State suffering from "John L" syndrome
according to former Spartan (and Lion) Ty Hallock:
"The Wolverines are the real deal. They're a good football team. They know how to win. They've got a quarterback who's got some moxie. They've got a head coach who's dead determined to run things his way," Hallock said. "Michigan State has John L. (Smith) syndrome. It's a disease, it's eroding Spartan nation. Right now, with their confidence, I'm not sure they can win a football game."
Umm, wow.
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2009/09/ty_hallock_on_wbbl_john…
September 28th, 2009 at 4:15 PM ^
I think we will get all we want out of these guys (and maybe even more than we want) but it is funny to hear a former Spartan saying this.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:18 PM ^
I'm not sure why they blame everything on JLS. MSU's rank Spartanness has been in evidence for years. They lost to CMU in 1991 and '92 (and posted losing seasons both years) under the "great" George Perles. They had long midseason losing streaks most years under Saban. They were a complete mess under Bobby Williams. Other than slap his players, JLS didn't do much out of the ordinary for an MSU coach. Neither has Dantonio.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^
T Willingham plays for ND fans. Domers blame everything bad on TW's poor recruiting and conveniently forget the only span in which CW's team dominated was with TW's players.
Same with Sparty fans. They will continue to blame JLS for Sparty NO! moments without any regards for logic.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:15 PM ^
I've been saying the exact same thing for a week now.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:39 PM ^
We've blamed a lot of last year's (and this year's) problems on Lloyd's shortcomings.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:26 PM ^
I don't remember the exact numbers but I do remember ESPN talking about John L and saying that he had about a .500 record since he went to EL and that was alsmost exactly what Sparty had for all of their history.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:28 PM ^
Himself?
September 28th, 2009 at 5:11 PM ^
He also slapped Jeff Smoker at a press conference.
September 28th, 2009 at 6:07 PM ^
fortunately, smoker was balling on coke at the time and does not remember.
September 28th, 2009 at 6:28 PM ^
video of it? I would love to see it.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:41 PM ^
The guy who has been in charge of the Good Ship Sparty for the last three years is Mark DDDantonio (three d's for three defeats). Here's hoping it is four after this Saturday.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:43 PM ^
blame it on the guy who's not around, classy. it's one thing if you have proof, like carr's recruiting at the end of his term, but you can't blame the current team's frame of mind on a former coach.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:54 PM ^
from dang coaching mistakes. The kids are playing their tail off, and the coaches are screwing it up.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:56 PM ^
It wouldn't surprise me if this is a calculated attempt by Hallock to fire up Sparty.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:01 PM ^
is a way of deflecting the fact that Dantonio will be nothing more than a moderately successfull coach.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:05 PM ^
Before JLS was their coach, didn't we used to just call this, "Sparty Syndrome?"
September 28th, 2009 at 6:15 PM ^
JLS was a step up.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:24 PM ^
I agree. Williams was about as bad as possible, and he inherited some really good teams (before Rogers smoked his career away, he was one of the elite college WRs in recent memory). JLS was a poor coach, but he tried to win and was a decent recruiter for the team. MSU is a middling Big 10 team, and has been one for 40 years. A new coach is going to go through these droughts where they lose 3-4 games against inferior competition. I still think Dantonio will be a good coach for this team, even if his ceiling is Wisconsin or Iowa.
September 28th, 2009 at 10:22 PM ^
I hope his ceileing isn't Iowa or Wisconsin. Iowa is good, and Wisconsin was until last year.