By Charlie Leffler
On Thursday evening, Michigan State University officially introduced former Louisville football head coach John L. Smith to fill the same position with the Spartans. The announcement ended a tumultuous 24 hours for Louisville players, coaches and fans.
Though few can fault Smith for taking the MSU job, there was definitely a fumbling of the ball when it came to the situations that led to the formal announcement.
It has now been determined that word of Smith’s hiring was intentionally leaked to the media early
Wednesday afternoon, prior to U of L’s appearance in the GMAC Bowl. Supposedly, Michigan State was looking to head off any possibility of Smith being offered the Washington State head coaching job once the game was over. As a result, news of Smith’s hiring at MSU caught the Cardinal players, assistant coaches and fans unaware and long before Smith could tell them himself. Anyone who knows John L. Smith knows that was not the situation that he wanted to create. The pain and puzzlement that arose during the GMAC Bowl as a result of the premature announcement of Smith’s hiring was an embarrassment to everyone involved and created a media circus that detracted from what should have been an entertaining football game.
Michigan State’s actions were not only deplorable but served as notice of how Louisville, Marshall, Conference USA, The MAC and the GMAC Bowl is looked down upon by the “Big” schools and conferences. Michigan State apparently gave no consideration what-so-ever as to how the premature announcement would effect anyone but Michigan State.
MSU athletic director Ron Mason said he had no idea that the announcement would cause such a disruption. If such is the standard case for forethought of decisions that he makes then Mason has no business directing the Spartan athletic program. Such lack of foresight borders on idiotic, which I do not believe is the case with Mason. Therefore, one must assume that Mason knew exactly what he was doing. After all, sportswriters had been speculating for weeks on who would fill the MSU vacancy. ESPN often led off its broadcasts with the latest list of possible candidates for the job. So, Mason knew perfectly well that any coaching announcement would be the top news story of the day and he most likely used the Marshall-Louisville matchup in the GMAC Bowl as a venue to promote the Michigan State program. Mason did not appear to care how much the news would effect anyone but Michigan State.
Once ESPN received word that Smith would be heading to East Lansing they simply did their job.
However, the chaos that erupted in the aftermath detracted and demeaned the bowl game and its players.
Shock is the best word to describe the situation on the field after news trickled down to players and coaches. The Cardinal players and coaches were shocked to hear such news from anyone but Smith himself. Fans and media were shocked at the timing of the announcement. And by the look on Smith’s face as he ran from the field at halftime, he was equally shocked that everyone seemed to know something he was not yet prepared to tell.
On Thursday afternoon following the bowl game, Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich verbally assailed the MSU athletic department for their mishandling of the hiring announcement.
Incredibly, during Smith’s introduction in East Lansing later that evening, Mason fired back at Jurich. After a totally plastic apology for how things turned out during the bowl game, the MSU AD had the audacity to say that Jurich made matters worse by calling a halftime press conference during the bowl game.
However, Mason was not at the GMAC Bowl, so he had no idea of the confusion and chaos that the news lead had caused. Jurich did the only thing he could possibly have done. At the rate things were snowballing, without Jurich’s press conference the game may not have been finished.
Nevertheless, while verbal barbs are jousted between the two schools it is the players who have been caught in the middle. While the news leak may not have effected who won the game, it most definitely effected the thoughts and memories that the players carried away from it.
Anyone who saw the blank stares in the eyes of the Cardinals as they sat on the sidelines between plays could easily tell what was going through their minds. Their expressions ranged from confusion to betrayal. Many looked as if they were wondering how the coach who they had looked up to for so long could callously abandon them without a word.
Even quarterback Dave Ragone gave the appearance that he could not understand why the man who had been like a father to him for the past five years could make such a decision without telling anyone. Anyone who knows Smith knows that he mostly planned to make the announcement to his players and coaches following the GMAC Bowl. Smith has always been a man who cares about his players as if they were his children. He has often used the term “tough love” to describe his fatherly demeanor. However, what his players suffered that night was cruelty. The cruelty of a selfish school that was only looking out for itself. And it was something that Smith had always sheltered his players from, but on this night he was never given the chance.
The column is the sole opinion of Charlie Leffler, Sports Editor of the Louisville Cardinal
