East Lansing — Jonathan Smith didn’t know all that he was getting into when he took the job as Michigan State football coach in November 2023.
The NCAA hit Michigan State’s program with a slew of penalties Wednesday for recruiting violations under Smith’s predecessor, Mel Tucker, that included a series of recruiting limitations, three years of probation and a fine. The NCAA also vacated 14 victories in which three ineligible players played for the Spartans, including five from Smith’s debut last season.
Smith said he did not know that the program was under investigation when he took the job. Asked when he found out, Smith said “early, you know, this year.”
Because two staffers, general manager Saeed Khalif and pass rush specialist Brandon Jordan, had given impermissible benefits of plane tickets and hotel stays to nine recruits including three that played for the program, the NCAA vacated all of Michigan State’s wins those three players appeared in during the 2022, ‘23 and ‘24 seasons.
The NCAA did not inform Michigan State that an ineligible player had appeared in games for Smith last season until January 2025.
In his contract, Smith is required to cooperate with NCAA investigations and report any violations to the athletics director or a designee.
No part of the contract required Michigan State to disclose previous investigations to him. Section 8.10 of Smith’s contract declares that the agreement “will not be affected in any manner whatsoever by any sanction by the NCAA … arising from actions or omissions on the part of the University or its personnel that predate this Agreement.”
Another section, 8.13, says that “the University and the Coach shall meet and confer to consider and address if appropriate through amendment of the Agreement” any “extenuating circumstances” including program suspension and the student athlete governance model.
Michigan State pursued a negotiated resolution in the investigation, “to minimize the penalties and limit the possible impact on our current football student-athletes and staff, who were not involved in the violations” Michigan State said as part of a statement from athletic director J Batt and President Kevin Guskiewicz on Wednesday.
Smith echoed a similar sentiment Saturday, the first time he spoke since the decision, noting that his staff did place self-imposed recruiting limitations in the spring that helped soften the NCAA’s blow. He said that on the current recruiting trail, his message is that these sanctions will not affect the program’s future.
“We proactively lessened the amount of evaluation days, lessened the amount of visits this fall, we were proactively talking to it,” Smith said. “We definitely are talking about (it with) the current recruits right now, knowing that this is all in our past and will not impact in any way their experience here at Michigan State.”
Technically speaking, Michigan State is now 3-14 in his tenure, and winless in Big Ten play. It bothers Smith that he lost wins as part of the punishment.
“I don’t agree with it, and I think that’s similar to the stance at Michigan State, that we don’t totally agree with it,” Smith said. “That I think we can modernize — modernize I think was a part of the quote — how penalties are enforced.”
The quote he referred to was part of Michigan State’s statement announcing the penalties, in which Batt and Guskiewicz said: “While we accept the NCAA’s findings and respect the process, we are disappointed in the prescribed penalty related to the vacation of records. We understand that the enforcement process follows established guidelines, but we also recognize the opportunity for continued modernization.”
Smith signed a seven-year, $52.85 million contract with Michigan State in December 2023, under former athletic director Alan Haller, who was fired in May 2025. Smith’s contract is 85% guaranteed, meaning he would receive a buyout of more than $32 million as of November 2025 if Michigan State fired him.
Smith is currently in year two of that deal, but the state of his program has brought on calls for his job from fans and other observers. As his team lost on Saturday 28-10 to Penn State — previously winless in Big Ten play — for a seventh straight loss this season, fans booed at multiple junctures.
Haller’s departure in May triggered a clause in Smith’s contract that halved the money he would owe if he decided to terminate the contract early. Smith — or more likely, his next employer — would owe Michigan State $3 million if he decided to walk away from his job before Dec. 2 or $2 million after that date.
Tucker was fired in September 2023 for sexual misconduct and is currently in litigation with the university over the status of his contract. At the time of his firing, Tucker was less than two years into a historic contract that made him one of the nation’s highest-paid football coaches and the highest-paid Black coach in all of American sports.
Michigan State has two more games on its schedule, Nov. 22 at Iowa and Nov. 29 hosting Maryland at Ford Field.
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