Spartan Avenue
Fansided

Michigan State Football: 3 options for head coach post-Luke Fickell news

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - NOVEMBER 30: Safety David Dowell #6 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates in the arms of safety Xavier Henderson #3 along with linebacker Chase Kline #21 and cornerback Josiah Scott #22 celebrating after stopping the Maryland Terrapins during the fourth quarter at Spartan Stadium on November 30, 2019, in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State defeated Maryland 19-16. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - NOVEMBER 30: Safety David Dowell #6 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates in the arms of safety Xavier Henderson #3 along with linebacker Chase Kline #21 and cornerback Josiah Scott #22 celebrating after stopping the Maryland Terrapins during the fourth quarter at Spartan Stadium on November 30, 2019, in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State defeated Maryland 19-16. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next

News of Luke Fickell turning down the Michigan State football job on Monday spread like wildfire and forced the program to open up other options.

Luke Fickell put a damper on everyone’s Monday, turning down the Michigan State job to stay with Cincinnati for at least another year.

Could this open the door for more candidates to interview for the Michigan State job? Potentially, but this just goes to show that Mark Dantonio’s departure couldn’t have happened at a worse time and the lawsuit against him by Curtis Blackwell didn’t help the optics of the job, either.

Fickell is out and so are Robert Saleh, Mel Tucker, Pat Narduzzi and Brent Pry. This means that the Spartans must think outside the box for the next head coach or at least the immediate future of the program.

What are some realistic options for Michigan State after the Fickell news?

3. Gauge interest of Chris Creighton, Jim McElwain

While I’m not a huge supporter of this move for Michigan State, the Spartans could definitely do a lot worse.

Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan’s current head coach, is the definition of a climber. He went from NCAA Division III at Wabash to Drake in the FCS. He turned both of those programs into winners with a 63-15 record at Wabash and 41-22 mark at Drake before getting the gig at Eastern. He has gone 28-47 in his time at Eastern which may not seem that impressive, but the Eagles’ program was arguably the worst in the nation not long ago.

Moreover, Creighton has led the Eagles to three bowl games in four years and his record looks worse because of a 3-21 start to it.

Jim McElwain, on the other hand, is the current head coach at Central Michigan and has previous experience, and success, at Colorado State and Florida. He went 22-15 in three seasons at Colorado State before taking the Florida job, winning the SEC East a couple of times and compiling a 22-12 mark.

These aren’t the most attractive candidates and probably not the best options for the long run, but it’s worth at least seeing how interested they are. This would be Plan C.

Home/Spartans Football