To end this first blog and my lack of care of anyone’s criticism, MSU Football can be elite again. But our athletic department needs to set an expectation. With another losing season on the horizon, will J Blatt really allow terrible football or 7 win seasons to be the new normal for MSU. It already feels like we settled for this as a program a while back. J Blatt said he’s been listening to fans, and I hope he’s listening that we don’t have to wait to fire Smith if he doesn’t believe in him to be our future head coach. J Blatt barely knows the guy; just fire him before it gets awkward and too personal. But like I’ve mentioned before, I will always support MSU football and root for a win. But just make the decision and move on after this season.
Hi – I’m Hank, and here’s my opinion after the Nebraska game.
The great thing about the Lon Times is that I don’t have to give a shit about being perfect. So, here are my thoughts on the state of MSU Football.
I don’t have cool connections like the other Spartan accounts that act like they know everything and group together like a strange cult. Some of them even wear jerseys and white sunglasses, like it’s 2005. But this piece is about the state of MSU Football, not them.
I’m disgusted with MSU’s loss to Nebraska. I can’t reiterate this enough, I don’t care that we’re in “year 2” of Johnathan Smith. We lost to fucking Nebraska! But I want to bring up the thought that I have felt since it was announced that we hired J Smith, and a lot of other accounts shared this same feeling. I would like to say, though, I do like J Smith as a person; this is nothing personal, but he’s not the guy for Michigan State. Who knows, he could turn this program around this season and beat Michigan and Penn State, there’s still a lot of football to be played. We’ve all been hopeful since his hiring, but that wishful thinking is gone, and I highly doubt this season salvaged.
How did J Blatt feel this morning? The high-caliber AD who was brought in for his innovative NIL dealings and the tremendous job he did at Georgia Tech. You can’t think he’s too happy with the state of Michigan State Football this morning. He may think J Smith is a nice guy, but your athletic department can’t make money if your ceiling as a head coach is 7 wins. Also, what donor would even want to donate money to our football program right now? I have no connections to the athletic department by any means, but I’m sure if you can fire Allan Haller, you can fire Smith (I know that Haller didn’t have a buy out so if you want to be a smart ass on this, go right ahead). But that’s if MSU wants to spend 26 million dollars (I would get the money ready to buy him out, you can make that money back with an exciting hire). The fix for this situation is actually quite simple in my mind, but would take a pair of balls to pull off. Fire Smith, make a splash hire (Matt Campbell would be nice. Hell, if we can hire someone even better, then do it.), and let’s attack the transfer portal and spend some damn money like Michigan.
In today’s college football world, there’s the rich and there’s the poor. The old system of developing players, like the good ole Mark Dantonio era, is unfortunately gone. Trust me, you can develop still, and I root for a three or four-star player or even a walk-on to get better each season and succeed. But to play with the best, you need to spend like them. There’s absolutely no reason to go into a season with a bad QB, OLine, etc. anymore. Look at us right now, we knew going into the season our Oline was going to be a huge question mark, and all season long I have watched Aidan Chiles get absolutely wrecked in the backfield. How can you even get in rhythm if you know you’re going to be fighting for your life? It’s totally unacceptable, especially when your defense finally shows up against Nebraska. I won’t even mention the special teams; that’s not even worth my thoughts.