Jonathan Charles Smith (born January 18, 1979) is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach who is currently the head coach at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

. He was previously the co-

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s coach for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-1 ...

. He arrived in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 2014 as part of the staff of new head coach

Chris Petersen Christopher Scott Petersen (born October 13, 1964) is a former American football coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Washington. Previously the head coach for eight seasons at Boise State University, Petersen guided ...

. As a player, he was a four-year starter at quarterback at

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

in Corvallis under head coaches Mike Riley and

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) league. He was also the head coach at the University of I ...

. Smith was previously the quarterbacks coach for two seasons at Boise State, also under Petersen, and the

for two seasons at

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. He was the quarterbacks coach for six seasons ( 2004–

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

) at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

under three head coaches:

Nick Holt Nicholas Holt VSpokesman-Review'' - Washington State Employee Salaries - Assistant football coach employees - Univ. of Washington - 2010 compensation - accessed 2011-12-31 (born October 15, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the ...

, Erickson, and

Robb Akey Robb Alan Akey (born July 24, 1966) is an American football coach, currently the defensive coordinator at Central Michigan University. He was the head coach at the University of Idaho from 2007 to 2012. Early years Born and raised in Colorado ...

. Prior to his tenure with the Vandals in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Smith was a graduate assistant at his alma mater in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and 2003 under Erickson and Riley.

Early years

Born in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, Smith graduated from

Glendora High School Glendora High School (GHS) is located in Glendora, California, Glendora, Los Angeles County, California, United States. History The high school was built in 1958 on land owned by Clarks Gordan, an orange grower. Before it was built, Glendora stu ...

in east

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

in 1997. He went north to play college football at Oregon State, and was originally a walk-on under head coach Mike Riley. Smith was a four-year starter for the Beavers at quarterback, taking over midway through his

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...

freshman season in 1998 and maintaining the job through his senior season in 2001. As a junior in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

under Dennis Erickson, he led the Beavers to their greatest season in school history. The Beavers finished , a school record for wins, and won a share of their first conference title in 36 years, and finished the season ranked fourth in the country. His wide receivers on the team included future NFL players

Chad Johnson Chad Ochocinco Johnson (born Chad Javon Johnson; January 9, 1978), known from 2008 to 2012 as Chad Ochocinco, is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football for Santa Monica College and Oregon State University, and pl ...

and T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Smith was the MVP of the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

College statistics

Coaching career

Oregon State

Smith was named Oregon State's head coach on November 29, 2017. He took the reins of his alma mater in a tumultuous period after

Gary Andersen Gary Lee Andersen (born February 19, 1964) is an American football coach who was most recently head football coach at Utah State University. Andersen has also been the head football coach of Southern Utah (2003), Wisconsin (2013–2014), and Or ...

quit on October 9, 2017, six games in to his third season. Oregon State was 12-36 in its previous four seasons upon Smith's arrival. Smith broke through in his fourth season leading Oregon State, posting his first winning record at 7-6 and receiving an invite to the 2021 LA Bowl. The Beavers took the next step in 2022, posting the third 10-win season in program history after soundly defeating

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

30-3 in the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl. Smith's initial five-year deal in 2017 paid him $1.9 million annually and automatically extended by one year after every six-win season. On January 7, 2020, Smith received a three-year extension through the 2025 season. After his first winning season in 2021, Smith's contract was rewritten, keeping him signed through the 2027 season and calling for him to make $3.25 million beginning in the 2022 season. After a historic season for the program in 2022 and a win over

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, Smith's received a new deal with another significant pay increase. The new six-year deal raised his salary to $4.85 million beginning in 2023. Smith's new deal reportedly placed him at fifth in the Pac-12 in compensation, including ahead of his in-state counterpart

Dan Lanning Dan Lanning (born April 10, 1986) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach at the University of Oregon. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach at the University of ...

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

Oregon State profile

Washington profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jonathan 1979 births Living people American football quarterbacks Boise State Broncos football coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches Oregon State Beavers football players Montana Grizzlies football coaches Washington Huskies football coaches People from Glendora, California Sportspeople from Pasadena, California Players of American football from Pasadena, California