11/05/24
November 02, 2006
John L. Smith fired at Michigan State.: Rumors around the campus link Nick Saban and Steve Marriucci as possible replacements. Saban reportedly interviewed this week, and Mooch is Tom Izzo's close friend.
Penn State fans will miss him too. Especially because PSU and MSU play the final game of the season and Smith's teams had a tendency to fall apart at the end of the season. SI on Campus has put together some stuff on this. They reference a Detroit Free Press column that says Mooch would be a bad idea. Mlive.com tosses out some other names: Butch Davis, Ty Willingham, Jim Harbaugh and Bo Pelini. And back to the Free Press which says MSU school officials say they'd have no problem having two coaches at once. Smith finishing out the season and a new coach gettign a jump on recruiting.
posted by SummersEve at 05:30 AM on November 03, 2006
Somebody please explain to me why this would be a good career move for Nick Saban.
posted by Venicemenace at 05:50 AM on November 03, 2006
why this would be a good career move for Nick Saban My thought was the same. Obviously, it's not going well in Miami, but it did at LSU. I'm sure if he wanted to go back to college, he could do better than MSU.
posted by Bill Lumbergh at 06:31 AM on November 03, 2006
I think it's kind of funny that only days after he is fired, Louisville wins one of the biggest games of the year on national television. Those greener pastures didnt work out so great huh John?
posted by louisville_slugger at 07:17 AM on November 03, 2006
Miami Herarld says Saban's not interested in returning to Michigan State: ''That is crazy,'' Saban said on 790 The Ticket. ``I want you to rest assured that we're happy in Miami. We're excited about the future. I'm not interested in going back north anywhere ... They'll probably be asking my opinion, but I don't really have one about who they should hire,'' Saban said Thursday morning.
posted by SummersEve at 07:17 AM on November 03, 2006
SLAP.. I was hit.. hit with a pink slip!
posted by warstda at 07:44 AM on November 03, 2006
Somebody please explain to me why this would be a good career move for Nick Saban. I guess the theory is that any move out of Miami's semi-pro football franchise is a promotion.
posted by rcade at 08:45 AM on November 03, 2006
Are you talking about the Miami Dolphins? The greatest football team? Who take the ball from goal to goal like no one's ever seen?
posted by Venicemenace at 08:59 AM on November 03, 2006
Butch Davis would be great to look at, but Im unsure if MSU could afford him or if he's even interested. Ive said all along that it would be great if we could get someone from the NFL. Ron English would be a great catch,and to steal him from the maze and blue would be nice. A couple others that might be good for the program are Patriots Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, hes only 30 and worked under Saban when he was here at MSU, and the Eagles QB's coach Pat Shurmur who played under Perles. Thank God, Mariucci has no desire to coach again right now. Our guys are already pretty undiciplined, that would be taking a step in the wrong direction.
posted by 1trusparty at 09:47 AM on November 03, 2006
Venice: sigh. That post made me laugh and made me cry. They are, indeed, in the air, on the ground, and always in controlcontrolled. But hey, when you say Miami, you're talking Super Bowl (XLI.)
posted by tieguy at 09:56 AM on November 03, 2006
Mission accomplished
posted by gradys_kitchen at 11:53 AM on November 03, 2006
That's priceless!
posted by hawkguy at 12:45 PM on November 03, 2006
Mooch moves to the front of the line
posted by gradys_kitchen at 01:58 PM on November 03, 2006
I am really starting to like Mooch and Sanders combo at the NFL Network, so I hope he declines.
posted by bperk at 02:35 PM on November 03, 2006
You have low standards.
posted by yerfatma at 03:35 PM on November 03, 2006
If they hire Mooch, they will be lowering discipline standards even farther. I've never thought he was a good coach, and discipline wise he is downright horrible. Of course, as long as Ron English stays with Michigan I can't really make myself care.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:10 PM on November 03, 2006
posted by wingnut4life at 06:37 PM on November 03, 2006
I'll be damned if I would get fired,but finish the season.how can you expect respect when you've been canned?it's a joke.if I'm fired,I'm gone.buy me out and say goodbye.and on the other part why would Saban go back to State?he left a better school to go to the league.that would make no sense,but then again neither does a fired man sticking around.
posted by mars1 at 03:12 AM on November 04, 2006
That was probably a stipulation of his buyout, mars. I think that Smith will use the last few games as a showcase (cough cough) of his coaching skills. As far as Saban, I'd bet the farm that he would never go back to coaching MSU. "At Michigan State we were never No. 1," Saban said. "That was always Michigan. It was always UM this or that..." Full 1999 article.
posted by wingnut4life at 05:49 AM on November 04, 2006
UNC has done the same thing, making Head Football Coach John Bunting a lame duck. It's looking like Butch Davis might be off the market.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 08:35 AM on November 04, 2006
I sure am going to miss him. As a U of M fan, Smith was a great coach! I just hope that Michigan's D coordinator Ron English doesn't take the job. Some say that he's the heir apparent to Lloyd Carr.