Good News: MSU AD Says Mork Isn't Getting Fired
Mates,
As the MSU plane augers into the ground, it looks like the MSU AD won't be pulling the coaching parachute before impact. Per his comments in a freep article, firing Mork 'is not even a discussion'. While being wary of beating sparty next week, given the fairly apparent trajectory of their program this is good news.
Link to article:https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state/spartans/2019/11/08/michigan-state-football-mark-dantonio/2534867001/
Have a great weekend, beat bye and Go Blue!
XM
November 8th, 2019 at 9:30 PM ^
I’m pretty sure our AD said that about RR and Hoke too.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:33 PM ^
Dave Brandon is an asshole, and I'm not sure Hackett spoke publicly about Hoke's job before actually firing him.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:48 PM ^
I also don’t recall any votes of confidence from Brandon regarding RR.
November 9th, 2019 at 3:22 AM ^
Brandon pointedly refused to say anything supportive about RR.
November 9th, 2019 at 9:04 AM ^
+1 for the Dave Brandon statement.
November 9th, 2019 at 7:44 AM ^
You missed the joke. This is the classic "AD vote of confidence for beleaguered coach before said coach is inevitably fired"
November 9th, 2019 at 9:06 AM ^
He'll probably step aside before being "fired".....semantics!!!
November 8th, 2019 at 9:33 PM ^
That is why he'll decide, completely of his own accord, to step down after the season.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:05 PM ^
I don’t think Mork’s pride will allow him to “step down” if he loses to Michigan. Even if it’s a saving face move, state will have to fire him to get rid of his ass.
November 9th, 2019 at 6:43 AM ^
The University also has a larger legal budget. Mork quits he'll have to find his own lawyer to defend against all these lawsuits that are going to be coming down after Lou Anna Simon's criminal trial.
November 9th, 2019 at 12:08 AM ^
Seriously, this is the logical endgame, right? Rumors have already been swirling that it's his last year. If that is basically a done deal, they don't need to think about firing him at all.
November 9th, 2019 at 7:27 AM ^
Beekman HAS to say this. Recruits are listening.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:34 PM ^
They're in the unfortunate position we were in during the last few years of Carr (although Carr was an infinitely better human being than Mork). No way they could fire him, yet he's becoming a hindrance to their program.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:38 PM ^
mr. personality? a hindrance? shirley you jest...
November 8th, 2019 at 9:38 PM ^
Who are you calling Shirley
November 8th, 2019 at 9:38 PM ^
Carr. I liked him until I read three and out. I don’t know what to think of him now. In the end, I think he thought he was doing what was best for the university. It could have been better, however
November 8th, 2019 at 9:59 PM ^
Yeah, Carr can eat a BOD, but I disagree about D'antoni; yes, he's a terrible human, but I don't think he's hindering the program at all. I don't doubt he'll be able to put together regular 9 win seasons, and what else can you expect AT MSU? You have to play OSU, PSU, and Michigan every year, and with Schiano going to Rutgers that won't be a guaranteed W every year.
November 9th, 2019 at 7:21 AM ^
Not sure what gives you confidence he can pull off another 9 win season in the next few years. Their recruiting has tanked to levels far worse than its ever been. He may still be able to 'coach up' 2 & 3 stars, but there's less to work with when unranked players come to town. Also, 2-stars like Ronnie Bell are far and few between and Mike can't go around the nation looking for them. Not only do they have to recruit against UM, OSU, and PSU, but Cincinnati and UK are also decent programs right now. Recruiting wise, they're fucked.
Furthermore, they have the same stagnant coaching staff they had 6 years ago - nobody leaves because no other team wants them and Mick won't jettison them. The schemes they use on both sides are obsolete and haven't been updated since Narduzzi left. The last coach they had that anyone wanted is Narduzzi (and honestly, how he still has a job at Pitt is beyond me).
Its bad for MSU right now, and the longer Mack stays the worse its going to get. He's already had his moment of pride.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:37 PM ^
Carr went 9-3, 7-5, 11-2 and 9-4 his last four years. Other than his failure to beat Tressel during that time, he was doing OK. The bigger problem was that he didn't groom a proper successor.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^
And his recruiting tailed off.
November 9th, 2019 at 12:15 AM ^
I was big-time pro-Carr while he was here, but in retrospect I think of how much talent we wasted. We had rosters that should have competed for national titles, but there was always a boneheaded loss every year and Tressel really ate his lunch once Cooper got defenestrated.
But: Michigan was way behind the curve with regard to the hiring of coordinators. USC was trotting out Norm Chow and then replacing him with the Kiffin/Sarkisian teamup (how good were they? Their whole careers are built on how well they used all that talent at USC). Carr was reheating Stan Parrish and Mike Debord.
This may have been a function of Michigan's increasingly outdated unwillingness to shell out cash for coordinators. Carr teams only knew how to play one way, but it wasn't so much that Carr was unwilling to try new things as that his staff was unable to execute new things.
Because when they tried to adapt new ideas with some frequency and failed. Remember the spread punts they tried in 2003? They were awful. The adoption of zone run blocking? Comically inept. Carr didn't have guys on his staff that could execute this stuff. He couldn't get a really good OC that could turn his talented QBs into killers that he had the confidence could consistently deliver the ball to his talented receivers. He couldn't lean on a tactical sharp to take advantage of the weaknesses of opposing defenses. And, when the game had passed a guy like Jim Hermann by, he couldn't fire him and expect to hire someone better.
Not sure if Carr would have taken advantage of these options if they had existed--he is a loyalty-type guy, maybe the same guys would have been here getting more money--but the option was never available.
November 9th, 2019 at 1:32 AM ^
Someone downvoted you but I upvoted you to get you back to zero.
I agree with every word you typed.
The 1999 team should have won the National Championship. Didn't. Look at the names on that team beyond Tom Brady. It's only right that any casual fan will wonder why we didn't win it all in retrospect.
03 was a national contender. A better coach than Carr probably does it. Carr actually tried to be innovative this season on special teams and it backfired on him. Too bad.
04 was a very good team but with a freshman starter at QB in Chad Henne.
05 Pre-season top 3 iirc but we finished with 5 losses. But in every loss, we led in the 4th quarter.
06 True National Contender. We could've won it all but didn't.
07 Was considered a national contender but we were a paper tiger. Oregon showed us what a supeior scheme looked like. When we ran Okahoma's version of the spread against Florida in the bowl game, we lit them up.
Your point about coordinators is right. I often wonder how different our trajectory would've been if we had hired a spread coach like Kevin Wilson (after seeing he did to us with Northwestern talent).
I've said that the firing of Gary Moeller was the worst thing to happen to Michigan Football. He was recruiting with an emphasis on speed (especially around Texas and Cali) and he was responsible for opening up the passing game. Because of his recruiting and his willingness to air it out, I think he encounters the spread in Texas and begins to adopt aspects of it. If he stays on, I think he ultimately implements something resembling the mid-2000s Oklahoma version of the spread (not full air raid but many parts of it) at Michigan and we have a different trajectory.
Harbaugh hiring Gattis is Jim trying to get us caught up with college offenses.
November 9th, 2019 at 7:07 AM ^
Gary Moeller getting fired by the Lions was also the worst thing that happened to Lions football. Well, other than hiring Matt Millen.....or getting bought by the Fords..........actually I don't even know where to start with what could be the worst thing that happened to the Lions.
November 9th, 2019 at 7:29 AM ^
Moeller was fired from the Lions simply because he was the 'interim' holdover from Ross' staff. That team played so much better under Moeller than it ever did for Ross... Alas, his firing led directly to Matt Millen's hiring. Booo, hiss...
BTW, I was at that game against Chicago. The FG went through the uprights, and also directly through the collective groin of every fan in the Silverdome that day.
November 9th, 2019 at 7:52 AM ^
If I recall, Millen actually "interviewed" Moeller for the job and then fired him. If one were to take the strategy that doing the opposite of what Millen does would be the right decision then the Lions would have won the Superb Owl if they kept him.
November 9th, 2019 at 8:30 AM ^
Superb Owl? What a great name for a rock band.
November 9th, 2019 at 4:15 PM ^
Moeller's firing was complete BS.
He did well enough under the circumstances to merit at least one full season as the Lions' head coach.
Millen is one of the worst all-time Lions hires. A dyed in the wool Pennsylvania and PSU slappy never should have been handed the reigns of Detroit's pro football team. I still can't figure out why he was ever hired. Being a passenger on 4 Super Bowl teams qualifies you for jack shit over infinity squared.
November 9th, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^
Great post and points.
Tend to agree about Mo. His more open, aggressive offense was one of the best things he brought to the head coaching position.
I really liked the retrospective of Lloyd's top years. Imagine if Lloyd had avoided 2 or 3 of his dumb losses and pulled off 2 or 3 more big wins. He'd probably have a 2nd NC and in terms of on-field success he would be regarded 2nd to only Yost in the pantheon of Michigan football coaches.
November 9th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
I maintain that Lloyd didn't groom a successor because his own ascension to Michigan head coach was totally unexpected and bizarre.
Yes, he had plenty of years to think about a succession plan. However, humans are funny and many of them will let important tasks creep up on them as the years pass, or fly, by.
I agree with Carr that RR was never a good fit for Michigan. Starting RR's reign with a 2 AM meeting at a diner in the middle of nowhere is the kind of skullduggery that just doesn't pass the smell test.
However, I also feel that Carr could have handled himself better during the entire episode. I believe Lloyd had good intentions for the football program and university but his execution was quite poor.
November 9th, 2019 at 3:32 AM ^
I'm surprised by the responses to this comment. My understanding was that LC wanted to retire and Martin begged him to stay on. After two years of waiting for Martin to come up with a replacement LC told him he was done. Recruiting suffered during the 2 years LC was ROAD resulting in the tire fire RR walked into.
November 9th, 2019 at 8:26 AM ^
Except that Carr wanted to retire after 2006 and the AD convinced him to stay for one more year. And the low points of his career never approached Mork's.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:45 PM ^
Him returning next year would be quite the upset. Everyone has said he’s done.
Beekman might stop doing random telephone interviews going forward.
Also interesting that the last line in the story is the literal headline.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:40 PM ^
If everyone is eighth about him being done after this season , even more reason we HAVE to win next week over those turds
November 8th, 2019 at 9:47 PM ^
That's because there AD is afraid to do it anyways. No way MD was ever gonna get fired. The Ad is more of an idiot then Dantonio is. And lately that's saying something.
November 9th, 2019 at 9:04 PM ^
Who is this Dantonio guy you are referring to?
November 8th, 2019 at 9:48 PM ^
He's probably already agreed to retire.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:53 PM ^
I wonder if it's on the condition that they hire from within.
November 9th, 2019 at 12:00 AM ^
Dave Warner for HC!
November 8th, 2019 at 9:54 PM ^
Yes he is.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:58 PM ^
Fired with dignity. Respekt
November 8th, 2019 at 9:59 PM ^
True. But he will be forced to retire.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:06 PM ^
There is zero chance he would get fired. Izzo and Mork made sure Engler appointed Beekman. Mork is due a substantial bonus if he is still employed after January 15th. Maybe they negotiate some sort of pay out and he retires. Or maybe Mork decides to stay. Not talking any shit before this game. I hope Mork is out of pieces of his soul to sell but stranger things have happened.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:09 PM ^
So Mork has horcruxes? That would explain a lot actually.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:07 PM ^
I'd rather he'd stay until he has a losing record against UM.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:13 PM ^
edit: I completely misread your post. Time for me to hit the hay.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:07 PM ^
Ahhh...the dreaded 'vote of confidence.' He gone.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:17 PM ^
Just the idea the AD had to come out and say he’s not going to be fired says A LOT about where MSU is at right now as a program.
With that said, I’m very wary about next weekend. Dantonio will give it all he’s got.
Go Blue!
November 8th, 2019 at 10:18 PM ^
I'd prefer he stay and rot in his own filth. The next few years are going to be pretty rough for sparty and we should sit back and watch it burn.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:13 PM ^
Are they burning couches again?
November 8th, 2019 at 10:20 PM ^
MSU fans will be relieved.