winning records in two of his three full years as Oregon State’s starter and went 2-2 against the Oregon Ducks. If he is credited with starting the last three games of his freshman year and then every game of the 1999, 2000, and 2001 seasons, Smith’s overall record as a starting QB would be 24-14, which is buoyed by the great success of the 2000 season.
Smith remained at Oregon State to begin his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 2002. He then landed jobs as quarterbacks coach and/or offensive coordinator at Idaho, Montana, Boise State, and Washington before returning to Corvallis to lead his alma mater from 2018-2023.