Exodus of Michigan State Football Players Could be Necessary Cleaning of House

After spending the last six seasons at his alma mater, Oregon State, new Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith and the Spartans are entering a new era of Spartan football together.

Generally speaking, a coach’s new beginning at a school is met with excitement and optimism. While that is certainly the case for Coach Smith and the Spartans, he undoubtedly has a challenging task as he tries to turn things around in East Lansing.

Coach Smith and most incoming coaches are already faced with an uphill battle their first few seasons at a school, as they are left with the players from the school’s previous coaching staff. This usually leads to a season or two of mediocre play as the new coaching staff is getting the players they recruited to build the program in their visions. 

However, the Spartans have anything but a normal situation as Coach Smith takes over at the helm. He walks into a situation where, because of how things ended with Michigan State’s previous coaching staff, things are abnormally difficult for him and his coaching staff. They have to deal with the mess the prior coaching staff left behind and play catch-up in recruiting after getting off to a late start. 

More importantly, Coach Smith and the Spartans have to deal with the ever-changing landscape of college football, where NIL deals and playing time mean as much, maybe more than winning, for many players. This puts schools at the mercy of the players on their teams, who they hope will join their programs.

Arguably, the biggest hurdle the Spartans are reportedly facing is NIL deals potentially influencing players’ decision to leave Michigan State en masse. The Spartans have had over a dozen players opt to enter the transfer portal in the last few weeks. It has been rumored that many former Michigan State players who entered the transfer portal did so because they were unhappy with NIL-related deals.

A new coaching staff losing many players from the prior coaching staff is a relatively regular occurrence in college football. However, the Spartans are undoubtedly facing this on a heightened level because of an issue most coaches of old never had to face: NIL deals and the transfer portal. 

As Coach Smith and the Spartans face a large number of players fleeing Michigan State for various reasons, and as he tries to implement his visions for the Spartans’ program, Coach Smith needs to find not only the right athletes for his football program but also players who fit the culture he’s trying to create at Michigan State. 

Players mainly playing college football for money likely aren’t the type of players Smith is looking for. The mass exodus of players from Michigan State could help weed out players who don’t love the game as much as it will take to return Michigan State to playoff contention, which is a good thing for Coach Smith and his coaching staff.

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