Wanting Urban Meyer at Michigan State doesn’t make you a “scumbag”

I’ve seen Michigan State fans called some ugly names for wanting Urban Meyer to be hired, even by their own fanbase.

I’ve seen a lot of names being thrown around on social media to describe those Michigan State fans who want Urban Meyer to be the next head coach. I’ve seen terms like “bad fans” or “scumbags” to describe the section of the fanbase that wants one of the greatest college football coaches of all time to come in and fix the Michigan State football program.

And that’s not fair nor is it truthful.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was on the “this isn’t morally right” train early on. I believed that hiring a guy like Meyer after the whole Mel Tucker situation would be a bad look and only further the media’s hate for us on a national level.

And then I watched as Michigan State coaches continued to embarrass the university and its fans on the field. Harlon Barnett (great guy, by the way) just hasn’t been able to figure it out and his assistants are not helping matters. The coaching staff is the reason Michigan State is likely to go 2-10 or 3-9 this year which is an embarrassment for the type of program this is.

To me, Urban is about as mild as it comes when talking about coaches with baggage. Yes, the entire Zach Smith situation was bad, but I’m assuming Urban has changed and only gotten smarter about who he surrounds himself with. Plus, his whole stint in Jacksonville was a nightmare. He was clearly in over his head and it’s now clear that college is where he belongs as a coach. And yes, the Florida teams he coached were not filled with choir boys or saints, but that was now well over a decade ago.

At Ohio State, he built back up a legendary program and all he did was win.

Before all of this, at Utah, he built up the Utes into winners and created a positive culture. That culture stands today with Kyle Whittingham who was an assistant under Meyer. Clearly he knows how to surround himself with some good people. Whittingham is one of the most respected coaches in college football.

But I get it. There’s baggage. There’s the Florida baggage, the Zach Smith baggage, and the Jacksonville baggage. It exists. We can’t ignore it. But all we can do is hope and trust that he’s grown up and taken time away to better himself. Which it seems like he’s done.

Wanting Michigan State to hire a head coach with a couple of mistakes on his resume does not make you a bad person. You wouldn’t be able to find many coaches in college football who haven’t made mistakes. Urban Meyer isn’t a terrible human. He’s made mistakes. He’s been shady. He’s learned from them. Heck, we see coaches who have done far worse get jobs every day. Look at guys like Hugh Freeze or Brian Kelly. They always seem to land on their feet despite having done some horrible things.

Urban has made mistakes, but nothing he’s done makes Michigan State’s pursuit “inexcusable” and doesn’t make fans who want him “scumbags”.

So if you’re against Michigan State hiring Meyer, that’s fine. You are entitled to your own opinion. If you say “I’ll stop watching or caring” if MSU hires Urban Meyer, then don’t celebrate if he does get hired and wins big. But if you’re in this camp and want MSU to hire a good guy with no baggage and you don’t care if we win as long as he’s a nice guy, I hope you enjoy another decade of what we’ve seen over the past two months. Because there’s a good chance that’s what you’re getting if you only want the nicest guy to get the job.