LOS ANGELES — Jonathan Smith got his first taste of Pac-12 Media Day on Wednesday as he met with assembled media and answered numerous questions.

Oregon State’s first-year head coach — who was a standout quarterback at the turn of the century when the Beavers reached new heights — has quite the task ahead, one that might best be described as daunting.

Smith’s rebuilding job certainly does not start off easily: The Beavers open with a trip to perennial national power Ohio State on Sept. 1.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Smith said. “I’ve never been in that stadium. I bet none of these kids have been in the state, let alone the stadium. So it’s one way to start. We’re going to go in there swinging. We’re going to go in there with an opportunity, we only get 12 Saturdays guaranteed, and see where we’re at.

“I think it’s great to be on a national stage, at a national power, to experience that. But really be focused on improvement from that game to the next to the next and the process of it.”

Improvement is one of two key areas, along with competing, that Smith mentioned will help the Beavers find success — whether on the scoreboard or in the growth and development of the program — this season and beyond.

“I don’t want to shy away from anything week in and week out,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, I think it’s about winning football games. I think it’s important to get the foundation right and being able to build things off of that.

“But I want to see them competing for 60 minutes, and I want to see them improving and working to improve from Game 1 to Game 12.”

After what many of the players have gone through the past few seasons — especially last year’s 1-11 campaign that saw coach Gary Andersen depart after six games — Smith knows it will take some time and effort to change the culture.

“I think it’s important to work at it on a daily basis,” he said. “You don’t just talk about it, and have a team meeting two days later and talk about it again. I think it’s a day-to-day process. I think you point out when it’s going well, you point it out when it’s not going right and it’s lower than the standard.

“So I think the culture in that process is a day-to-day thing, and we’re working at it.”

Still, Smith knows that if wins do not come, that process can become more difficult to preach.

“That’s not easy. It’s not,” he said. “You’ve got to work at it and continue to sell the message and continue to improve. But at the end of the day, the thing is about winning and finding ways to win games, and that’s definitely a huge piece of building.”

While it is likely nothing will come easy this season — and most people outside of the program do not expect much success — Smith said he likes the positive vibe he gets from around Corvallis and the fan base.

“I think there is some excitement. I really do,” Smith said. “I think it’s a fresh start, obviously … with me coming back. We’ve got a lot of former players coming back, which has been a bunch of fun, and they’re excited.

“I think that’s important for our players to see some of these former guys that have played, done some great things, to come back, talk about their experience at Oregon State and Corvallis to really let these guys know that it is a great place. You can do some great things here. So I think it’s an exciting time.”

Lindgren will call plays

While offensive coordinator at Washington the past four seasons, one of Smith’s roles with the Huskies was to call plays.

That will not be part of the job description this season, as Smith focuses on a plethora of other tasks on game days.

Instead, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren will take on the play-calling responsibility. But Smith will likely have some input.

“I’m going to be a little bit involved, but I feel like that whole offensive side with Brian, Jim Michalczik (run game coordinator/offensive line/associate head coach), it’s in good hands,” Smith said. “Those guys have done it a long time in this league, and they’ll do it.”

Will Smith miss it?

“Hundred percent. I love that part, the strategy, the getting ready to call, all those things that come with it,” he said. “But I felt like taking on this job, it’s really important to let your coaches kind of coach. And then I needed to learn what this head coaching piece is like and try to elevate my game from Year 1 to Year 2 to Year 3 and that aspect.”

Riley’s new role

Mike Riley spent two terms as head coach at Oregon State and was the tight ends coach under Smith until taking a job with the San Antonio franchise in the Alliance of American Football League. But he will still have a role on Smith’s staff.

Riley will not be coaching tight ends — Brian Wozniak was elevated to that position on Tuesday — but will still serve as a bit of a consultant and more.

“He’ll be in an off-field role, so he won’t be coaching the players on the day-to-day,” Smith said. “But a lot of that, whether it’s the game-plan aspect in identifying recruits, getting visits to people on campus, knowing this league, knowing high school coaches, all of that he’ll contribute to.”