Former Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith is leaving the Washington offensive coordinator job to head back home.
Former Oregon State QB Jonathan Smith returning as head coach
He’s had his ups and downs as Washington’s offensive coordinator.
Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
At Oregon State blog Building the Dam, they’ve been talking about hiring Smith since 2011, back when he was an assistant at Montana. He’s since landed at Boise State before following Chris Petersen to the Pac-12. Here’s what BTD had to say when Gary Andersen vacated the job this time around:
The OSU legend and leader of the Fiesta Bowl Beavers has been toiling around the assistant coaching ranks for a number of years. Following the conclusion of his career he was a grad assistant under both Erickson and Riley before heading to Idaho as the QB coach and eventually hooking up with Chris Peterson in Boise. The current Washington offensive coordinator has been thought of as an up an coming coach for a number of years, and is bound to land a head coaching job soon. Would it be risky? Sure, but at this point I think OSU needs to take chance.
Smith hasn’t been the most popular OC among UW fans. During 2016’s Playoff run, UW Dawg Pound felt compelled to critique its own critiques of him, but concerns about offense returned in 2017, with coaching listed among personnel as a prominent reason.
Previously, Cal OC Beau Baldwin had been reported to be the hire, but obviously that didn’t happen. OSU also looked into Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall, and former Florida head coach Jim McElwain, SB Nation reported a week ago.
Roll through Building the Dam for more react to the news.
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