What could Clif Smart's retirement mean for Missouri State athletics?

Clif Smart announced Wednesday that the current academic year will be his last as he intends to retire after 13 years on the job.

Smart's departure had been anticipated over the last few years. Not only will it have an impact on the university as a whole but it could have an influence on the athletics program.

Smart has been a hands-on president when it comes to athletics at the university. He's long considered athletics to be the school's "front porch" and has kept MSU competitive and near or at the top of budgets in the Missouri Valley Conference.

When many were calling for football to be shut down after decades of irrelevance during a poor Dave Steckel era, Smart powered through and helped make the bold choice of bringing in the polarizing Bobby Petrino to turn the program around. Petrino led the Bears to two postseason appearances and showed the university what it would be capable of when it plays relevant football.

More: End of an era: Missouri State University president Clif Smart to retire from 'job I love'

There are a few questions that come to the top of mind upon Smart's departure when it comes to the university's aspirations to go bigger and for the job security of those he kept close to throughout his time in charge of the university.

What could Smart's departure mean for Kyle Moats?

When a new general manager takes over a football team, they usually like to have "their guy" as a head coach. The same could be said for a university president when they come in and want an athletics director they had a previous relationship with.

Could that mean a new president would want to come in with their own athletics director? Maybe. But the university already set it up so it might not work out that way.

Missouri State announced in May 2022 that it had agreed to a multi-year deal with Missouri State Athletics Director Kyle Moats — who was previously on a year-to-year contract. Moats' deal ties him to the university through 2025-26. He's paid $185,000 annually.

Smart specifically said following the announcement of the agreement that he wanted Moats to be in a comfortable position at the university whenever the university president decided to retire.

"I'd love for Kyle to end his career here," Smart said. "The board and I got together and we just wanted to communicate to Kyle that we want him here for possibly the remainder of his career. The goal is for Kyle to finish his career at Missouri State University. So we wanted to lock him up but really, more importantly, to convey to him that we really appreciate the work he's doing and we want him to continue to keep doing it."

It's also worth noting Missouri State has made hires in recent years where there is a good possibility that the next president is already in-house. A relationship could already have been building with Moats and whoever to the point where it will be business as usual.

It would be a big surprise if Moats isn't the athletics director for at least the next few years.

Are the school's dreams of moving to FBS in jeopardy?

You don't typically see university presidents going as bluntly on the record as Smart has with their hopes and dreams of moving conferences at some point. Smart hasn't been shy about his hopes of seeing Missouri State move to an FBS league at some point.

With the recent shuffle of conference realignment, Missouri State's name hasn't been mentioned as much as it had before when looking at the Sun Belt, Conference USA and even the American Athletic Conference.

Smart said as recently as May that he believes MSU will move to the FBS "at some point." Reports have linked the Bears to the Sun Belt and Conference USA for several years.

"There's not a question in my mind that, at some point, Missouri State will be playing FBS football," Smart told the News-Leader. "But it's gotta be the right move at the right time and that's just what we're trying to figure out."

The move would be football-driven with the hopes of landing in a conference that would earn Missouri State money via a league's television deal. It will be interesting to see how often Missouri State's name pops up if it reverts to a mid-tier Missouri Valley Football Conference team this season as it's in its first year under head coach Ryan Beard.

There are also a few things that need to happen for football to be ready to make the jump. The west side of Plaster Stadium is dated and the university has attempted to raise funds for a $20 million-plus south end zone facility in recent years but hasn't been able to make it happen. The school has had no problem raising funds for different arts projects on campus but football, apparently, has been a different story.

More money will need to go into the football program and it appears the move to FBS won't happen on Smart's watch.

"I don't know if it'll happen while I'm here or not," Smart said. "I don't want to make a move just to make a move. It needs to be the right move and needs to make sense for our teams, for our student-athletes, for our fanbase, for travel and for all of that."

One name to watch when it comes to athletics

The hot name to watch over the next few months will be John Jasinski, the former Northwest Missouri State president who has been provost at MSU since July 2022.

Jasinski served 13 years as Northwest Missouri State's president where he saw its athletics program flourish both on the football field and basketball court. From what we've heard, he is invested in athletics and could be a name Missouri State sports fans would welcome as its next president.

Jasinski would also open up some possibilities in coaching searches. Missouri State has two years remaining on men's basketball coach Dana Ford's contract and he has a lot of expectations heading into the year for better or worse. A good year could make him a Power 5 head coach and an underwhelming year could lead to a new president wanting to get "his guy" in there.

More: Gov. Parson, retired Sen. Blunt react to Clif Smart's plans to retire from Missouri State

Jasinski has ties to the incredibly successful Northwest Missouri State head coach, Ben McCollum, who was in the mix for the recent vacant West Virginia job and his four NCAA Division II national championships speak for themselves.

Football also had success under Jasinski at Northwest but Missouri State has tied itself to Ryan Beard through 2026-27. He's not going anywhere. Perhaps Jasinski could continue Smart's aggression toward trying to land in an FBS conference.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Clif Smart retiring: What could it mean for Missouri State athletics?