Michigan State football: Hypothetical odds for next head coach have been released

The odds for the next head coach of Michigan State football have been released on Friday by BetMichigan. Who’s the top candidate?

Michigan State football is busy preparing for No. 8 Washington this week, but the sportsbooks are salivating at the thought of a potential head coaching search in East Lansing — again.

With betting legal in Michigan, sportsbooks will be taking full advantage of this coaching search.

While Mel Tucker has not yet been fired, as he’s just suspended without pay until October’s trial, it seems like an inevitability at this point that the two sides will part ways. A sexual harassment complaint has put his job in jeopardy which is why Harlon Barnett will be the acting head coach for the biggest game of the season this weekend. It’s only a matter of time, it seems.

Names have already been thrown around regarding Tucker’s potential replacement and fans have been debating heavily. Some candidates sound great for certain fans while being nightmares for others and vice versa.

So BetMichigan came out with some hypothetical odds regarding the next head coach of Michigan State football. And the names might surprise you.

via BetMichigan

Barnett having the best odds of any coach named is not surprising. He’s the acting head coach and he’s going to get the first opportunity. If he struggles, however, I’d fully expect the school to turn to an outside option — I do expect the school to look elsewhere regardless.

Mike Tressel is an interesting name as he led one of the best defenses in the country while he was Michigan State’s co-defensive coordinator in 2018 and 2019. He’s coaching under Luke Fickell at Wisconsin now.

The third one says “Chris Elko” but it’s actually Mike Elko and he’s turned Duke around quickly. He’d be a great option. Charles Huff, too, is someone I wouldn’t mind Michigan State taking a hard look at. He coached under Nick Saban and has had success right away at Marshall. I’m going to go ahead and say that Pat Narduzzi will not be an option. No more questions about him at this time.

Brian Hartline? Yes, please. He would be a home run hire because he’s young, he’s familiar with the Big Ten and what it takes to win, and he’s an elite recruiter. On the other end of the spectrum, I’m going to say ‘no thanks’ to Jason Candle. I think MSU can aim higher.

Lastly, if this was 2020, I would have jumped at the idea of Jim Leonhard as the next head coach.

The ‘Other’ category has the best odds obviously because no names have been seriously brought to light yet. It’s going to be a while before Michigan State football conducts a real search but these are some names to keep an eye on.