Jonathan Smith — Michigan State, November 2023

Smith took the Michigan State job after his Oregon State team finished 8-3 and the conference imploded around him; the choice to leave a working Pac-12 program for the Spartans was not the obvious move. Year one (5-7) was the install year on a roster that had been recruited to two different schemes under two different head coaches. The hire reads as a long-arc bet on the Smith operation — the Oregon State years (2018-2023, 9 of 11 starting QBs were transfer-portal additions) are the closest analog to what East Lansing needs. Provisional rank.