A couple of weeks ago after the Notre Dame game I got an e-mail from what I assumed to be a Spartans fan.
The letter read: "What about firing (John L.) Smith and hiring (former Florida and Washington Redskins head coach) Steve Spurrier? Sounds far fetched, but I bet fans and alumni would gladly pay for Spurrier's salary in donations."
In this day and age it's about what have you done for me lately, and a guy like John L. Smith doesn't seem to stand a chance in the eyes of the fans.
God forbid the man lose two of his first three games playing three different quarterbacks, as well as having numerous players banged up and missing a bona fide run stopper at linebacker - Seth Mitchell - that he thought he would have.
Smith has taken three schools - Utah State, Louisville and MSU - to bowl games in each of the last seven years. I would argue that feat would be easier to accomplish with one team, but Smith has done it with three.
Overall, Smith has only had one losing season in his 15-year head coaching career. Last season, he won eight games - the most by any first-year head coach at MSU in the history of the program.
The e-mail went on to say: "It is time to get rid of Smith now before the program goes in the tank again, and we have to wait another 10 years to bring it back."
So, what you're saying is, if we keep Smith, it will be another 10 years before the program gets back to ? what?
MSU is a program that has not had great success over the years, but it also has not been horrible. In the last 20 years, MSU has only had five losing seasons (1991, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002). Three of those were in former head coach George Perles' final four years, with 1994 being recorded as 0-11 because of self-imposed sanctions MSU had to place on itself.
The other two losing seasons came under Bobby Williams' tenure, a 5-6 season in 2000 and the nightmare that was the 2002 season.
This "fan" wants to fire Smith after two seasons, when Bobby Williams got to coach almost three full years.
All I can really say is that no coach is safe. Look at what happened at Nebraska last season. They fired their coach after he went 9-3.
How do you fire a coach that goes 9-3?
There are plenty other examples of coaches being fired when they probably should not have been. In a college football setting, a coach needs at least five years to see what he can do with a program. If you want to see what coaches can do with a team, you'd hire a new coach every couple years. Ultimately, you want to build a program.
Let's find all the people who wanted to fire Tom Izzo after his second season - Izzo was 33-28 after two seasons - and see where they are now.
I wish fans, universities - everyone - would allow coaches in all sports, a five-year window with no worries about being canned.
Would MSU be in a worse situation if Bobby Williams was in his fifth-year as head coach right now?
Those of you who shuddered at that thought, good, because MSU would be. Some situations, like the 2002 season presented, call for early dismissal.
What has Smith done? What did the Nebraska coach do?
It's all part of the "we must win now" attitude that everyone has in their heads. Blame professional sports. People see the Florida Marlins win the World Series in 2003 and they see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the NFL title in 2003 and they think new coaches can walk right in and win.
Wake-up call.
College sports don't work like pro sports. You can't just go out an pick up a free agent in mid-season to replace an injured starter who is lost for the season.
People should lower expectations for the first years and allow a coach to get "his players" into the program. Once a coach has the guys he has recruited for his system in the program, things run a lot smoother.
Regardless of what team you love or who you root for on Saturdays, just remember - all good things come to those who wait.
It takes time to have a winning program, years of wins and bowl games, gaining respect and maintaining tradition. Traditions like firing a coach every two to four years don't get a program anywhere but in the crapper.
E-mails about firing Smith, or any coach after only two years, are not warranted.
J. Ryan Mulcrone is a football reporter for the State News. He can be reached at mulcron3@msu.edu.
