Tuesday Wrecruiting Wrap Loathes It's Coach of Choice

 Zeke II passed away yesterday, he was 16. I ran into the owners of Zeke after his last game in 2006 as they were leaving the stadium. They were humble people who wanted to see their dog be successful for catching frisbees. And he was. If you ever had a dog you loved, you know what yesterday was like for his owners. Donations in Zeke's honor can be made to the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine's General Scholarship Fund.

Wrecruiting Wrap

Here's a bit of film on a few of our top prospects who are showing strong MSU interest.

Matt Alviti

Brogan Roback

Cameron Dillard

All three are quality prospects that MSU is in on. In the grand scheme of how likely these guys are to commit think of this. Alviti and Roback are QBs so we won't take both. All three prospects are not yet "imminent to commit" like RJ Shelton is on 2/25. However, all of these guys could be committed to their schools of choice by July(Summer Camp Season).

Loathe Your Coach of Choice

Yesterday afternoon, ESPN announced a poll to vote for your most disliked Big Ten coach. For me, the decision was simple, it's Bret Cornelius Bielema. For others is it not as simple. At the time of this posting Urbz has 36 percent of the vote to Bielema's 33.  It would make me laugh heartily should Bielema drop this one by just a percentage point or two. Although, Meyer winning this would be a point for me hating him more, how do you win most hated coach when you've only been a coach for three months in a league.

Don't worry. Dantonio is at least in the conversation at 23 percent. Hoke is not at 9 percent.

A Thank You Note To Mark Hollis

In 2000, I served as a member of MSU's RHA. As such, I attended many meetings to combat problems like student binge drinking at tailgates(Might as well have tackled world peace). At one of these meetings, Clarence Underwood attended. He walked in quietly and sat down next to me. He wore a name tag, after all in 2000 they had just invented the internet and so he wasn't instantly recognizable. He struck up a conversation with me and so I eventually asked him the question on my mind.

"When is MSU going to play Florida State?"

Allow me to take this chance to remind you, I hadn't followed football at all until fifteen months prior. So I had no idea about Nebraska coming in here and blowing the doors off of MSU a few years earlier, etc.

He laughed politely and even more politely said, "Never son. We're not ever going to have Florida State come here." We talked some more about things not sports related after that, sat through an excruciating meeting about I can't remember what and parted as friends.

---

Were it 2010 when I was a whippersnapper in student government and I had bumped into Mark Hollis I suspect that conversation would have gone a little differently. I'd have said "When is MSU going to play Florida State?" Mark Hollis would have said, "Florida State? Why would you want to play them? Let's play LSU, in India, while being cheered on by a pack of wild tigers."

After a weekend like this one, with victories at Ohio State in basketball and a very well played split with Michigan. It feels important to say thank you to Mark. While I haven't seen eye-to-eye with him on every subject (it's starting to feel very difficult to bring my kids to a football game sir) the places he is taking Michigan State are very special.

To use football as an example(this is primarily a football blog after all), he's scheduling quality opponents. MSU plays Boise State, West Virginia, Alabama and Miami of Florida in the next ten years at Spartan Stadium. Three of those four have won BCS bowl games since the beginning of 2010. All the while, he's renewed our more or less lifetime contract with Notre Dame until the robot revolution occurs and is firmly in place.

On top of giving students and alumni the games they want to shell out their money for he's made coaching hires that win games. Hollis and Izzo hired Dantonio back in late 2006 to replace John L Smith. Dantonio has already tied for a Big Ten Championship in 2010 and was a blocked punt away from repeating in 2011. Hollis and Izzo hired Suzy Merchant and she went on to win the Big Ten title last year. Jake Boss Jr. was hired in 2008 by Hollis and won the Big Ten title in baseball in 2011. Tom Anastos was hired in 2011 after a long stint as the CCHA commissioner, many outside of the MSU circles laughed at the hire. Anastos is 6-2-1 against the top 10 this year in a year that was meant to be a rebuilding year. If you're a newly hired coach at MSU, you have a GREAT chance to succeed here.

He also kept the patron saint of MSU sports here. I cannot state strongly enough how flustered it seemed like Tom Izzo was back in 2004.  Yet, when Dan Gilbert came and backed the money truck up to the Izzo residence in 2010, Tom's good friend Mark Hollis helped provide Tom the space, time and probably dollars needed for Izzo to declare himself a lifer in East Lansing.

I'm as excited about watching MSU sports as I have been in years. It's the coaches who are winning the games on the court, on the field, on the ice, on the playing surface of their sports choice. It is important to stop and say thank you to Mark Hollis and his staff for adding winning without destroying cupcakes only.

Back to sports. Who's next?

Recruiting Wars, McJimbers and the Gentleman's Agreement

Earlier in the week, an article was written on Cantonrep.com titled "Buckeyes-Spartans Recruiting War Heating Up". In it, the author goes on to make Pat Narduzzi sound like an angry ex who felt he's been cheated out of things that rightfully belong to him. Further, Narduzzi goes on to talk about a gentlemen's agreement which existed between Dantonio and Tressel that involved leaving recruits unpoached.

Actual photographic evidence of when this agreement was made. Tressel, McJimbers and Dantonio

Normally, this wouldn't be cause to write a post, Narduzzi makes Dantonio look like Matt Lauer in front of a mike so you can't take him too seriously. However, this all came up yesterday again in the introductory press conference for the new recruits. In a Detroit News article titled "Mark Dantonio says recruiting committed players 'unethical'" It contains transcript from yesterday's press conference referencing the Urbaning of former MSU commit Se'Von Pittman.

It didn't sit well with the Spartans coaches and a few days ago defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi spoke about a "recruiting war" beginning.

On Wednesday, the feelings hadn't changed, though the Michigan State coaches were careful not to single out any team or coach.

"I would say it's pretty unethical," Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. "You ask people for a commitment, you ask for people's trust, ask for people to make a commitment to you, but then you turn around and say it's OK to go back after somebody else's commitment. That's a double standard.

"Everybody's got a job to do, there's a lot of pressure, but we're all grown men and we're trying to do a job, just like society today in every respect, whether it's a reporter or doctor or lawyer or somebody else. People are gonna try and do their job, they're gonna do what they have to do to get it done sometimes."

Look, I get that we're all pissed Meyer stole Pittman, but this seems over the top to me. Complaining about the poaching of an admittedly marquee recruit during your Signing Day PC seems petty. Pittman would have been a valuable addition to this class, but MSU will do without him as well.

I've never believed that Dantonio lives by this uber-ethical recruiting code as it pertains to committed kids. He may well have had a Gentlemen's Agreement with Tressel but both OSU and MSU fans can agree the greatest evil of the Big Ten lives in Ann Arbor. For Dantonio regarding committed kids, I've had the feeling that he'll put in a call and if they say no then he lets it go. Coincidentally, this is exactly what Meyer said yesterday.

"Sometimes they say, 'How can you go recruit a young guy committed to another school?'" Meyer said. "You ask a question, 'Are you interested?' If they say, 'No,' you move on. If they say, 'Yes, very interested,' then you throw that hook out there. If they're interested, absolutely [you recruit them], especially from your home state. Is it gratifying to take a guy from another school? Not at all."

Something tells me the process of saying no to Urbz goes a bit more like this though.

 I want to have Se'Von Pittman play football here. Call him and see if he's interested.

No Urbz. No Dice.

 Deploy the hookers and coke, ask if he's interested now.

No Urbz. No Dice.

Cars and tats?

No Urbz. No Dice.

Offer my heartfelt allegiance and this Simpsons Yo-Yo

Se'Von Pittman is on the phone.


What's always surprised me most of this adherence to an ethical code is that it is so counter to Dantonio's on the field attitude. On the field, Dantonio will gamble the whole game on a trick play because he knows he has a chance to play on the assumptions of others that a FG will be a FG and a punt a punt. Why does it surprise him so that someone would be willing to do the same thing in recruiting?

The class of 2013 needs to be man-by-man one of the strongest at MSU since he came here in 2007. MSU has enjoyed the on-field success of an elite program the past four years using elite recruits from the class of 2009 and 2010.  The classes of 2011 and 2012 are solid and 2012 is not far off from 2010 from a rating perspective, but if we want to continue having eleven win seasons and playing for Big Ten titles MSU needs to recruit at it's 2009 and 2010 level consistently.

In short, if Dantonio needs to ask a second time if a recruit means "No" when he calls, that's fine with me. Given the Urbaning of the Big Ten it's going to become part of what's necessary to win in November.

MSU: The Week In Review

So um, kind of a lot happened this week in MSU football. In case you have forgotten, MSU won it's first bowl game under Mark Dantonio. It helps when MSU isn't playing the top QB in the NFL draft, with a lost WR corps or four first round defensive draft picks from Alabama. Still, the Spartans needed a monster defensive game, some excellent special teams play and even a bit of luck to cut the cake against Georgia. Georgia is a very good and very young team, and I'd like to avoid playing the 2012 and maybe even the 2013 version of this team.

I said in the postgame write-up and will reiterate here, this game was MSU's season in a nutshell. You had the "road game blues" where the offense couldn't do anything, you had the "Spartan Domination" on offense in the 3rd and 4th quarter, where MSU scored 27 points in the second half to turn the corner. Special teams played well when it counted and the defense, oh, the defense. Thank you. This season wouldn't have been possible without our amazing defense.

I'll be rewatching this game over the weekend and with the help of Ty doing a bit of film review. That should be fun for next week.

Badgerfreude and a tiny bit about Basketball

MSU notched it's first victory at the Kohl's Center since 2001 on Tuesday night. The Badgers had their clocks out of sync and the scoreboard clock expired before the stadium clock. The refs reviewed and decided the Wisconsin player had not gotten the shot off in time. Bo Ryan summoned his rage. He called the refs falcons. He ranted "Falcon, you falconing Mister Falcons!"

Bielema can't tell time. I've decided this is the only way the clock management of a Big Ten Head Coach could be so poor. He called a timeout on 1st and 10 in the third quarter. A timeout that would have been useful with :02 seconds to go in the Rose Bowl when you'll have a shot at the end zone from the 28. Honest to goodness, he really needs to work on this in the offseason.

Perhaps, and this is just me spitballing, they wrote a clause into his Rose Bowl bonus where the bonus is only activated if he runs the shot clock at the following night's men's hoops game. You know, for funsies. All of this clock mismanagement couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

DeAnthony Arnett

DeAnthony Arnett received his release from Tennessee and will transfer to Michigan State University. Between Arnett and 2012 WR commit Aaron Burbridge, this marks the second year in a row MSU will have the top WR commit in the midwest committed to play for the green and white. I'm currently projecting Arnett as a slot receiver and the heir apparent to Keshawn Martin at the position. Whether he will run all of the fancified trick plays is a different discussion altogether. This is a huge pickup for the Spartans and can only help Maxwell's transition into Cousins job next year.

Jerel Worthy

Worthy announced his plans to forgo his senior season and declare for the NFL draft. Worthy is a projected first rounder and it would be a gamble for him to pass up that kind of money. There are a host of potential DTs ready to step into his place, but his impact will be sorely missed next year. Players leaving early for the NFL is a great thing for Michigan State. Be happy for him. His mom Stephanie made it quite clear Jerel will finish his degree or else... A great situation all around.

Pat Narduzzi

Pat Narduzzi has interviewed for the DC position at Texas A&M and will be offered the job at a rate of pay between 600 - 750k. As I said yesterday, this is not a positive thing for MSU. Coaches leaving for Head Coaching jobs is a great thing, coaches leaving for lateral promotions is not. The fan reactions have ranged from fury to apathy to congratulations. No decision has yet been reached on the part of Narduzzi nor has an apparent public counter-offer been made by Michigan State.

I suspect this will be over by the end of the weekend, maybe even Friday. If MSU loses Narduzzi, expect some upset fans. I just hope these same fans don't complain when ticket prices go up to support the coaching staff in the future. If MSU keeps Narduzzi, it'll probably only be for a couple years until he finds a quality head coaching gig.

Bonus Conspiracy Theory

Narduzzi was "scheduled" to receive a raise to 305k per Hondo in February. Narduzzi withdrew his name from consideration for the Akron gig. Treadwell is making 450 or so at Miami-OH, so one would expect that Akron would be shopping in that price range too. To me this all adds up to the reported 305k actually being higher than that. 2/3rds of a potential salary doesn't seem low enough to cause Narduzzi to say no.

In Review

That Outback Bowl feels like it was a LONG time ago now. MSU had some of it's biggest successes of the Dantonio era and was immediately forced to begin defending it's newfound success. The choices made regarding Narduzzi will help demonstrate how committed MSU is to paying the money necessary to retain an excellent coaching staff. It's a game of inches as Dantonio always says, and MSU needs to win the next couple days to help secure more of these first world problems for 2012.

Has The Curse of Brad Nortman Begun?

It ended for MSU in the most gut-wrenching fashion imaginable. Isaiah Lewis runs into Brad Nortman and Wisconsin kneels it's way into the Rose Bowl for the second year in a row. By beating MSU for the first time in three attempts it's secures it's second Rose Bowl berth in as many years.

Nortman admits later that he put a little extra flop into it “When I felt the contact after the guy ran into me, you’re taught as a punter to go down,” Nortman said. “There was certainly contact. I went to the ground after that. The right call was made.”

Being a sports fan requires an amount of superstition not typically present of normal average human beings. As a sports fan you believe your lucky jersey/socks/underwear/beer/whatever allows a group of athletes you do not know to win their sporting event from thousands of miles away. So is it really so far fetched to think that maybe, just maybe Nortman's flop began a curse on UW athletics?

Since Nortman's flop, UW basketball has knocked off it's fair share of cupcakes as well as beating Nebraska in Big Ten play. Since then, it has lost to Iowa and Michigan State in gut-wrenching fashion at the Kohl's Center. Wisconsin Women's Basketball has won just one game on 12/5. Wisconsin hockey hasn't won a non-exhibition game.




Have I mentioned Wisconsin is 0-1 since the Flop?

As MSU fans who remember the Bo Ryan the Devil teaching his players to flop at the slightest breeze, we shouldn't be surprised by Nortman's flopping. You might even say the Wisconsin Athletic Department Motto is "Those Who Flop Will Be Champions." But when that flop, the oh so greatest of flops occurred in Indy a month ago today, did the devil decide to cash in?

Outback Bowl: Quick Review

How did the game go?

Well MSU looked amazing once the Offense got off the bus in the third quarter. Hondo tweeted, not while driving I'm sure, that the traffic going to the Outback Bowl was awful. I can't believe the whole first half got played before the O showed up, but I'm sure glad they did.

More seriously though, this game was completely a microcosm of MSU's season. No or inconsistent offense all through the first 2/3rds of the season game. Stifling defense all through the season game. Good to great special teams all through the season game.

Sacks

Remember how Cousins was under fire the whole first half? Well, he only got sacked once. This had less to do with the Offensive Line which substituted McGaha to help France figure out what to do... which like luv u McGaha, but WTF. Our tackles were lost and hadn't played a 3-4 worth a shit since ND. It took them almost 3 quarters to figure out WTF was going on. Meanwhile, our D-Line rattled the shit out of Murray for four sacks and a host of bad throws. Well played.


Anthony Rashad White

When he was playing out of his gourd in the first and second quarters and I figured he'd be exhausted by the fourth quarter. But the MSU D-Line just looked better and better as the game moved along. He was a mountain of a man who was an example of his unit today. Gholston was outstanding, Worthy was outstanding, Rush was outstanding. Outstanding game across the board by the DL. Drone was huge. This unit could not have played better in my opinion. KJ from the not so reclined position in his living room noted that 24 percent of plays resulted in a tackle for loss. This is legendary.

Dan Roushar

A great point made by LVSatTOC, Roushar called plays super craptabulous in the first half, but made outstanding adjustments in the second half to put MSU in a position to win. I still think he abandons his gameplan TOO quickly and that's something he should work on in the offseason. He got MSU the points he needed to win the game.

Points for Later Film Dissection

• Why did pass pro improve so much from the first half to the second?
• How did UGA so effectively shut down Bell?
• Why was MSU's D-Line so effective at getting through UGA's O-Line? 

Great win and a needed win. Now time to recruit Worthy(difficult) and Adams(much easier) to stay. More substantive implications for 2012 season coming a bit later this week. What a great win for MSU.

MSU: Always A Bridesmad, Never a Bride

The Mrs. had something to say about last night's game and a clever way to say it, so she gets a bit of airspace to do so below. Enjoy and if you like, leave her a comment telling her so.

Who doesn’t love this movie?

(Editor's Note: I can't say I don't, I wouldn't watch it.)

Okay, Jim doesn’t.  But being a bridesmaid is awesome, and I’ll tell you why.  First of all, it’s way cheaper.  Average cost of a wedding in MI: $26,000.  Average cost of a bridesmaid dress in MI:  $190.  Average cost of a round trip flight to CA: $600.  Average cost of a round trip flight to FL: $90.

How much fun is it being a bridesmaid?  The bride’s sister can go out on the dance floor with a swarm of men around her.  No one’s going to fault her for getting trashed and maybe making a bad choice or two.  The bride can’t get wasted!  She’s got a marriage to consummate!

So who could fault MSU for having outstanding seasons (2009 & 2010) and getting stuck in BCS bowls against Georgia and Alabama, opponents we didn’t stand a chance against?  And what can you really say about the B1G championship game?  We played our hearts out.  We fell short of the win.  Yes, the ending made me feel like I had been punched in the gut, but I can’t complain about yet another season where we outplayed all expectations.  Who expected us to go undefeated in October?  We may have missed the altar again, but we’re still on one hell of a good bender.  As the (sometimes) bitter bridesmaid stands stoically behind the bride, we Spartans will remain stoically behind our team.

So where does this analogy end?  While every bridesmaid patiently waits for the right man to come along, we Spartans have found Mr. Right.

Editor's Note: Mr. Right is also a serial killer?

Mark Dantonio has not just sculpted a couple of good teams; he’s building us a good program.  Like our beloved Best Man, Tom Izzo, Mr. Right is committed to this relationship, for better, for worse, in good times and in bad.

The first time MY husband bought me roses was our wedding day (and my 27^th birthday).  We almost got them this weekend, but there was a delivery error.  Still, I have no doubt Coach Mark Dantonio and my beloved Spartan football will be bringing us roses soon enough.  I do.