Just got this from Norm the Detroit Insider…

Press conference @1:30 in East Lansing to announce firing of John L. Smith. Just broke on WDFN.

Update at 12:55 pm
It’s not much more, but here’s the ESPN article…

Read Mich. St. news conference to discuss coach situation at ESPN

Update at 1:40 pm
John L. is saying bye, but not until after this season…

Read Michigan State coach Smith resigning after season at ESPN

My View: No surprise here. Everyone saw this coming. John L.’s biggest problem in my opinion was never being able to land the top-flight recruits. I always remember reading that players they were recruiting were always listing schools like Buffalo, Ball State, Idaho, Purdue, etc. instead of recruiting guys who the “big boys” wanted. Although hey do have a bunch of the top 30 prepsters from 2007 coming in (according to Rivals.com), they just didn’t seem to me to be bringing in legitimate Division I/Big Ten caliber players.

Granted, injuries haven’t helped, but stuff the coach can control and teach, like committing stupid penalties, was never really fixed in Smith’s tenure.

I will miss his crazy quotes, but MSU needs to ante up for a big-time coaching prospect, but I have a feeling the next coach might be Mooch.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Michigan State Spartans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.