Sharp’s Premature Burial Of MSU Returns Us Back To Normal: 180 Degrees Apart

I must have been terribly busy this weekend. I’m clearly uninformed, so for that I apologize. I’m usually more on top of things in the sports world — so how in the world did I miss the news that Michigan State had been eliminated from the NCAA tournament before it even started? I’m embarrassed to come before you as your faithful blogger with this admission.

Unless I’m mistaken — which I hope I am.

The Free Press’s Drew Sharp didn’t take long to wander 180 degrees away from me again — his usual proximity from me. Drew and I were briefly (sorta) together last week, bemoaning the Red Wings’ lack of action at the trading deadline. But now we’re at our more customary positions — one that I share with a bunch of other readers and writers in being opposite of Mr. Sharp.

Sharp, in this morning’s Freep, is almost done pouring dirt over the Spartans’ casket, without the bother of checking for a pulse. He writes that the Spartans, I guess because they didn’t win the Big Ten title, might as well pack their equipment bags, wish the seniors well and look ahead to 2008-09. For there is nothing left to play for this month — the month of Madness.

To wit:

“But all the Spartans’ flirtation with Mexican cuisine did Sunday was exacerbate the collective heartburn of a season that currently ranks as a stunning underachievement.

Their offensive output showed what these Spartans could be, but it doesn’t change what they are right now — a big disappointment nationally.

They scored 103 points against Indiana, but there remain almost as many questions as to why the Spartans’ personality deviates so radically between games.”

A stunning underachievement? A big disappointment nationally? It’s a Top 25 program that lost some tough road games, yet took care of business at home, going undefeated. And there aren’t any road games, per se, in the tournament. Everyone, in theory, is in the same boat in that regard.

Oh that’s right — the Spartans have been eliminated from the post-season.

Sharp has the scoop; MSU is going to be on the sidelines, without hope. For you cannot win the Final Four if you’re not even invited in the door.

Ahh, but upon reading further, we have coach Tom Izzo to set everyone straight.

“I think a few of our guys had their dreams shattered when we had an opportunity to win the league and didn’t,” he said. “But it’s really a mark of some special guys to get back up. It’s March. March is a great time around Michigan State, and we’re going to try to make it a special month if we keep playing well.”

Whew! The Spartans are still alive after all!

Winning league titles are nice. Winning a tough road game along the way would be even nicer. Finishing in the Top Ten would have been awesome. None of that happened. But that hardly means the Spartans are underachieving disappointments. Now, if they get bumped out of the tourney in the first round (which they’ve done), that’s another story. And just because the Spartans have shown a maddening occasion to let something special slip through their grasp, it’s foolish to dismiss their March chances.

Or has Sharp forgotten about Villanova in 1985, or North Carolina State in 1983?

College basketball is like the NHL that way. It’s not how you finish … the regular season, but how you do in the school of bracketology.

Besides, how can ending the season by beating a fellow Top 25 school by nearly 30 points — albeit at home — be disappointing? Tournament champs have gone into the post-season with much less momentum, that’s for sure.

MSU’s Revolving Door Must Stop With Dantonio

The words were strongly prophetic, but considering who was speaking them, they were also sopping wet with irony.

“We need to build stability here, instead of changing coaches every gosh darn three or four years.”

The speaker was former MSU football coach John L. Smith. And he spoke them to me, over a telephone, for a preseason, published profile prior to the 2006 season.

Well, here it is 2007, and right on schedule, the Spartans have a new football coach — as they do every gosh darn three or four years.

Stability, Smith’s word, has been hard to come by in East Lansing ever since George Perles hung them up after the 1994 season. Nick Saban, awash in rumors he was NFL-bound, lasted from ’95-’99, but they were five distracted years — with annual speculation about his fleeing to the pros. Then, after all was said and done, he took his whistle and chalkboard to LSU. The NFL would have to wait. Bobby Williams was a disaster from 2000-02. Then Smith, despite a denial on national TV, was named coach in early 2003. His reign lasted four seasons, but they were pock-marked with player behavioral problems and, in bottom line fashion, more losses than made alumni and administration comfy.

So here comes Mark Dantonio, a former Spartans assistant and fresh off three relatively successful years at Cincinnati. And here’s hoping he’s given more than the token 3-5 years to turn things around.

If you look at the history of college athletics, success is rooted in there not being a revolving door in the coach’s office. Unlike the pros, where “quick fixes” can be attained via free agency or trades or high draft picks, it takes time to build at the college level. There’s recruiting and teaching and weeding out the problem children, and more recruiting, and momentum that needs to be gained and support that needs to be garnered. It just doesn’t happen in two or three years.

Now, this isn’t to say that MSU erred in releasing Smith, who at times acted the fool and was mocked more than he was respected by the media, often times. But if the powers that be, i.e. AD Ron Mason and his bosses, feel that they’ve learned from past transgressions and gotten it right with Dantonio — and so far college football observers think that they have — then give the man time. REAL time. Not four years. Not five years. Barring scandal or frequent court appearances by players, give Mark Dantonio a full six years before properly evaluating his performance.

In Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan has employed three head coaches since 1969. Three. The Spartans do that in a decade. Let’s flip it around. In basketball, MSU has stability. Tom Izzo has been there for over ten years. Meanwhile, the Wolverines have struggled on the court, and coaches have come and gone frequently since Steve Fisher was fired in 1997. Which program do you suppose has been the one going to Final Fours and getting the best recruits?

Ahh, recruiting. Today’s high school athletes aren’t hayseeds. They know what’s going on. And many of them have folks advising them who also know what’s going on. And a recruit commits not to a school as much as a coaching staff. So when they see the silver whistle being passed to and fro, like a hot potato, it may be off-putting.

I have no idea if Mark Dantonio is the right guy for MSU, though there’s evidence to suggest that he is. But I’m not paid to make that decision. The due diligence has been done, the interviews were carried out, and the hire was made. MSU has secured their next football coach. Now let him be.