When Jonathan Smith was hired by Alan Haller to replace Mel Tucker, it was widely known that the head coach’s salary would be nowhere near that of the previous head coach. And when Pat Fitzgerald was hired by new AD J Batt, it was fairly obvious that he’d also have a modest salary.
Tucker was paid as one of the top head coaches in college football during that 2021 season because there was talk of interest from other major programs. It now appears that it was a massive overpay, and for that reason, you probably won’t see Michigan State shelling out a bunch of cash for a head coach unless they know it’s going to work out.