New Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith's early checklist all about recruiting

EAST LANSING — The introductions are done, at least formally. Now comes the work.

New coach Jonathan Smith admits there is plenty to be done to rebuild Michigan State football going into his first few days on the job.

“There's no doubt that some of the goal of this — the sustainability, the winning and all that — that takes some hard work,” Smith said after his formal introduction Tuesday. “There's no sugarcoating it here. We're diving into it from Day 1. I'm excited about that. And I think people understand there's some serious work to do.”

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And before the 44-year-old can move his family from Oregon, and well before he can begin implementing his vision and infusing his culture and installing his game plans, there is a checklist of things Smith must do in the coming weeks.

Much of it revolves around recruiting, on many different fronts, and all of it is interconnected with a new coach from a far-off place arriving somewhere he himself needs to learn about on the fly.

Here are the four most important things Smith must deal with in his first month at MSU:

Build relationships

Everything Smith has said he wants to do begins with getting to know people: The players on MSU’s roster, the staff on campus, influencers in the community, high school coaches around the region and so on.

Smith had dinner with MSU hoops coach Tom Izzo on Sunday. He met with his new players Monday and also spent an hour in his office with former football coach Mark Dantonio. He spoke at length with Harlon Barnett, who served since September as interim coach after Mel Tucker’s firing. Before taking in MSU's basketball game Tuesday night, Smith hadn’t even taken a walk yet to familiarize himself with MSU’s campus.

“I've been in that office grinding,” he said.

One of the biggest things, though, will be when he gets out to take a drive and get into the hallways of high schools. That will require a GPS and learning who the coaches are where the talent is in the three- to four-hour radius from campus he plans to attack — something he’ll be learning from scratch after spending his entire life out west in California, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Washington.

“I think it's really important, and I've got some ground to make up. There's no other way to say it,” Smith said of meeting high school coaches. “So we want to dive into that part as well. We want to make sure that they are welcome.”

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Assemble a staff

As for Barnett, Smith said there has not been any determination on offering the longtime Dantonio and Tucker assistant a spot on his staff. But he came away with a strong impression.

“We talked about hiring,” said Smith, adding no decisions have yet been made. “It's going to be a process that's going to take a little bit of time. It's not going to be just a quick-fix mentality on that. But my impressions were, in an hour, that guy is a good man.”

The (Portland) Oregonian on Sunday reported Smith plans to bring five of the 10 assistant coaches from his Oregon State staff: offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren, secondary coach Blue Adams, running backs coach Keith Bhonapha, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik and tight ends coach Brian Wozniak. The paper also reported Smith’s chief of staff/director of operations Dan Van De Riet, strength coach Michael McDonald and director of player personnel Cole Moore plan to join him in East Lansing.

However, Oregon State on Tuesday promoted Smith's defensive coordinator, Trent Bray, to replace him as head coach. That could affect MSU’s staffing plans.

Barnett, with his deep ties to Ohio, and Spartans wide receivers Courtney Hawkins (and his strong connections to the Michigan high school scene) could be two coaches from Tucker’s staff who Smith might want to keep. Both also are former MSU players who understand the culture and traditions of the program.

Analyze the roster

Smith said he was able to catch up on a few of MSU’s games this fall while making his decision. After meeting with the team, he came away feeling energized.

“I want to make sure they know how excited I am to do this,” he said. “In a lot of ways, I chose them. I wanted to be around them and coach them at this special, special place. And so it's giving us a chance to do that. The response from a lot of the guys, they're excited to get started.”

Since Smith's hiring (as of Wednesday night), 14 players have either entered the portal as possible graduate transfers or announced their intentions to enter when it reopens for undergrads Monday. That includes all three scholarship quarterbacks from this fall (Noah Kim, Katin Houser and Sam Leavitt), along with offensive linemen Brandon Baldwin, Spencer Brown, Kevin Wigenton, Geno VanDeMark and Ethan Boyd; wide receivers Christian Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Henry and Jaron Glover; defensive tackle Derrick Harmon; linebacker Darius Snow; and punter Michael O’Shaughnessy.

Smith said he understands why players might test their options. Players in the portal can always withdraw their name and return to their current school.

“It starts again with just trust, building up this current roster,” Smith said. “There's good players here that, yes, we want to keep it around. … We've had some conversations. And again, I understand it, and we are not down on it. These guys have been through a lot.”

Recruit, recruit, recruit

Once Smith can figure out who is staying and who is leaving, he and his yet-to-be-hired staff can start determining what area of needs remain on MSU’s roster, he said. And how to go about filling those holes.

“We'll use the different avenues to build your roster,” he said. “Again, I'm talking about ... long-term sustainability. Yes, we want to be heavy on the high school side. But you can build your roster through the transfer portal, with walk-on players — I've lived (that) experience — so there's all ways that you can build a roster and we'll use all them.”

The transfer portal opens Monday and is available until Jan. 4. The high school early signing window is Dec. 20-22, while the traditional period begins Feb. 7. Smith also has to re-recruit the Spartans’ eight remaining prep commitments, after six players decommitted after Tucker's firing.

“There's a lot going on, obviously with the early signing date,” Smith said. “But I'll just echo there is a second signing date as well. I feel like you can build your roster 365 days a year now in the new landscape of college football. We want to make sure we're making the right decisions on fit, that work for our place, learning this roster. So there's a lot to take on.”

And what will be Smith’s selling points, to the current players and potential future prospects both in high school and in the portal?

“I think I have a track record of building programs,” he said. “We're going to build some trust. Equal opportunities. A staff that's done it at a high level, a staff that has done it in the National Football League, a staff that's going to deeply care for them on and off the field.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football: Jonathan Smith checklist all about recruiting