Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith might be a Spartan at present, but his roots are on the West Coast. A California native and former Oregon State quarterback, all his coaching jobs prior to Michigan State were out west.

So Smith was pleased to see the Pac-12 — basically his alma mater and Washington State — manage to claw its way back after sitting on the brink. The league raided the Mountain West, mostly, for new teams, and Smith thinks from a football standpoint it’s a solid menu of teams.

“When I look at those teams, those teams have played really good — I think about football, those guys have beaten multiple teams throughout the years. That’s good football,” Smith said. “And I coached at Boise State, those are good football teams.”

Smith spent two seasons at Boise State as the quarterbacks coach in 2012 and 2013 before becoming the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Washington before becoming the head coach at Oregon State and, eventually, 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 early in September by adding Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Colorado State to the remaining members post-realignment in Oregon State and Washington State.

Then the Pac-12 also added Utah State from the Mountain West later in the month. Then, on Oct. 1, it was announced that Gonzaga — which does not field a football program — would be joining the Pac-12 from the West Coast conference. All of those schools will join the Pac-12 in 2026.

It’s unclear if the Pac-12 intends to add more members or if the Bulldogs are intending to start a Division I football program.

Air Force, UNLV to stay in Mountain West

By staying in the Mountain West, UNLV and Air Force will receive significant financial incentives, according to Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde. That will keep the MWC at seven schools – meaning, like the Pac-12, it needs one more team by the end of a two-year grace period to be considered an FBS conference.

Multiple schools announced their plans to stay in the Mountain West, but UNLV’s future came into question. The school did not sign an agreement to stay in the MWC, but appeared to be on track to stay with the conference, On3 previously reported. Utah State’s decision, however, forced UNLV officials to step back and evaluate what its next move would be. Now, it appears the Rebels will stay put.

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