Michigan State football: Is Harlon Barnett the man for the job?

Harlon Barnett said on Monday that he believes he’s the right man to lead Michigan State football. But is he really?

OK, awesome – I got you irritated enough to click on the link to see what psycho who is a fan of Michigan State football would want the interim tag pulled off of sitting head coach Harlon Barnett.

I’m glad you’re here.

The short answer is no. Barnett is not the answer for MSU moving forward, at least in my opinion. Yesterday, echoes were bouncing off the walls in the Twitter world that MSU fans want this to be the final outcome. I have only seen this from known Michigan fans because they know that there are other candidates better suited for the job in the new Big Ten.

It’s starting.. https://t.co/P7jojcsUY4

— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) November 20, 2023

As a fanbase, we all owe Barnett a sincere thank you for keeping the program together during one of the darker times of Michigan State football in recent memory. Two wins (chance of a third on Friday) and minimal action in the transfer portal to date is a solid accomplishment given the circumstances. Was Barnett given a raw deal? Absolutely. But outside of keeping the program (kind of) together, I don’t think we’ve seen anything from the staff that tells us Barnett is the man for the job.

So who is?

Well, that is the (95) million dollar question. Mike Elko? Jonathan Smith? Jedd Fish? Dare I say, Urban Meyer? The answer to this question is well above my pay grade. What I do know, is that Alan Haller needs to get this right or MSU football could quickly turn into Indiana or Minnesota or Purdue. Right now, I’ve seen that a new MSU president may need to give the final approval for Michigan State’s next head coach. The problem with that is MSU does not currently have a sitting president.

How are we supposed to make a hire in the next couple weeks when we haven’t even hired a president yet? This could be bad if we miss out on plenty of quality candidates because we have to wait. Just another black eye to MSU’s Board of Trustees’ public perception.

Which leads me to my final thought: If we cannot get this done without a new president, is it worth giving Barnett another year? If not, who replaces him? Again, above my pay grade.

To summarize the original question to this post, Barnett should not be named the next head coach of MSU but I’m worried we may not have a choice.

UrbzMan