15 key points from Jonathan Smith's press conference

1. Smith interviewed for the job extremely well. Scott Barnes noted that they were able to interview coordinators first because they are accessible, while sitting head coaches were not during the season. Smith was an obvious candidate for the job and was a target for Barnes from the get-go.

"One of the first individuals we interviewed in the process was Jonathan Smith," Barnes said. "From that point in time, Jonathan Smith became the benchmark for which we would compare others to.

"It didn't hurt that Jonathan provided a vivid scenario about walking into a recruit's home with a polished Pac-10 championship ring on and a recipe how to get there again."

2. Smith was offered the job Tuesday night. News leaked on Wednesday afternoon that Smith got the job, and the official announcement by OSU was at 5:45 p.m. PT.

"Tuesday night, we sat with Jonathan for two reasons: to reaffirm what we already knew and to have a deeper conversation with various areas -- and ultimately, offering him the position," Barnes said.

3. The team met Smith at 10 a.m on Wednesday., an hour before the press conference. Smith had a brief meeting with the team before the 11 a.m. presser.

"The one thing I told [the players] was to understand who is before you," Barnes said. "This is a man that won a conference championship here. He knows how to do it, and he knows how to do it the right way."

"It was really good," Smith said of the team meeting. "We started with what this place means to me, told them my story, and then we had some back and forth."

4. Ed Ray was fired up. The Beavers' president gave a very fiery speech that was well accepted. (Watch here at the 8:45 mark)

"It is not acceptable to be mediocre in the classroom," said Ray. "It is not acceptable to be mediocre on the field of competition. We strive for excellence in everything to do ... What I expect is us to move very quickly to an understanding by anyone who comes here to compete with us to appreciate [that] this is our house, and I've said it before -- if you come here and don't bring your A game, we're going to hand your butt to you. And we have someone [Smith] who knows how to do that."

5. Smith spoke with authenticity and passion. Once he started his press conference off with "It is great to be home" and heard the round of applause, I had a feeling that Smith was going to crush the press conference, and he did just that.

"It is an honor to be the head football coach at a University that I care so deeply about ... Now I'm standing here in front of you guys at my dream job in my dream town at my dream school," Smith said.

6. Smith was emotional. Again, this goes back the last point of how authentic Smith is, which is very refreshing. When Smith introduced his wife of 15 years, Candice, he nearly broke down in tears as you could hear it in his voice, but he held it together.

7. Smith will do very well on the recruiting front. I'm not even a recruit but I want to sign an NLI after watching his press conference. If anyone can sell OSU to recruits, it's Smith, who led the Beavers at quarterback to their best season ever in 2000-01.

"I know how to sell this place in regards to recruiting," Smith said. "I'm very confident when I go sit in a room with a mom or prospective student-athlete, I can genuinely tell them what it is like and how it looks to get it done, because I've done it, and it can get done again. I've lived it."

8. Smith doesn't have a go-to slogan but.... He might have made one accidentally, and it's freaking awesome.

"I describe [the assistant coaches I want] as low ego, high output. That's what I'm looking for. Guy that have low ego and are ready to come in here and work with our kids," said Smith.

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9. Southern California will be important in recruiting. Smith may try to keep Cory Hall on staff for this reason too. He was the Beavs' best recruiter in that area after Brent Brennan left for SJSU. SoCal was an important area in the Gary Andersen era too.

"I'm from Southern California, and that's going to be a heavy base in recruiting," said Smith.

10. Smith is working on assembling his staff. He didn't provide an exact timeframe, but he should be putting things together quickly with the new December signing period coming up on December 20.

"We're in the process of that, and we've been talking to some different people. You'll be hearing some names here in the next few days, but I'm not going to put an exact timetable on anything."

On considering former Beavers to join his staff...

"That's for sure a consideration. There are a bunch of guys out there doing really, really well. There might be a guy or two who are a part of it, and we'll see how it plays out."

11. Smith doesn't feel OSU is that far off. Smith has coached against Oregon State the past few years as Washington's offensive coordinator and understands the level of talent the Beavers have.

"I've game planned against that defense, and there are some good players," he said. "We had a couple of bad breaks, injuries on that side. There are some good players on offense -- the running backs are good, had the injury to the quarterback."

12. Smith will hit the recruiting trail soon. He's already spoken with Isaiah Smalls among some of the other commits already. He'll hit the road in the next day or so.

"At the earliest, it'd be Sunday, but Monday for sure to be out on the road," said Smith. "There are some players that are committed and some that have drawn interest here in the last 24 hours. We hope to get on the road by at least Monday."

13. Smith will re-recruit the current players. There are players that are rumored to be considering transferring from Oregon State. Smith will work to keep the team together.

"We're going to re-recruit the kids that are seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshman, and incoming freshman," Smith said. "We're going to be recruiting them all and getting to know them all. We need to establish trust between both parties, and we'll get that started very quickly."

14. Smith doesn't think he'll call the offensive plays. He's been an offensive coordinator for several years, but he doesn't plan on calling plays at OSU. He didn't rule out the possibility though.

"At this point, no I don't envision myself being the play caller," he explained. "I do see myself being involved offensively; I have a background in it. I've been doing it the past four years in this league. I'm going to have some contributions in it, but I don't see myself calling the plays."

15. Oregon State will invest in assistant coach salary. Everyone can agree that Smith's success at OSU will be in large part determined by the quality staff of assistants that he can put together.

"We have the right leader, and now you put the right resources around that leader to become successful. ... Salary pool for assistant coaches is a big deal. We're going to make a mighty investment in increasing the salary pool for assistant coaches, so it enables Jonathan to get exactly who he wants.