Tag: Michigan State Football

MSU Athletic Department briefing Board of Trustees on head coaching search Monday

Michigan State Athletic Director Bill Beekman is meeting with the Board of Trustees to discuss the head coaching search Monday, Feb. 10.

Amidst a firestorm of rumors around the University of Cincinnati football head coach Luke Fickell, the Michigan State University Athletic Department will meet with the University’s Board of Trustees on Monday to brief them on the search. This was reported by Nick Mantas, reporter and anchor for WLNS, a Lansing TV station.

What isn’t a rumor is that Michigan State Athletic Director Bill Beekman was in Cincinnati this weekend. As of right now, Fickell is the clear top choice and the only name who has been brought up as an interviewee who has not publicly declined the role.

Colorado head coach Mel Tucker removed his name from consideration for the role on Saturday morning. San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh declined to interview, stating he had unfinished business in the NFL with San Francisco. Former MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi was a name that was initially floated for the role, but he quickly killed that rumor in hilarious fashion.

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The Michigan State Football and Luke Fickell head coaching saga as told by Twitter

Michigan State Athletic Director Bill Beekman was in Cincinnati this weekend to interview Luke Fickell and Twitter lost their minds.

Michigan State Football has launched into a full-on head coaching search after the sudden retirement of Mark Dantonio. The odds on favorite of the fanbase, and seemingly of the University, is Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell. MSU’s athletic director Bill Beekman was set to interview Fickell this weekend, and the ensuing investigation by social media detectives and media members was, frankly, hilarious. Here is a retelling of what happened, through the eyes of social media.

The first part of this saga took place when the news was broken by Brandon Saho of Cincinnati TV station WLWT that Bill Beekman had landed in Cincinnati to visit with Luke Fickell, instead of Fickell coming up to East Lansing:

David Jesse of the Detroit Free Press originally reported that Beekman would be flying to State College, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State:

WLWT sports reporter Brandon Saho and Detroit Free Press report David Jesse were tracking the private jet at the Lunken Municipal Airport of Cincinnati, which had an updated flight path to Lansing instead of State College:

This picture above sparked a series of funny jokes on social media as fans tried to figure out who was wearing the heels in that photo:

Bill Beekman arrived back in Lansing on a private plane, but he was not accompanied by Fickell:

There have been some rumors floating around that Fickell will be signing later this week, although that is pure speculation and rumor so take that with a major grain of salt. For now, MSU’s mascot advises some patience from fans:

Instead of patience, most fans and media members are choosing a different route: Twitter sleuthing.

The End… for now.

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Colorado HC Mel Tucker removes name from consideration for MSU Football job

Colorado’s head coach Mel Tucker reaffirmed his commitment to Colorado this afternoon on Twitter.

Yesterday, there was a report from Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press stating that anonymous sources inside the MSU Football program said that Colorado head coach Mel Tucker would be interviewing for the Michigan State head coaching job, left vacant by the now-retired Mark Dantonio, along with Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell. Today, Mel Tucker released a statement saying that he is committed to Colorado, removing his name from consideration for the opening.

Here is Tucker’s statement, which he posted on his Twitter account:

As of right now, Mel Tucker, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi, and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh have all removed their names from consideration for the position. That leaves Luke Fickell as the only coach who is heavily rumored for the role who has not directly denied interest in the position.

It is hard to tell how long this coaching search will continue. You would think they would want to wrap it up fairly quickly. I would not be surprised at all if Fickell accepts the job next week. If it’s not him, there are some names they could go after but this could drag out longer than they’d like.

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MSU Football interviewing two head coaching candidates this weekend

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell and Colorado head coach Mel Tucker will be in East Lansing this weekend to interview for the vacancy.

Michigan State Football lost their head coach since November 2006 this week, seemingly out of nowhere and are now trying to find a suitable replacement for what should be a highly sought after coaching position. This weekend MSU will be interviewing two candidates for the job in Luke Fickell and Mel Tucker.

The news was broken today by David Jesse and Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press.

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Fickell has been the head coach at Cincinnati for the past three seasons and served one season as the interim head coach for Ohio State before they hired Urban Meyer. He was the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State from 2005-10 and then from 2012-16. Fickel is 26-13 as head coach of the Bearcats.

Mel Tucker has an interesting resumè that includes stops with Ohio State, Georgia, the Chicago Bears, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is currently the head coach of Colorado where he had an unimpressive 5-7 season. He served under Dantonio at Ohio State as his defensive backs coach, which explains why MSU gave him a call.

Worth noting, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has turned down an offer to interview for the position.

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San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator turns down MSU Football interview

Michigan State requested an interview with Robert Saleh of the 49ers but he turned down the request.

Long-time MSU Football head coach Mark Dantonio retired this week and it has left Michigan State with a coaching search. One of the names on the Spartans’ wish list was Robert Saleh, defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. According to NFL Network report Tom Pelissero, Saleh has turned down the Spartans’ offer to interview with the team, stating that he has unfinished business with the Niners after losing in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Saleh has spent the last 15 years in the NFL and 3 years with the 49ers, but before that, he was a graduate of Dearborn Fordson High School. He also played college football at Northern Michigan before starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Michigan State in 2002. He was with the Spartans for two seasons and coached for Bobby Williams and John L. Smith.

Here is the initial report from Tom Pelissero:

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Seven Michigan State players invited to NFL Scouting Combine

The seven invites ties a record for most MSU players invited under Dantonio

Mark Dantonio’s last season as Michigan State head coach could be his most prolific in terms of players sent to the NFL.

Seven former Michigan State Spartans have been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, which is tied for the most under Dantonio with the 2016 group. The players invited are quarterback Brian Lewerke, linebacker Joe Bachie, wide receivers Cody White and Darrell Stewart Jr., cornerback Josiah Scott, and defensive linemen Kenny Willekes and Raequan Williams.

The NFL Scouting combine is the premier job interview for NFL hopefuls and a large majority of players in attendance will get drafted. In 2016 five of the seven Spartans at the combine heard their names called during the NFL Draft. The 2012 NFL Draft saw seven Spartans taken, highlighted by Kirk Cousins and Jerel Worthy.

The Scouting Combine begins Sunday, February 23. Kenny Willekes will be raising money for the Helen Devos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids during his bench press test at the event.

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Urban Meyer comments on MSU Football head coach Mark Dantonio’s retirement

Long-time rival Urban Meyer commented on Michigan State Football head coach Mark Dantonio’s surprising retirement.

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Michigan State Football head coach Mark Dantonio retired in shocking fashion this week and the sports world is still reacting to the news. The Columbus Dispatch caught up with former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer to comment on the news of Dantonio’s retirement and he had nothing but kind things to say about his former rival.

“Mark and I have been friends since his Cincinnati days,” Meyer told Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch. “I think he’s one of the best tacticians in the game of football that I ever coached against.”

Meyer would go on to say that Mark Dantonio’s era at MSU was the greatest in modern history. You can’t really argue with that. Give me Dantonio’s era over Saban or John L. Smith’s any day of the week.

“I’ve always had respect for the Michigan State community and football program,” Meyer said. “I love Michigan State. Since my Notre Dame days (in the 1990s), I’ve thought Michigan State is a great place. They’ll find a great coach.”

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Former UGA WR Tyler Simmons has strong opinion on Mark Dantonio abruptly leaving Michigan State

Former Georgia football WR Tyler Simmons has a strong opinion on Mark Dantonio leaving Michigan State abruptly.

On Tuesday, Mark Dantonio abruptly announced his retirement after 13 seasons as head coach at Michigan State.

The timing of his announcement, which came as a complete shock for everyone, could not have been worse for the program. Just one day before signing day and your head coach of over a decade steps down?

For recruits, the Spartans received 19 national letters of intent during the early signing period, with seven players enrolling early. These are all players who, despite placing their trust in Dantonio, will never play a down of football for the man they signed up for.

One of those recruits is Jordon Simmons, a 3-star running back out of McEachern High School in Powder Springs, who fortunately has not actually signed his name to paper yet.

Simmons is the younger brother of former Georgia wide receiver Tyler Simmons, who fans will always remember as the player who blocked an Alabama punt in the national title game but was incorrectly called offside.

The younger Simmons and his family were recently in East Lansing visiting with Dantonio and the Spartans.

Simmons has been committed to the program since October, however, after news of Dantonio’s retirement on Tuesday, Simmons tweeted that he will be delaying his signing until he has had more time to think about things.

“Due to the unforeseen retirement of Coach Dantonio and after discussing things with my family, I have decided to delay my signing with Michigan State University until further notice,” Simmons wrote. “I love everything that Michigan State has to offer and I appreciate the love and support that the fan base has shown me. However, with the uncertainty of the MSU program I have decided to take some time to weight out my options and think about where I will spend the next 4 years.”

Simmons told Rivals.com that other schools have already been calling. Some of those schools include Oklahoma State, Virginia and Washington State. At this time, though, Simmons said he is still considering Michigan State.

Tyler Simmons had his own thoughts on this, which he took to Twitter to share as well.

Simmons took issue with the timing of Dantonio’s retirement, saying he understands that coaches step down all the time but to do so the day before signing day just is not right.

Simmons is correct. It’s a shame that Dantonio could do so much good for a university for over a decade, but then to call it quits just one day before signing day shows no concern for any of the 20+ players who signed with Michigan State.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi hilariously tried to ‘squash’ Michigan State rumors

Narduzzi said his phone was “blowing up” after Mark Dantonio retired.

While the news of Mark Dantonio retiring as Michigan State’s head coach shocked the college football world Tuesday, questions and rumors about his replacement immediately followed.

Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell is reportedly the frontrunner for the job — although he said Wednesday that he’s “talked to nobody” at Michigan State — but Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi’s name has also been in the mix. Narduzzi was the Spartans’ (incredibly successful) defensive coordinator for eight seasons under Dantonio, and it’s long been speculated that he’d return to East Lansing at some point in the future.

Well, Narduzzi attempted to silence any speculation about possibly plans to leave the Panthers during his National Signing Day press conference Wednesday and with this perfect video on Twitter from The Wolf of Wall Street.

During his NSD press conference — Pitt’s 2020 class is ranked No. 44, one spot behind the Spartans’ — Narduzzi said he had a feeling he’d get questions about taking over at Michigan State after his “phone was blowing up [Tuesday] night.” He explained he was as surprised as everyone else to hear about Dantonio’s sudden departure.

Narduzzi did, in fact, get several questions about leaving Pitt and repeatedly said he has no plans to go anywhere. He said, via ASAP Sports:

“Rumors are rumors. Speculation… I can’t tell you what’s going on in the outside world. I don’t know what’s happening up there. Obviously it’s fresh. …

“The rumor, squash them, whatever you want to call it. I got decisions to make, too. I’m here at Pitt. I want to be here at Pitt. That’s where I’m going to be.”

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Wisconsin, Big Ten brace for news on Michigan State coaching search

More on the Michigan State coaching search

When a high-profile and accomplished coach leaves his program (regardless of the cause), every other team in that program’s conference hopes that the successor at that program will not be a rock-star coach. Every other team worries that a program will find the perfect fit. This is the reality for every non-Ohio State football program in the Big Ten as of Wednesday afternoon. The Michigan State Spartans have a coaching vacancy. Mark Dantonio has retired after 13 seasons on the job in East Lansing.

Dantonio had the magic touch from 2010 through 2015, winning 65 games in those six seasons, an average of roughly 11 wins per year… and that was with a seven-win season included in the mix. Dantonio won 11 or more games in five seasons during that six-year period, winning 13 in the 2013 season and 12 in 2015. He made the College Football Playoff. He won a Rose Bowl. He won three Big Ten division titles. He won two outright Big Ten championships plus a split championship in the 2010 season.

It is true that Dantonio lost his fastball the past four years; Michigan State won more than seven games only once in that period of time, and people near the program felt Dantonio’s career had run its course. Nevertheless, Dantonio did show Michigan State — and the rest of the Big Ten — that the Spartans could be great, not merely good, at football.

Wisconsin and the rest of the non-Ohio State teams in the league will intently follow how the Spartans replace Dantonio.

The best man for the job is a matter of opinion, but for me, it has to be Luke Fickell of Cincinnati. Remember that Dantonio came to Michigan State from Cincinnati after the 2006 season. Dantonio was replaced at Cincinnati by Brian Kelly. Dantonio paid his dues and learned how to become a coach, moving up the ladder and knowing exactly what to do when handed a Big Ten job. Fickell has certainly spent enough time at Cincinnati and his previous stops as an assistant coach (Ohio State) to know exactly how to handle the MSU job, should he take it.

Fickell has the added benefit — from a Michigan State perspective — of being very familiar with the recruiting landscape in talent-rich Ohio. Michigan State needs to be competitive in the state of Ohio, getting the players Ohio State doesn’t take plus an occasional player who might think about going to the Buckeyes.

If you wanted to tell me that former Dantonio lieutenant and defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi — currently the head coach at Pittsburgh — is a better choice, you would have a reasonable point. However, Narduzzi’s division championship season at Pitt in 2018 was nevertheless a season which ended with a 7-7 record. Fickell has done more at Cincinnati, and ought to be viewed as the superior choice for MSU.

Wisconsin fans should therefore be happy if Narduzzi takes the job. (I might live to regret that comment, but life is too short to withhold firmly-held opinions in most cases.)

There are rumors that former NFL head coach Pat Shurmur and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh are interested in the Michigan State job. Those rumors might not reflect reality, but if we are to take them seriously, Saleh comes across as the much more competent candidate for the job.

We could go on and on and toss around several more names, but the first domino is Luke Fickell. If he wants this job, it will probably be his. If he turns down Michigan State, this search could get very complicated. Wisconsin will be keeping tabs, along with the rest of the non-Ohio State Big Ten.