Jonathan Smith, Oregon State embracing fresh start in 2018

1-11.

That was the record of the Oregon State football team in 2017. After preseason pundits tabbed the Beavers to finally break out and perhaps make a bowl game in the third season of then-head coach Gary Andersen, the Beavers never met those expectations as they not only lost their coach, but their season as well as they limped to a 1-11 season which was then punctuated by a 69-10 shellacking at the hands of Oregon.

Tempers were high and team morale was low by the end of last season. Not only did the Beavers have chemistry issues on the field, they had them off the field as well as you had several players just going through the motions.

It was the worst of times for the Beavers at the end of the 2017 season as they had a broken team, a non-existent identity and culture, and a head coach who didn’t fulfill his promise to his players.

How were Oregon State President Ed Ray and Athletic Director Scott Barnes supposed to make lemonade out a situation that produced lemons? Simply put, they gambled and put all their eggs into a candidate who didn’t have any head coaching experience, but rather was an OSU alum and one who could captivate this program and return it from it’s cellar-dweller status in the Pac-12.

With the hiring of then Washington offensive-coordinator Jonathan Smith, several redshirt-seniors where facing the fact that they now head their fourth different head coach in their five seasons. From Mike Riley, to Andersen, to Cory Hall, and now Smith, these players were having to once again be asked to buy into the head coaches’ message.

When it comes to the relationship between a team and their head coach, it varies from case to case but more times than not, it’s deeply rooted with the notion of trust. Trust that you’ll always be looking out for a players best interest. Trust is when a coach enters a recruits living room to tell that players parents that you’ll be looking after your son and taking care of him for four years.

“It’s unsettling and it’s not ideal for anybody,” Smith said on what the team has been through. “It was authentic being able to tell my story when I was here. I had three position coaches and two head coaches. There can be some benefit to having different perspective, but that’s not to say that one way is better than the other. The message has gotten through that I’m authentic and have lived through it and we’re trying to dive into these guys.”