Surprise, surprise, John L. is almost done

By Paul Costanzo @ The Daily Forecast

I guess the only surprising part of today's announcement was that John L. Smith will be keeping his job for the remainder of the season.

I mean, let's be honest, the Spartans have been really bad over the last few weeks, and as faithful forecast reader Jay Dubs pointed out, the decline of Drew Stanton has been painful to watch.

So what's next for MSU?

Well, you can start with a giddy Mike Valenti tomorrow on the radio. His famous rant will forever live in the annals of sports radio greatness, and I get the feeling he wasn't the biggest fan of Smith and his staff (Teddy Ruxpin anyone?).

But really, let's start in the present, as in the next three games, which JLS will be coaching.

Don't be at all surprised if Sparty comes out fired up and puts on a show for its embattled coach over the next three weeks. Now I realize that he's kind of lost control of his team, but I think that the players do like him.

Up first is a home date with Purdue, which isn't any good, then Minnesota, also not any good.

The one road game is at Penn State, which is always a tough place to play, but the Nittanies are definitely beatable.

So my prediction is the Spartans finish 7-5 and make it to the Motor City Bowl where they will play ...

The next coach.

Brian Kelly.

Yup.

First of all, CMU has a GREAT chance of winning the MAC this year, and I'm guessing that the Chippewas at least make it to the MAC Championship game, likely putting them in a bowl game. But that's beside the point.

Kelly is definitely looking for a step up, it was clear when he came from Grand Valley that was the case. Well, this is it.

For those of you who say Kelly isn't ready for Big Ten football, you're probably right, but he wasn't ready for MAC football either in his first season. Now, in his third, he's working on his second winning season and possibly a MAC title. Believe me, three years ago, those two phrases were part of a strange foreign language in Mt. Pleasant.

And I realize that the learning curve is steeper in the Big Ten than it is in the MAC, but if you can coach, you can coach.

Now there a few reasons that I think Kelly is better for this job than say Mooch. The main reason is that his offense is run much like the current MSU offense, and when run efficiently with the right parts, it's pretty hard to stop. Mooch on the other hand would bog down the MSU offense with his incredibly stagnant play-calling.

What about Mooch's name and recruiting? Well, that might not be a bad thing, but with offensive guys like Charlie Weis and the draw of Michigan already in the area, Mooch's name won't mean much. Plus, you have to remember that most of the kids he'll be recruiting will mostly remember his Detroit days.

Kelly, on the other hand, has been a very good recruiter considering where he's been. At Grand Valley he convinced every kid that didn't have D-I grades (and some that did) to come play for a D-II National Title. At CMU, he's brought in his own guys in a matter of three years and made it one of the MAC's top teams.

Look, I am by no means a Spartan fan, but if they want to succeed, I think Kelly would be an excellent choice.