What needs to be done for Michigan State football after embarrassing loss to UCLA

I started writing, and even published this article, before the fourth quarter was even over, but it's pretty safe to say that Michigan State football's game on Saturday against UCLA will go down as one of the more embarrassing outings for an MSU team in recent program history.

MSU came into their homecoming game favored against a 1-4 UCLA squad, and absolutely got the doors blown off, giving up 27 straight points in the first half. This game was over way before Aidan Chiles was injured, so there's just no excuse for what happened. And there's no excuse for where this program is at right now, either.

Below, we put together some steps that MSU will need to take to recover from his embarrassing day if they want to keep their fans and donors even remotely satisfied moving forward.

1. Fire Jonathan Smith

I'm sorry, Jonathan Smith seems like a good enough guy, and he was seen as a smart hire at the time. But the proof is in the pudding. No one expected major success this year, but the team was rightfully expected to compete for at least a bowl game, and that even seems like a fantasy. Smith had the support of donors and money to work with, he built the staff and roster in his image, and it's just not good enough.

If this was a close loss, he might have survived, but with a loss of this magnitude, I don't see an alternative; Smith has to go. I didn't expect this to happen this year, for a variety of reasons, namely, it will be very expensive to fire Smith, but it just has to happen.

2. Promote Courtney Hawkins to Interim Head Coach

Just over two years ago, after MSU fired Mel Tucker, we wrote an opinion piece that Michigan State should hand the keys over to their most popular assistant coach, wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins, and let him run the program as interim head coach. The Spartans instead opted to give Harlon Barnett that position, which made some sense, although it didn't work out that well (although the Spartans did manage to retain some players.

It's time to revisit this idea. MSU athletic director J. Batt will need time to fill the position, and Hawkins is still a beloved assistant and is doing great work both recruiting and on the field. Reward him for that work. Make him interim head coach.

3. Start the coaching search

More on this soon. We'll be dropping our coaching search listicle later, but this will be a high-profile coaching search. MSU has deep pockets. Everyone wants to coach in the Big Ten now after expansion and rumored PE cash infusions. I included my preference above...

4. Retain key players

When you fire a coach in the transfer portal era, your program immediately risks a mass exodus. Players like Nick Marsh, David Santiago, and Anelu Lafaele will need to be retained, along with some others. I think this is another reason to promote Courtney Hawkins right now. He's well-liked, and obviously, recruited Marsh personally.

5. Retain recruits

Not everything was doom and gloom for MSU under Jonathan Smith. The 2026 recruiting class has some legit dawgs in it, like Samson Gash, Kayd Coffman, and Collin Campbell. Again, Courtney Hawkins has been a great recruiter and has a relationship with Gash. You can't completely reset the board with a new coach, MSU will need to keep a portion of this class in place.

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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: What must be done for MSU football after embarrassing loss to UCLA