Michigan State University may be a deeply broken institution that cares for nothing other than assuring the administrators at the top are shielded from consequences, but this is amazing content. State's coaching search is a long list of what not to do, starting with this:

FWIW: The plane MSU athletic director Bill Beekman flew into Cincy last night on is scheduled to leave there at 2:32 p.m. this afternoon and fly straight to State College, PA. @chrissolari @freepsports @RainerSabin @ByChrisThomas

— David Jesse (@reporterdavidj) February 9, 2020

Bill Beekman went full Jeremy Foley. Foley was Florida's athletic director when they hired Jim McElwain; Foley flew to Colorado in the plane everyone knew he used, resulting in media members camping on McElwain's lawn and taking photos inside his dang house:

Not cloaking your location like this either locks you into a dubious choice, as in Florida's case, or results in massive embarrassment and panic when you swing and miss. That's MSU's situation after Fickell decided to pass on a scandal-plagued job with unrealistic expectations and a recruiting class considerably worse than the one he just landed at an AAC school.

[After THE JUMP: I have to admit that Bert is a cultural fit]

Then Fickell put it out there that the reason he didn't take the job was the fact that MSU is a deeply broken institution!

The last several years of controversy swirling around Michigan State University helped convince the school's first choice for head football coach to turn down the job, multiple sources told the Free Press on Monday.

And it wasn't just Luke Fickell, the current University of Cincinnati coach, who had the concerns. His wife, Amy, and Luke to some extent, had concerns about campus culture at MSU, including lawsuits roiling the football department.Those concerns were part of the reason the Fickells turned down the Michigan State football job on Monday, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press.

It appears that a major institution is experiencing consequences. Even if they are insufficient relative to the scale of the malfeasance, I'm not sure what to do with my hands.

Meanwhile, here's Brian Mosallam—who you may remember as the one guy on MSU's board of trustees whose public statements were less than reprehensible during the Nasser suit—confirming the wisdom of Fickell's decision by hopping on a radio interview during a coaching search and implying Fickell is a flake:

"We don't want a waffling flake, who views this as a destination job." (?)

"Are you calling Luke Fickell a waffling flake?"

"I'm saying in general. There's a lot of misinformation out there. It's important that some of that stuff clears up. We can't make somebody come here."

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) February 11, 2020

And he's the guy who seemed less oblivious than the rest of the board!

What now?

high quality photoshop by the internet

MSU's options are thin. Pat Narduzzi, beloved former DC, didn't even wait for an interview before badly photoshopping his head onto the Wolf of Wall Street guy:

pic.twitter.com/maFEF3oJuc

— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) February 5, 2020

Ditto Mel Tucker, Colorado HC, and Robert Saleh, 49ers defensive coordinator. Both guys are black and probably felt like they were the college equivalent of Rooney Rule tokens. PSU DC Brent Pry also didn't bother to be a candidate. That's a college coordinator turning down a mid-level P5 job.

What's left? Uh…

Sources told The Detroit News that Bret Bielema, the former head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas, is interested in the Michigan State job and that officials from MSU last week reached out to the current outside linebackers coach for the New York Giants.

Bielema bizarrely left a stable, good job for the wackiest program in all the land and promptly flamed out. Rumors abound that Bielema was forced out due to off-field issues—thus his wife tweeting "#karma" after a Wisconsin loss—and that makes a lot more sense than Bielema bolting for a deathtrap job instead of coaching in the Rose Bowl. If MSU is looking for a guy who won't blanch at MSU's culture issues he's perfect.

Former MSU players are rallying around Harlon Barnett, their DBs coach for over a decade until he took the Florida State defensive coordinator job. Barnett took over the #6 SP+ defense and turned it into the #68 defense in two years. The reviews were not kind on Tomahawk Nation, which is a site that knows what it's talking about. He got axed by new FSU coach Mike Norvell—he was in fact the prime reason Willie Taggart didn't get through two seasons in Tallahassee.

Things are so bad that Spartan Avenue is saying that an interim Mike Tressel year is MSU's best option. Hell yes. Do it.

The Michigan State media rises to the occasion

This is pure uncut coaching search right here:

97.1 The Ticket's Mike Valenti just referred to the MSU Board of Trustees as the equivalent of "terrorists."

— Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) February 10, 2020

Meanwhile behind a paywall, Jim Comparoni attempts to explain himself after getting the Fickell story more wrong than anyone else:

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?! pic.twitter.com/7xC3sBjNRD

— Bag War Sav (@B1Gsav) February 11, 2020

Just 99 bucks a year for unconfirmed social media mutterings of someone's kid. Amateur hour all around. Why would you admit that? Make up something less humiliating. Tell 'em you saw it in the bones of a chicken. Tell 'em you have an old war injury that acts up when Luke Fickell takes a new job. Tell 'em anything but the truth—Comp should be good at that.

Parting shot

Evan Prater, four-star Cincinnati QB commit:

“It has been confirmed by my reliable sources saying Luke Fickell is leaving Cincinnati to join MSU, and he will be bringing 4 Star QB Evan Prater with him.” Y’all goofy #BearcatNation pic.twitter.com/eeGKQP8Zjh

— Evan Prater (@evan_prater) February 10, 2020

MSU has no four stars in this recruiting class.