Smith is Gone For Spartans

From an article by the AP:

Michigan State coach won’t return next season
Associated Press
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 2:15 PM

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- John L. Smith will not return next year as Michigan State's football coach, but will complete the rest of this season, with the Spartans struggling again in the Big Ten.

Smith is in the fourth year of a six-year contract that pays him about $1.5 million annually. Michigan State said it will honor the last two years of Smith's contract.

“The performance on the field has not lived up to what we hoped it would be,” athletic director Ron Mason said during a news conference Wednesday. “It comes time to make a change, and that's where we're at.”

The Spartans (4-5) are coming off a 46-21 loss at Indiana and are 1-4 in the Big Ten.

Smith has been under pressure at Michigan State. School officials gave him a vote of confidence after last season's losing campaign, but were looking for better results in 2006.

A message seeking comment was left with Smith.

“This is a man who cares deeply about his players. He is a consummate professional,” school President Lou Anna Simon said.

Mason and Simon said they reached the decision on Tuesday to make a change. Mason met with Smith on Wednesday, and the coach agreed to stay on the rest of the season.

Smith was expected to meet with the players before Wednesday afternoon's practice.

Mason and Simon will lead the search for a new coach. Part of the reason behind the timing of the announcement is so Michigan State can search for a new coach with transparency, they said.

Smith has compiled a 22-23 record in four seasons at Michigan State. He led the Spartans to the Alamo Bowl in his first season, but the team did not qualify for a bowl in 2004 or 2005.

His record in the Big Ten has worsened since 2003, when the team was 5-3 and tied for fourth. The Spartans were 4-4 in 2004 and 2-6 in 2005.

The decision comes nearly four years to the day after Michigan State fired Bobby Williams with three games left in a season that was disappointing on and off the field.

Smith has a 132-83 career record in 18 seasons as a college head coach.

He was hired at Michigan State after having solid success at Louisville, where he compiled a 41-21 record and made five consecutive bowl trips from 1998-2002.

Smith, who also coached at Utah State and Idaho, took over a Michigan State program that has been inconsistent and relatively mediocre since the late 1960s. The program last went to the Rose Bowl after the 1987 season and hasn't won a share of the Big Ten title since finishing in a four-way tie in 1990.

This season's Spartans started with three straight wins and led Notre Dame by 16 points in the fourth quarter. But Michigan State squandered the lead, lost 40-37, and hasn't been the same since.

The Spartans mounted an NCAA-record comeback to beat Northwestern, but also lost to lowly Illinois and Indiana. Injuries and lack of depth have hurt the program.

This article, though factually accurate, completely misses an important point. The Spartans under Smith have turned into the Miami Hurricanes of the Big "We Can't Count." From the fight against Notre Dame, to the fight against Illinois, to the crumbling mess that is their football program, this guy has been nothing but negative.

Michigan State needed to do this from the standpoint of cleaning up their program and injecting some class into it.