MSU Trustee calls Fickell ''waffling flake'' on 97.1

Submitted by UMxWolverines on February 11th, 2020 at 9:22 AM

BEEKMAN IS INTERVIEWING HIS TAIL OFF, AND THE BOARD IS SCREWING IT UP!

What a bunch of unprofessional clowns. Good luck at getting anybody else worth a shit to even interview after that let alone take the job. 

We are back

February 11th, 2020 at 9:59 AM ^

While I love to laugh at sparty, the op obviously didn’t listen in himself. The trustee never said those words the host did (whos a Michigan fan) the trustee stayed silent. also he said BoT just wanted to be informed, it seems to me like the Sparty fans are making up excuses and blaming everyone but the culture for their failures.

We are back

February 11th, 2020 at 10:12 AM ^

I know what you’re referring to, he was baited into that.  The real issues at MSU are deep rooted, they should of settled with Blackwell a long time ago. With the Michigan AG looking into the basketball rape cases, Nasser, and all the issues surrounding MSU football no decent family man would ever take that job, the BoT didn’t fuck it up with Fickell. Fickell and his wife had a heart to heart and he decided it just wasn’t the right fit at the right time.

stephenrjking

February 11th, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^

A theory has come to mind, and I don't know enough of the details to know for sure, but this is the internet so here goes:

This is all downstream of the Nassar scandal. MSU has been under siege. It's self-inflicted, but it's still a siege. They hired Engler to fight, and they still have something of a fighting mentality.

Well, it looks really bad when you fight victims of abuse. Even the smallest efforts to push back, and the smallest failures to affirm the position of the victims, looked rightly horrible, and did so in a very public way. Failure to take every effort to accommodate victims (which, to a wartime conciliary, could be seen as rolling over) could jeopardize everything the university is if the Michigan electorate gets angry. 

So they rolled over, or accommodated, depending upon one's perspective.

But then Blackwell is coming after them. And, rightly or not, they may perceive him to just be taking advantage of the situation, striking while the iron is hot. They can't fight abuse victims, but Blackwell is not an abuse victim. He's a former employee. And they have a fighting mentality.

So, in this theory, no way they're just going to roll over for him. If they roll over for him, they'll roll for everyone. So they fight.

But Blackwell fights back, and he has the receipts. 

This is just a theory, and I don't have all the facts. But it makes sense: They wanted to fight, couldn't through the Nassar scandal, and decided to stand their ground here. But it turned out to be bad ground to stand on.

1VaBlue1

February 11th, 2020 at 1:50 PM ^

I don't disagree with anything here, but will point out that there are ways of pushing back and affirming what happened without being a complete asshat about it.  But MSU chose not do so, and instead approached a scorched earth campaign.  You can acknowledge pain and suffering, and show empathy, while also publicly fighting to limit damages.  People understand that the BOT and school President have a financial responsibility to contain costs/limit damage, and need proof of claim to pay out.  Perhaps not limit speakers to 3 minutes of pre-registered BS when you're not advertising a BOT Meeting?

But noooo...  Instead, the entire MSU 'braintrust' (if there is such a thing) chose scorched earth tactics to limit voice.  They went about it all wrong, and continue to pay the price for doing so.

I'mTheStig

February 11th, 2020 at 3:40 PM ^

Good lord the stretches of deductive reasoning in here the past few days are ridiculous.

Mosallum did not say "Fickell is a waffling flake".

Saying Fickell isn't coaching at MSU and not wanting flakes are two different things.  Furthermore, which isn't being presented here (but lots of assumptions are) is this quote (emphasis mine):

Samuelsen and Stone then asked Mosallam if he was referring to Fickell as “a waffling flake."

I’m just saying, in general, there’s a lot of misinformation out there and I think it’s important that some of that stuff clears up.”

JPC

February 11th, 2020 at 9:34 AM ^

MSU, the university, is a small place filled with small people. The consistency is impressive, but I feel bad for the countless normal students who wish their school wasn't a shithole.

There's no reason for the state of Michigan to fund such a dysfunctional school.

True Blue Grit

February 11th, 2020 at 9:35 AM ^

They're so stupid and clueless, they don't even understand the damage they're doing to their own search by publicly criticizing other candidates.  I always have and always will have ZERO sympathy for the people who run that school and their idiot supporters who keep tolerating the bad leadership.

Watching From Afar

February 11th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^

Dantonio was a good coach who took them to great heights. Full stop.

Thing is, that 2008-2015 run of success went straight to their heads. They call Michigan arrogant and out of touch, but that is exactly what this is. "Take us seriously! Look how good we were! We're a college football powerhouse that deserves respect! People should be crawling over broken glass to coach here!"

They don't pay all that well comparatively. They're in a death machine of a division. They will never out-recruit the 3-4 schools within 3 hours of their front door. Their BoT want to be seen as serious adults the likes of OSU/ND/Michigan but they keep saying and doing stupid shit not even related to the Nassar stuff.

At some point when you look around and no one is calling you to come coach there, maybe take a second and think, "is everyone else ass holes? Or is it us?"