Michigan State is beset with the heady job of replacing Mark Dantonio as Head Football Coach, yet it is an incredible opportunity for Spartan Football to ascend to the next level.

But the results will depend largely upon decisions being made by novices: after all, President Stanley has been on Michigan State Campus less than 6 months, and even though he no longer needs a campus map to find Spartan Stadium, he has never been part of an organization seeking to hire a coach at a Power 5 School. In fact, President Stanley has never matriculated on the campus of a university competing in Power 5 football.

Moreover, Bill Beekman, who is currently AD, has only been in his job overseeing Spartan Athletics since July 2018, yet before that he was Secretary to the Board of Trustees and that is hardly an assignment whereby one develops intuitive insight as it relates to hiring Championship coaches.

And speaking of the Board of Trustees, how much guidance can they provide? After all, two years after the fact, they are still mired in sorting out the Larry Nassar saga, which means they are still managing university business in the “rear view mirror”.

I want to make this clear, I have great respect for the President, the AD and the Board of Trustees as administrators, but collectively they are inexperienced and largely ill equipped to conduct a search for a Head Football Coach, especially identifying and hiring a Football Coach capable of taking Spartan Football to the next level.

Yet by all accounts, Bill Beekman is in Cincinnati today (Sunday) to interview Luke Fickell, and amidst all the controversy, if Michigan State is able to hire Luke Fickell it would be as good an achievement as a first year President, an inexperienced AD and a Board mired in the collateral fallout from the Larry Nassar saga could hope for.

Luke Fickell is a diamond in the rough:

After all, Luke Fickell is a diamond in the rough: he is part of the Ohio State coaching tree.

Fickell is from central Ohio (Columbus) and he was a 3 time state wrestling Champion. At Ohio State he was Nose Tackle on Ohio State 1996 Big Ten Championship team that beat Arizona State in the Rose Bowl. Afterall, training to become a Champion is the first step on the road to building a Championship football team, and Fickell has the pedigree.

In 3 short years he has resurrected Cincinnati Football. In the past two years alone, he has compiled an incredible record of 22-5 (80%) including a conference Championship and Bowl victories vs Va Tech and Boston College. He has beaten UCLA home and away, UCF and high scoring Houston.

Fickell is highly regarded in recruiting circles, and moreover he has great recruiting contacts not only in talent rich Ohio but throughout the Midwest.

If Fickell chooses Michigan State the question becomes, could he lead the Spartans to the promised land? It’s all speculation of course, but he brings Championship pedigree with more positives than negatives.

After all, no one wanted Dabo Swinney after 3 seasons at Clemson, whereby he posted a 6-7 record in 2010, yet after he caught wind in his sails, he won National Championships in 2016 and 2018 and Clemson has been in the mix for a National Championship every year since 2015. Every school wants Dabo Swinney today.

And how about Ed Orgeron? No one (nobody) wanted Ed Orgeron after compiling a miserable record of 10-25 at Ole Miss. Thereafter, Orgeron logged 10 years as an assistant coach until he got another shot. LSU hired him as an Assistant coach in 2015 and a year later he became Head Football Coach. Of course, last season Orgeron compiled a stunning record of 15-0 and grabbed a National Title.

Dabo Swinney and Ed Orgeron had the underpinnings as Champions early on, and in my estimation so does Luke Fickell.

Coaches can’t win without Championship administrators:

Coaches can’t win championships without administrative support and that means championship support: Clemson has it; LSU has it; Alabama has it in spades; USC used to have it, but lost it. So, the question Luke Fickell will ask: does Michigan State have the administrative capacity and administrative wherewithal to support a National Championship program? The Resumes say no, but maybe the personal interviews will suggest otherwise.

Given the current state of administrative inexperience amongst the President and AD, compounded by turmoil amongst the Board of Trustees, Michigan State is not operating from a position of strength. So at the bottom line, it will be Luke Fickell who chooses (not Michigan State) and hopefully President Stanley, Bill Beekman and the Board of Trustees will put their best foot forward without stubbing their toes.

But there are always two sides to the story, so let’s take a look from Cincinnati perspective. Immediately below is an article written by Fletcher Page for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and it provides a view from the other side…and the author suggests correctly, Luke Fickell is not desperate and he will be making a decision from a position of strength:

With Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell  interviewing Sunday with Michigan State football, it’s easy to get sucked into a conventional line of thinking about Fickell’s end game. 

Pretend you’re Fickell, close your eyes and envision where you’re at in 10 years. 

Ohio State? Fickell was born in Columbus, played for the Buckeyes and served on staff there for 15 years. 

Notre Dame? That’s supposed to be every Catholic football coach’s dream destination. 

If you chose option A, how does leaving UC for Michigan State eventually lead to Ohio State? Weirder moves have happened, but it’s hard to see movement like that within the same division of a Power Six conference.  

If you go with option B, rebuilding the Spartans back to Big Ten contention would certainly further Fickell’s already impressive resume.  

Of course, we’re deep down the hypothetical wormhole, where who knows what the intentions are for Ohio State coach Ryan Day and how long Brian Kelly will be in South Bend. 

And here’s the thing about Fickell anyway: the conventional “where next, how much more” doesn’t apply to him as easily as it does for most. And, while most every coach talks up family during recruiting and professional moves, Fickell’s wife Amy will be equally involved (perhaps more) in making decisions. 

Because while Fickell would certainly relish the opportunity to coach Ohio State or Notre Dame, he’s not likely to make a move to another program with potential moves down the road in mind. 

Because, regardless of any step that could eventually lead to Ohio State, Notre Dame or anywhere else, Luke and Amy, according to those close to the UC program who know Fickell best, will need affirmative answers to these questions: What if this is Fickell’s final coaching job? Is this where his six children will grow up? 

New Bearcats head football coach Luke Fickell and his wife Amy smile after a press conference to introduce the new University of Cincinnati football head coach in the Lindner Center on UC’s campus in Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016. New head coach Luke Fickell comes to UC from a defensive coordinator position at Ohio State University. (Photo: Sam Greene)

That’s it. Anything else, from Fickell’s perspective, is a hypothetical, and he’s not basing his career and family’s experiences based on questions he can’t directly answer.

He feels that way about the University of Cincinnati. He would not have left Ohio State in 2016, where he worked since 2002 under both Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer, was making plenty of scratch and winning at an elite level annually, if he didn’t feel like, in 10 years time, he could see himself still leading the Bearcats’ program.

Maybe Michigan State will give him the same feeling. That’s possible. 

He knows the Big Ten inside and out, could continue recruiting the same areas he has for decades and you can bet he and former Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, formally on staff together at Ohio State, further bonded as members of the UC head coaching club and friends who speak on a routine basis, have discussed what needs to be done to win at the highest level in East Lansing. Dantonio knows because he’s done it, and Fickell trusts the plan because he’s followed Dantonio’s model at Cincinnati. 

Can’t blame Bearcats’ fans for expecting another coach to leave after Dantonio, Kelly and Butch Jones bolted, and it doesn’t help that recently hired director of athletics John Cunningham and Fickell did not reach an agreement on a contract extension, as many expected, in January. 

Still, the end game for Fickell isn’t what we’ve accepted to be conventional. And it seems a coach doesn’t have to be seen as an overachiever for a program outside the mainstream just waiting for the big time to be pushed into these stereotypical lanes. 

We’ve wondered if Clemson’s Dabo Swinney will follow Nick Saban at Alabama. Kentucky’s John Calipari is constantly talked about as a potential NBA coach. Nobody is safe from “where next, what’s better, how much more cash” conjecture. Honestly, it’s exhausting. 

But for Fickell, the process is simple: Would he be happy in 10 years still leading Michigan State? 

He’ll soon know the answer and, with satisfaction and opportunities for his wife and kids on equal footing, make a decision