Jonathan Smith addresses reports of Pac-12 expansion

Michigan State Head coach Jonathan Smith may currently be a Spartan, but his roots are on the West Coast. A California native and former Oregon State Quarterback, all of his coaching jobs before Michigan State were in the West.

So Smith was excited to see the Pac-12 — basically his alma mater and Washington state – manage to fight their way back after sitting on the edge. The league was primarily looking for new teams in the Mountain West, and Smith believes it’s a solid selection of teams from a football standpoint.

“When I look at these teams, these teams have played really well – I think about football, these guys have beaten several teams over the years. This is good football,” Smith said. “And I trained Boise StateThey’re good football teams.”

Smith spent two seasons as quarterbacks coach at Boise State in 2012 and 2013 before becoming quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Washington before becoming head coach at Oregon State and finally Michigan State.

To meet the minimum requirements for a conference in the NCAA, the Pac-12 needs eight programs with football programs. They reached six in early September add Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego StateAnd Colorado State To the remaining members after the realignment at Oregon State and Washington State.

Then the Pac-12 also added State of Utah from the Mountain West later in the month. Then on October 1st this was announced Gonzaga – which does not have a football program – would join the Pac-12 from the West Coast Conference. All of these schools will join the Pac-12 in 2026.

It is unclear whether the Pac-12 intends to add more members or whether the Bulldogs intend to start a Division I football program.

Air Force and UNLV remain in the Mountain West

By staying in the Mountain West, UNLV And air force will receive significant financial incentives, it is said Sports Illustrated Pat Forde. That leaves the MWC at seven schools — meaning that, like the Pac-12, it needs another team by the end of a two-year grace period to be considered recognized FBS Conference.

Several schools announced their plans to remain in the Mountain West, but UNLV’s future was in question. The school has not signed an agreement to remain in the MWC, but appeared to be on track to remain in the conference, On3 previously reported. However, Utah State’s decision forced UNLV officials to take a step back and consider what their next move would be. Now it looks like the rebels are here to stay.