The bad news of the butt kicking in Bloomington!

October 28, 2006 Bloomington, Indiana ÂTwo weeks ago on Hondo’s House as well as Spartan Nation I stated what to me was the obvious. It was time at the end

October 28, 2006

Bloomington, Indiana

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Two weeks ago on Hondo’s House as well as Spartan Nation I stated what to me was the obvious. It was time at the end of the season to make a change not only with the removal of John L. Smith but in the total direction of the MSU football program.

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Other then a small group inside MSU I got absolutely no disagreement. I got more comments like this one from Phillip in Lansing after last weeks come back fiasco with Northwestern: “Hondo, you were right, I know I shouldn’t admit this but I was rooting for a loss.” Well now, the facts are clearer then ever for those of you who wondered what I was thinking. It is time for this program to make the change. Come out now and announce that a change will be coming at the end of the season and begin the steps to fix it.

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The crowd will be terrible next week as the fans continue to express their disgust (I know the MSU brass reads this and I hope that I make that clear) the fans are disgusted. You know, the people that pay the outrageous prices for this less then mediocre bottom of the Big Ten product. You know the ones that drank the kool aid when you told them they had to pay the PSL’s and the higher ticket prices to make MSU competitive. You know, the ones who were told that MSU would compete for a Big Ten title in year 3. For the record it is year four. You know, the ones who were told, “Your patience will be rewarded. Well it hasn’t been and it isn’t going to be as long as John L. Smith and this staff are here. I have explained it enough, all of the MSU woes are not JLS’s fault but the pathetic performances are on him. He knows that his coordinators are terrible and he lets them go and has done nothing to fix it: that is his fault. I told you that he lost this team but that they hadn’t quit on each other and what you saw last week and this proves it. I really don’t care if those people at MSU who are already mad stay mad; this isn’t about them or me. It is about you: the fan.

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You deserve better. Ask yourself, are we better off now then four years ago. The GPA is up. Who cares, so are you costs and no one cares about that except of course you and your family budget. The point is that the stupid penalties, the lack of emotion, the apathy of the fans, terrible coaching yada yada yada…come on.

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I hear some around MSU who now realize that the fans have jumped off the ship saying well we have to keep JLS we can’t afford to pay the $4+ million buy out. Let’s have him get rid of his coordinators. NOPE. He was basically forced according to sources very close to the leadership at MSU to hire Dan Enos, a Spartan as the QB coach and he should have seen this coming. I repeatedly asked him last year in press conferences and even he at one point admitted he might need to get more involved. This isn’t about a buy out. The MSU athletic program is in so much debt they can’t afford to lose you the fan. Your dollars add up to a heck of a lot more then the buy out. Apathy is setting in and the ones who read the handwriting in the wall are concerned. This program has shown more fire being angry with the State Journal and now me then winning or losing and that is sad. Rather then worrying about “who is Rob Parker’s mole” how about worrying about why our play calling is terrible? It has been 40 years since the last MSU national championship. My generation has never seen one, and as one high-ranking member of the MSU community told me this week “they can’t afford not to fix this before my generation dies Hondo. Your generation hasn’t seen that success and we need your age group to help pay the bills. My generation saw the success, you guys haven’t and we are losing our base.”

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The more brass I talk to all they want to talk about is the Ohio State game and it is clear that they are worried. Those empty seats and the ones that were filled by OSU fans sent the fear running up their backbone. I just got and email this past week from one of the largest donors to MSU and he said to me: “Hondo for the first time in my life I am rooting against MSU. I guess maybe not even against, I just don’t care anymore.” OUCH!

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I for one can’t and won’t root against them but this is a joke. Sadly the fans need to get their due. MSU has to address the facts and let the people know that this will not be allowed. I am here in Bloomington but if you watched the game on TV, all that red? It was the MSU football program hemorrhaging, or maybe foreshadow of the MSU athletic budget next year if they don’t fix the problems.

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By the way, we lost huge.