When most Michigan State fans (and the school administrators) went to bed on Sunday night, they were probably pretty confident that they were about to land Luke Fickell as their next head football coach.
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Well, as Monday morning unfolded, news surfaced that Fickell had made the decision to remain with the Cincinnati Bearcats, and many Spartan fans panicked.
On Tuesday, Michigan State trustee Brian Mosallam joined The Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 the Ticket and he emphasized that MSU does not want a “waffling flake” to coach the football team.
From The Detroit News:
“Let me say this, by 9 p.m. last night, I personally had more information finally than the media did,” Mosallam told hosts Jamie Samuelsen and Mike Stone, “and let me be as diplomatic as possible here for Spartans everywhere — at the end of the day, we can’t force somebody to come here.
“You know, Spartan Nation should want somebody that wants to be here. We don’t want a waffling flake who views this as a destination job.”
Samuelsen and Stone then asked Mosallam if he was referring to Fickell as “a waffling flake.”
“I’m just saying, in general, there’s a lot of misinformation out there and I think it’s important that some of that stuff clears up,” he said. “At the end of the day, we can’t make somebody come here. So we want somebody that wants to be here, that understands Michigan State, that wants to do everything they can to get here. It’s very, very important for a job like this.”
The show hosts asked another follow-up regarding Fickell.
“I think we gotta move on from here, guys,” Mosallam said. “We’re on to the next phase. It’s time to move on.”
Mosallam responded to reports that candidates are concerned with the issues regarding campus culture at Michigan State.
“So I think that the compliance question has come up with many candidates and understanding where we are with all of that and the fallout from the (Larry) Nassar scandal,” Mosallam said. “And that’s why (MSU compliance director) Jen Smith was there accompanying, to answer those questions and to alleviate concerns regarding that.
“I think there’s been a lot of misinformation about the Board of Trustees and what they knew and who meddled and who did what. And, I think it’s important for everybody to realize that … we’re not involved in this process. The process is, as I stated last Wednesday, that it is the committee to come to the board to make a recommendation and the board to give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. That’s where a lot of misinformation was. Everybody else can draw their own conclusions, but we need to move forward collectively together.”
–Quotes courtesy of Angelique Chengelis, The Detroit News– LINK
