He is gone. So disappointing. But don’t blame him. The Beavs got screwed when the pac imploded. I’m a borne in Eugene duck fan who’s first civil war was at Hayward field. Hope they keep it going and that WSU and the Beavs get the pac purse strings. Unpopular in my group but idc. Fair is fair.
Not unpopular with my crew, by and large, born and bred Duck who roots for the Beavs every single day that they don't play Oregon. It would be gutting to lose Smith when he's already worked so hard to get them so far.
Not unpopular with any Duck fans I know. We're all disgusted with the way things have turned out with the PAC dissolving. Nobody is cheering the Beavers demise. That's something OSU fans would do. Beaver fans watch the Ducks spring game and cheer for injuries.
Yeah, those were brutally honest answers from Coach Smith and I respect that. But it does send a signal to the Oregon State AD and President that the both of them will need to work hard (very hard) at finding ways to secure OSU's success for the future.
Coach Dickert over at WSU already made it clear through press conference interviews that the WSU alumni/fanbase/supporters need to really make NIL a top priority or else WSU's future will not look good.
I don't know what else you can expect? If he isn't listening to other offers, he's not the intelligent man you thought he was.
He's not so much "on the market" as he's listening to whatever is offered. He'll have choices, I trust him to do what's best for his future and for his family I , for one, will cheer him on stay or go
Read between the lines. He all but said he's gone, the second he's offered a job with power 5 stability, he's taking it. Oregon state got so screwed here with realignment. Right when they are on top of there game too
Well, that wasn't very convincing. Coach said what he had to say without lying. But he was not at all unequivocal in sticking around. In fact, I think Coach did a lot of equivocating. I would say, it is now a 50/50 chance he will be around next year. Can't say I blame him, though. With how the OSU admin has handled this, I would be out of there, too.
That depends on what you expected him to convince you of. That he's definitely staying when he knows he's in demand and the situation at OSU is fluid? That would seem disingenuous to me.
I found everything he said to be believable. Obviously it's a special place for him and he'd probably prefer to stay if he's certain that what he's worked so hard to build can remain at that level of competitiveness. He expressed confidence in Barnes' plan, but he's obviously not certain of it at this point. He hinted that it's not so much about his own contract and more about what OSU will be able to do for his staff and the players. And I think he's spot on there.
Joe Delaney's comment also belongs here: Smith is too smart to give up leverage by saying what most OSU fans want him to say. His circumstances are very different than Lanning's, and there's no use pretending otherwise. This may just be the way he has to play it in order to get the money needed from the legislature.
No. Trust me, being a fan of a once independent team trying everything they could do to distance themselves from not being a group of 5 but not fully being accepted by the power 5 sucks. You really got to build 1-3 star players to be better. No 5 star talent. No depth. Very little 4 star. No coach wants to face that. It is what it is. My school finally got invited to the big 12. But we will see how long that lasts. And if you haven't guessed yet. I'm a BYU fan. Lol good luck to Oregon state. It's a damn shame.
I am glad we agree. And I hope Smith stays. He could position OSU to be a major player down the road. This whole thing has made me feel all the feelings.
Agreed. Dan Lanning KNOWS his program will be in the B1G and still play Power 4 football on the national stage. He KNOWS Oregon has a top brand and will ALWAYS have national exposure & relevance. He KNOWS he can still recruit and secure his 4-star athletes. He KNOWS Oregon has the resources available to sustain success now and beyond.
Brian, Jon Smith is easily a top 20 head coach as we speak. He's too valuable of a commodity to wither away on the vine, so to speak. It's too bad his departure is looking more and more like a certainty but I think all Beaver fans had a suspicion this would happen once the PAC imploded. Surely doesn't make it right though.
UO alum here. I have always believed that Smith and Whittingham are the two best coaches in the conference. They typically don’t finish high in the recruiting rankings but they know how to develop talent and get the max out of their players. I can see Smith ending up at either USC or UW depending on what happens with Riley and if Cohen goes after DeBoer. If that is the case Smith ends up at UW.
Or you could shift your allegiance to the Sun Devils. With Willingham at the helm, they're looking to make some noise in the next few years. Sticking with Smith could be fraught with peril. What if he replaces Riley at USC? God forbid that you should turn into a Trojan fan.
LOL!! Well, I graduated at ASU during the Frank Kush years, and so am technically a Sun Devil. Dillingham is also a Sun Devil alum and Chaparral (Scottsdale) HS grad (I live in Scottsdale) and I do like locals. My heart is at Oregon State, but I am not a masochist. And so I will watch ASU with interest. Since Smith is an OSU grad and someone who I greatly admire, I will watch where he ends up.
Nope. Not a LA guy. And Jen knows it. Kalen will be locked up for the long term in the next couple of weeks. Daughter on UW softball scholarship starting next fall.
Point out something that i know is a huge concern. JS has a young family that has settled into the community and his kids are in school in Corvallis. His career has taken him from Corvallis to Moscow ID, Missoula MT, Boise, and Seattle. Now back in
Corvallis. The family dynamics will weigh heavily in any decision. I believe that he candidly shared his view about potential opportunities given the yet to be revealed path forward for OSU. If, BIG IF… OSU will continue to fund the program in the manner needed to compete at a high level, he will
Stay. Much rides on the final resolution of PAC 12 asset distribution once the legal status of the PAC is determined. He really could not truthfully respond to the question until those matters are concluded.
That was a professional response. I admire his professionalism about it. Other coaches in this state haven't handled these questions nearly as well in the last 10 years.
After listening to the interview, a reasonable OSU fan should be very very worried. I think if the correct situation comes up at a big P5 school he will be gone. I would be very sad for OSU but like the old adage says “ Strike When the Iron is Hot.” He has no guarantee that the future offers P5 funding in the long run. Again it would be another huge hit to OSU sending us further down the rat hole of the G5 world but I could not blame him one bit.
Would hate to see him go, Don't know anyone that doesn't listen to job offers or want to better themselves financially. Doesn't mean you jump ship, Coach should decide what's best for him and his family, hopefully it's Corvallis.
Wow, I am amazed at how many (the bulk of the comments) say JS is gone, will be leaving, or should leave along with the beaver program is going in the tank. Unbelievable!
For me it is simple, assuming OSU/WSU win the final hearings on the court case, and I believe they will, then OSU has indicated they will continue funding their athletic programs at a P5 level for the next two years. If that is the case, I believe JS will stay. Of course if they don’t, then all bets are off, understandably so.
What everyone seems to forget is that OSU may have a better pathway to the CFP next year as it expands to 12 teams, than the majority of the treasonous 10 who are bailing into these three different conferences.
With the ACC ready to fold, who knows what the football landscape will look like in 2 years. Probably the Big10 and SEC and then everyone else.
I still believe in and will support the OSU program that many others look like they are ready to bail out in.
It's disappointing to see certain alleged Beaver fans who are ready to bail. Every school has it's share of bandwagon and fair weather fans. My freshman year at OSU IIRC they went 5-6 and began the 28 year losing streak. I stuck with them. Went to many a game where you'd show up halfway through the first quarter and pick whatever seat you wanted. Went through that wilderness with Avezzano, Kragthorpe, Petitbone, et al and finally was rewarded when Riley resurrected the program. Got to watch Jonathan Smith throw darts to Houshmanzadeh and Chad Johnson at Sun Devil Stadium while pummeling Notre Dame. Through the Riley II era got to see some good teams and great wins. Stood on the winged toilet seats' O at the 50 yard line at Autzen after James Rodgers stuck a fork in them in 2007. Watched some great upset wins over great Pete Carroll USC teams. Then kept with them through the Andersen debacle and to this day.
I'm not changing fandom regardless as to what comes next at whatever level. I have no other reason to root for any other college team. I've always been prone to rooting for underdogs anyway.
This lawsuit is not going to outweigh this. You are about to witness a long road of the depth of the team getting worse and worse. It's hard to convince talent to come with the loss of the P5 title. It is what it is. And than it makes the job of the coach extremely hard trying to make every player be better than there ceiling and trying to convince everybody that everything is okay. He's out as soon as he gets a P5 offer
He’s gone
Yep
He is gone. So disappointing. But don’t blame him. The Beavs got screwed when the pac imploded. I’m a borne in Eugene duck fan who’s first civil war was at Hayward field. Hope they keep it going and that WSU and the Beavs get the pac purse strings. Unpopular in my group but idc. Fair is fair.
Not unpopular with my crew, by and large, born and bred Duck who roots for the Beavs every single day that they don't play Oregon. It would be gutting to lose Smith when he's already worked so hard to get them so far.
Not unpopular with any Duck fans I know. We're all disgusted with the way things have turned out with the PAC dissolving. Nobody is cheering the Beavers demise. That's something OSU fans would do. Beaver fans watch the Ducks spring game and cheer for injuries.
Still worried, that made me more worried than before.
He's outty, and he's not being sarcastic about it lol
Yeah, those were brutally honest answers from Coach Smith and I respect that. But it does send a signal to the Oregon State AD and President that the both of them will need to work hard (very hard) at finding ways to secure OSU's success for the future.
Coach Dickert over at WSU already made it clear through press conference interviews that the WSU alumni/fanbase/supporters need to really make NIL a top priority or else WSU's future will not look good.
I don't know what else you can expect? If he isn't listening to other offers, he's not the intelligent man you thought he was.
He's not so much "on the market" as he's listening to whatever is offered. He'll have choices, I trust him to do what's best for his future and for his family I , for one, will cheer him on stay or go
Read between the lines. He all but said he's gone, the second he's offered a job with power 5 stability, he's taking it. Oregon state got so screwed here with realignment. Right when they are on top of there game too
The Guy is on the market. Period.
Well, that wasn't very convincing. Coach said what he had to say without lying. But he was not at all unequivocal in sticking around. In fact, I think Coach did a lot of equivocating. I would say, it is now a 50/50 chance he will be around next year. Can't say I blame him, though. With how the OSU admin has handled this, I would be out of there, too.
That depends on what you expected him to convince you of. That he's definitely staying when he knows he's in demand and the situation at OSU is fluid? That would seem disingenuous to me.
I found everything he said to be believable. Obviously it's a special place for him and he'd probably prefer to stay if he's certain that what he's worked so hard to build can remain at that level of competitiveness. He expressed confidence in Barnes' plan, but he's obviously not certain of it at this point. He hinted that it's not so much about his own contract and more about what OSU will be able to do for his staff and the players. And I think he's spot on there.
Yeah. A big difference between what he communicated and what Dan Lanning said.
I think that's an apples-to-orange comparison. Lanning knows what is in his school's immediate future. Smith is not so sure.
Joe Delaney's comment also belongs here: Smith is too smart to give up leverage by saying what most OSU fans want him to say. His circumstances are very different than Lanning's, and there's no use pretending otherwise. This may just be the way he has to play it in order to get the money needed from the legislature.
No. Trust me, being a fan of a once independent team trying everything they could do to distance themselves from not being a group of 5 but not fully being accepted by the power 5 sucks. You really got to build 1-3 star players to be better. No 5 star talent. No depth. Very little 4 star. No coach wants to face that. It is what it is. My school finally got invited to the big 12. But we will see how long that lasts. And if you haven't guessed yet. I'm a BYU fan. Lol good luck to Oregon state. It's a damn shame.
I agree. The context of Smiths interview shows me a lot of doubt that he stays. That’s all. I know their situation is different.
I am glad we agree. And I hope Smith stays. He could position OSU to be a major player down the road. This whole thing has made me feel all the feelings.
How can Smith position OSU to be a major player without a P5 conference? Wishful thinking
He seemed to say that he would not coach a school that was not in a strong P5 conference; that was non negotiable.
Agreed. Dan Lanning KNOWS his program will be in the B1G and still play Power 4 football on the national stage. He KNOWS Oregon has a top brand and will ALWAYS have national exposure & relevance. He KNOWS he can still recruit and secure his 4-star athletes. He KNOWS Oregon has the resources available to sustain success now and beyond.
Brian, Jon Smith is easily a top 20 head coach as we speak. He's too valuable of a commodity to wither away on the vine, so to speak. It's too bad his departure is looking more and more like a certainty but I think all Beaver fans had a suspicion this would happen once the PAC imploded. Surely doesn't make it right though.
Since OSU is no longer worthy of my support, maybe I will just follow Smith where he goes. I could do worse.
How can we miss you if you don’t leave?
UO alum here. I have always believed that Smith and Whittingham are the two best coaches in the conference. They typically don’t finish high in the recruiting rankings but they know how to develop talent and get the max out of their players. I can see Smith ending up at either USC or UW depending on what happens with Riley and if Cohen goes after DeBoer. If that is the case Smith ends up at UW.
Or you could shift your allegiance to the Sun Devils. With Willingham at the helm, they're looking to make some noise in the next few years. Sticking with Smith could be fraught with peril. What if he replaces Riley at USC? God forbid that you should turn into a Trojan fan.
LOL!! Well, I graduated at ASU during the Frank Kush years, and so am technically a Sun Devil. Dillingham is also a Sun Devil alum and Chaparral (Scottsdale) HS grad (I live in Scottsdale) and I do like locals. My heart is at Oregon State, but I am not a masochist. And so I will watch ASU with interest. Since Smith is an OSU grad and someone who I greatly admire, I will watch where he ends up.
Dillingham
Lol
If Riley leaves you've got to believe Jen Cohen will be after him since they worked together at UW.
Nope. Not a LA guy. And Jen knows it. Kalen will be locked up for the long term in the next couple of weeks. Daughter on UW softball scholarship starting next fall.
25/75. Bummer.
Jonathan is a Beaver. He will hang out for awhile, but not forever. He mentioned his staff, he's right. Cuts will impact players and staff.
I do not see his responses as candid. It’s coaches double speak. It’s understandable, given the circumstance and timing. But it’s disappointing.
All of this speculation is of no value. I’ll
Point out something that i know is a huge concern. JS has a young family that has settled into the community and his kids are in school in Corvallis. His career has taken him from Corvallis to Moscow ID, Missoula MT, Boise, and Seattle. Now back in
Corvallis. The family dynamics will weigh heavily in any decision. I believe that he candidly shared his view about potential opportunities given the yet to be revealed path forward for OSU. If, BIG IF… OSU will continue to fund the program in the manner needed to compete at a high level, he will
Stay. Much rides on the final resolution of PAC 12 asset distribution once the legal status of the PAC is determined. He really could not truthfully respond to the question until those matters are concluded.
Basically...
Oregon State is a cool place.
I will do my best to excel at my current job.
We're always looking for the next challenge. Who isn't? My agent does a good job of letting me know what's potentially out there.
In terms of staffing and the future. Go big or go home.
He pays his agent to much money!!!!! Honest to Pete, he could put Some of that money in the pockets of his assistant coaches....
It's not his job to pay his assistants. It's the school's.
We know that, it was just a “comment”
The school had better do it quickly, but !!! Maybe they know he is leaving and will not put out the money!!!!
He overstated that amount
What he said, which I fully understand given the circumstances, sounds nothing like what Lanning said.
Absolutely love the guy. He’s gone.
That was a professional response. I admire his professionalism about it. Other coaches in this state haven't handled these questions nearly as well in the last 10 years.
After listening to the interview, a reasonable OSU fan should be very very worried. I think if the correct situation comes up at a big P5 school he will be gone. I would be very sad for OSU but like the old adage says “ Strike When the Iron is Hot.” He has no guarantee that the future offers P5 funding in the long run. Again it would be another huge hit to OSU sending us further down the rat hole of the G5 world but I could not blame him one bit.
Would hate to see him go, Don't know anyone that doesn't listen to job offers or want to better themselves financially. Doesn't mean you jump ship, Coach should decide what's best for him and his family, hopefully it's Corvallis.
John, thank you for the article and the video.
Wow, I am amazed at how many (the bulk of the comments) say JS is gone, will be leaving, or should leave along with the beaver program is going in the tank. Unbelievable!
For me it is simple, assuming OSU/WSU win the final hearings on the court case, and I believe they will, then OSU has indicated they will continue funding their athletic programs at a P5 level for the next two years. If that is the case, I believe JS will stay. Of course if they don’t, then all bets are off, understandably so.
What everyone seems to forget is that OSU may have a better pathway to the CFP next year as it expands to 12 teams, than the majority of the treasonous 10 who are bailing into these three different conferences.
With the ACC ready to fold, who knows what the football landscape will look like in 2 years. Probably the Big10 and SEC and then everyone else.
I still believe in and will support the OSU program that many others look like they are ready to bail out in.
It's disappointing to see certain alleged Beaver fans who are ready to bail. Every school has it's share of bandwagon and fair weather fans. My freshman year at OSU IIRC they went 5-6 and began the 28 year losing streak. I stuck with them. Went to many a game where you'd show up halfway through the first quarter and pick whatever seat you wanted. Went through that wilderness with Avezzano, Kragthorpe, Petitbone, et al and finally was rewarded when Riley resurrected the program. Got to watch Jonathan Smith throw darts to Houshmanzadeh and Chad Johnson at Sun Devil Stadium while pummeling Notre Dame. Through the Riley II era got to see some good teams and great wins. Stood on the winged toilet seats' O at the 50 yard line at Autzen after James Rodgers stuck a fork in them in 2007. Watched some great upset wins over great Pete Carroll USC teams. Then kept with them through the Andersen debacle and to this day.
I'm not changing fandom regardless as to what comes next at whatever level. I have no other reason to root for any other college team. I've always been prone to rooting for underdogs anyway.
As Judge Smails sayeth:
It's easy to grin
When your ship has come in
and you've got the stock market beat.
But the man who's worthwhile
is the man who can smile
when his shorts
are too tight in the seat.
awesome comment Chuck. Tops! and Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too. Here's to carving duck meat on Friday!
Great comment Hopkins. Good take on this and I agree with you
Finally, a realistic response. Thank you for that!!
This lawsuit is not going to outweigh this. You are about to witness a long road of the depth of the team getting worse and worse. It's hard to convince talent to come with the loss of the P5 title. It is what it is. And than it makes the job of the coach extremely hard trying to make every player be better than there ceiling and trying to convince everybody that everything is okay. He's out as soon as he gets a P5 offer
Thanks for your comment, respect your opinion. But totally disagree with it.
Happy Thanksgiving
Still disagree with it?