EAST LANSING — Jon Boyer knew plenty about Jonathan Smith, Aidan Chiles and much of Michigan State football‘s coaching staff.
It wasn’t that long ago that he had been one of them at Oregon State.
So when Smith came calling to link back up with Boyer and bring him in as the Spartans’ new quarterbacks coach, getting a chance to work with his former colleagues and Chiles again felt natural.
“In this profession, a chance to work for a head coach that truly values work-to-life balance, and then just guys in this program that work hard to fit in, a chance to be around them again means a lot,” Boyer said Thursday after MSU’s 12th of 15 spring practices. “And I think that’s when you start to see coaches being retained and coaches wanting to stay with a certain head coach, you know that culture from the top down is is going to be in place.
“And really, that’s ultimately what drew us back to coming here.”
After consulting with his family — he and his wife, Vanessa, have two children — the Colorado native moved across the country to follow Smith as the Spartans and other schools started taking advantage of last summer’s NCAA ruling allowing unlimited on-field coaching staff members, up from the previous limitation of 10. Boyer and safeties coach James Adams joined MSU’s expanded staff in January to help build Smith’s rebuilding of a program that went 5-7 in his 2024 debut and this fall is looking to get back to a bowl game for the first time since 2021.
“I’ve been fortunate to work for some really good head coaches. … It’s been the head coach, it’s been the people, how they run a program,” Adams, a 16-year coaching veteran who spent the past three years at Wake Forest, said Thursday. “I look at this program, and coach Smith has been successful everywhere he’s been. He’s done it the right way, recruiting the right kids, hiring the right coaches. But he’s also raising a family. And so I think you can do those things really well together, but you gotta have a head coach that’s aligned that way.”
Adams replaced former MSU star defensive back Demetrice Martin, who worked with the Spartans’ cornerbacks last year before leaving for UCLA and his hometown of Los Angeles. Though he had not previously worked with Smith during his career, which included a one-year stint at Purdue in 2021, Adams now is operating under the guide of secondary coach Blue Adams and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, both in their second seasons in East Lansing.
One of the biggest things James Adams said has been critical is stepping into an established group of coaches and learning what they emphasize and how they want to get it done, then adding in his own teaching touch.
“Everybody talks about culture, but it’s really hard to put your thumb on what that means. But for me, I just think it’s how you do things,” said Adams, a former Wake Forest linebacker and native of Durham, North Carolina. “So as I come in as a new assistant coach, I ask a lot of questions. ‘OK, how do we do this? Or what do we do here? Or what’s our thought here?’ So I can conform and fall in line to the vision that coaches set.
“My job as an assistant is not to come here and just shake things up. It’s not why he hired me, it’s to come in and figure out where I can add value.”
Smith, who is in his second head coaching position after spending 15 years as an assistant, said the NCAA ruling to allow as many staff members to work on the field with players — from full-time assistants to graduate assistants and analysts — has been beneficial for player development over the last year.
“Every position now gets multiple eyes, multiple hands on. The meeting side, the contribution is great,” Smith said. “I think it’s great for the profession in regard to developing more and more coaches. I think it’s really healthy that there’s no handcuffs on anybody out there.”
Offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, who also coached Chiles and MSU’s quarterbacks last season, said his pre-existing relationship with Boyer at Oregon State has helped channel the message for what he wants and needs to see in the development of the position in his and Smith’s offense.
“I think it’s also allowed me to be around and touch bases with some of the other position groups and be around some of those other guys a little bit more,” Lindgren said. “I’ve enjoyed it so far. It’s been a little bit different, but it’s definitely helped being around somebody that I’ve worked with for five years. We’ve worked QBs together. I trust and I have a great respect for his knowledge of the game and his quarterbacks. That just makes it a lot easier.”
Senior safety Malik Spencer, who has worked with both Adamses in the secondary, said having additional coaches during practice has been beneficial to skill development and installing the defense.
“With more coaches out there, it should be no questions. People should know, it shouldn’t be people wondering how to do certain things …” he said. “Anything that you don’t really know how to do, there’s a coach out here, people out here to really get us right. So I like that.”
That, ultimately, is what Boyer appreciates most about being allowed to have additional coaching eyes on the field. Particularly in the era of the transfer portal and getting to know players better, with the goal of “keeping them here to develop them because of those relationships.”
“I think it’s better for the players,” said Boyer, a former quarterback at Northern Colorado. “You look at the NFL model, they have an offensive coordinator in the room, they have a quarterbacks coach in the room, then an assistant quarterback coach. I think it’s a lot, especially for this position, to ask just one coach to do that. And so having multiple coaches that are qualified in the room is definitely going to benefit that person.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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