MSU Fires Danton Cole
I'll agree to disagree. MSU can suck nuts in everything till the end of time.
this is the only correct take on MSU, OSU and ND in all sports, even competitive flower arranging
April 12th, 2022 at 10:34 PM ^
MSU's carnation bouquet relay team is right up there with the legendary programs in the country, though.
Something tells me they'd still be underwhelming at that too
actually following the agriculture angle they might be somewhat accomplished at flower arrangements
You are my spirit animal!
I feel nostalgic for a world in which Lake Superior St. is a powerhouse. Sparty can continue to crater IMO.
To be fair though, Lake State (and Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech and MSU) were largely powerhouses and won their national championships when Michigan was down. From 1970-1994, Tech won it in 75, Northern won it in 91, LSSU won it in 88, 92, and 94 (which is absolutely crazy), and MSU won it in 86. Red started to bring Michigan back in the early 90s, but Michigan was downright awful for a big chunk there.
The Michigan and MSU hockey rivalry was fantastic in the 90s and 2000s. Some nearly sold out split crowd games at the Joe, very good times.
Better than “nearly.” Crowds for the UM-MSU stand-alone game were regularly at capacity.
Plus they sold out a couple of football stadiums.
Those GLI tourney games they used to have over the holidays were terrific. The energy was Stanley Cup playoffs level.
April 13th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
There is not much I respect about MSU, but Ron Mason was the exception. He did it with class, and those UM-MSU games with Red and Mason in their prime were among the most intense and enjoyable collegiate athletic events I have ever attended.
U-M had a 13-year stretch in the late 70s to late 80s with no NCAA appearances. Which is crazy in retrospect.
But I still feel like you're discounting Lake State too much. 2 of the years they won the Frozen Four (which, I know, hockey plinko) when U-M was a 1 seed in the tourney (1992, 1994). Almost beat that 42-1-2 (1 loss in 45 games!!!!) Maine team in the 1993 final too. They had a hell of a 10-year run in the mid-80s to mid-90s, half of it overlapped with very good U-M teams.
In the early 80's the hockey team was known primarily for hazing atrocities. It got so bad they had to move to this mid major league called the CCHA to cut travel costs and keep the program from going under. Then enter Red.
Correct take on Lake Superior St. In the early 90's, the LSSU games were the biggest games of the year because that's who we had to beat to win the CCHA. Those games were fantastic. I'll still never forgive the committee for the 1994 NCAA tournament seeding. We went 4-0 against a very good LSSU team that year. So the committee makes them our second round opponent in our biggest rivals building (Munn) with the whole crowd rooting against us. The old adage of "it's hard to beat a good team over and over" held. We lost in OT and LSSU went on to win it all.
I would be perfectly happy to crush them in every sport from now until eternity.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Because sparty can kiss my ass.
They had to wait for the CCHA to be re-constituted before firing Cole, so that they could hire the league's commissioner once again.
I mean, the CCHA commish is Don Lucia. That feels like a significant upgrade, so I'd kind of rather they didn't.
I suspect Jeff Blashill will be available.
Looks like FFC will return to the Premier League next season. We're staying up so c'mon in, the waters warm. I think a west London rivalry between Brentford and Fulham would be fantastic.
FYS!! News to me, never knew Sparty had a D1 hockey team.
In the earlier 2000s i recall a very competent, often scary MSU hockey team.
Haha, same. It's just been nice have them be non-existent for so long. Also, I think Munn is pretty cool rink.
Confession: munn was my favorite away rink to play at. And at least back in my era, the state fans were pretty tolerable.
Munn is a nice arena, but it's no Yost.
I always loved playing Taffy Abel ... it was built in the 70s and looks/feels like it.
Ewigleben Arena (Ferris State) sucks. I always played well there but I hated that place. Heat was never on in the locker room and no stands on one side is just weird.
Rank order:
Yost > JLA > Herb Brooks Arena (nostalgia, it's not that nice) > Taffy Abel > Munn > Crescent Point Place (Saskatchewan; I think it was called the Weyburn Coliseum when I was there) > all the other places I played.
Good human being. Unfortunate for him.
But that's kinda good, right? Cuz it means they are doing badly by a good human being even as they do goodly in firing him because he couldn't make it happen as a coach. Win win!
Uggghhhh…can’t agree based on multiple in person experiences.
They needed to move on from Cole a couple years ago but after this season the writing was on the wall. Part of me likes seeing them be awful but it did get pretty depressing and hopefully they can at least rise to semi-competent in a couple of years.
It's going to be a rebuild for them given how poor the team looked the past couple of years.
His parents should be fired for naming him Danton.
Maybe they were fans of Georg Buchner, or just the French Revolution, period.
I'm not smart enough to know what this means, so +1.
They should have foreseen Danton getting his head handed to him.
I wonder if OSU felt that way about us and football. After we rose up and destroyed them last season, I think they'd be more than happy with us putzing around with our nuts again for a decade.
I do not want any rival to get better for any reason.
+1 for "putzing around with our nuts"
I know some bucknuts who want us to be a formidable rival. They still want to beat us.
How else could one possibly describe those ellerbe-esque football years??
I'd like to state for the record that I had a lot of fun crushing them this year
Are you crazy? It's always fun crushing them!
Bummer. And it's always good to crush FYS.
Anastos 2.0? Please.
MSU had the right idea in hiring Cole. Experienced, alum, came from the USNTDP so you’d assume some recruiting benefits from that. Simply didn’t have the results or the recruiting benefit.
In 5 years, finished better than dead last just once (6th out of 7 teams) and never made it past the conference quarters.
If I’m MSU, I’d consider taking a shot on someone like Brock Sheahan (cousin of Riley), 37 year old head coach of USHL powerhouse Chicago Steel. Has a phenomenal record, young-ish, and his ties to the USHL could pay dividends on the recruiting trail. It’s not like their program can go any lower. A boom or bust move should be the play here
I remember how high almost all the MSU fans were with the hire. Of course considering where the team was, that view is understandable
Yeah like I said, on paper it was a solid hire. Just the upside it was supposed to bring never materialized and the program remained in free fall. Right idea, bad outcome.
Getting a coach with USHL ties should help recruiting in the short term, and if you’re able to get some results to follow then it should be somewhat sustainable. The problem with college hockey is that recruiting is done a few years in advance, so it’s usually year 3 or 4 before a coach gets his first recruiting class in.
Hitting the portal hard would be in MSU’s best interest and then hitting primarily the USHL for overagers moving forward. They simply don’t have the profile currently to go head to head with the likes of Minnesota and Michigan for recruits. Getting a roster of grown men is their best bet right now.
Wrong. I enjoy crushing them in everything. They can suck for eternity and we'd all be better.
April 13th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
Welllllll....
It's a little fun.