While Oregon State didn’t make a bowl game this season, the Beavers were among the most improved teams in the country despite finishing at 5-7. They memorably upset Arizona State down the stretch and even played Pac-12 North champ Oregon very competitively last week.
As a result, the school is opening their wallet a little bigger to keep the coaching staff in place. According to the Oregonian, that includes a re-worked contract for head coach Jonathan Smith and an increased assistant pool of money designed to keep the entire coaching staff in place for 2020.
“If Jonathan is part of this Beaver family, and I expect him to be for a long time, as it relates to making any finishing touches, we’re both in alignment on where it’s going,” athletic director Scott Barnes said. “We feel like we’ve made a nice next step in being competitive.”
Smith has three years left on the deal to coach his alma mater so presumably a slight raise and additional years are in store for him. A little more notable is the staff salary pool increasing as that has been near the bottom of the conference in recent years.
Not unrelated to this bit of news out of Corvallis is a report from FootballScoop that OSU offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren is in the running to take the same position at Arizona State after Herm Edwards fired the bulk of his staff on that side of the ball after the season. It seems likely that raises and new deals for the Beavers staff were already in the works following the 2019 campaign but reports like that would definitely move up the timetable for such things to be put in place.
