Couch: Losing Luke Fickell stinks for Michigan State, but it isn't a death sentence for MSU football

Never has being Cincinnati’s head football coach been a better job than being Michigan State’s head coach. That includes present day, and for as long as Cincinnati is in the American Athletic Conference.

If you go 36-5 in three years at MSU, it comes with a Rose Bowl, two Cotton Bowls, a College Football Playoff appearance. If you go 36-5 in three years at Cincinnati, you’re likely headed for the Birmingham Bowl at least twice. The size of the stages, the finances — these worlds aren’t even close.

And so that Luke Fickell declined the Spartans’ interest — no matter the unusual timing — should be concerning for MSU’s fan base and for those doing the hiring.

MSU ought to be able to close on someone like Fickell, even if he has strong emotional ties to his current gig, even if Cincinnati might be a stronger team in the near-term and even if he might have similar or better opportunities down the road. Athletic director Bill Beekman ought to be empowered in these situations to do whatever is necessary get Fickell and his wife on that plane headed back to East Lansing and to get a contract in his hands. Because this hire is more important than any other hire at the university, sans the school president. And these hires happen more quickly and are more delicate. The people you’re trying to lure have fan bases just as passionate and bosses just as determined. The Board of Trustees’ blessing should be given ahead of time.

In this case, MSU had its guy.

It was all so perfect, so easy — the fit, the pedigree, the excitement Fickell would bring to the program. For Beekman, for MSU’s fan base and its football program, this stinks.

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But it also isn’t the death sentence some are making it out to be. if you like to indulge in social media — or are just a consumer of media in general — you might think the Spartans have been ordered to hire Bobby Williams and finish no better than 4-8 for the rest of time.

This is MSU’s first major coaching search in the Twitter era. Communication moves fast now. And the anticipation over the weekend and initial reaction Monday was everything you’d expect — amusing and impatient, and then largely unreasonable and angry.

Understand this: MSU has been turned down by one coach. Not five coaches or 500. Just one. Others have said they’re not interested. Most of them had to save face. In the coaching football coaching world, you can’t be seen as wanting another job and then return to your old one. I don’t know what Pat Narduzzi would have done if he’d been MSU’s first choice. But I know he couldn’t stand readily by and wait for Fickell’s decision.

MSU should take another swing at Narduzzi, if he’s at all interested. It’ll have to be done quickly and certainly. He’s the other obvious fit, an ideal fit, I believe. But he’s not the only coach out there who could fit MSU and could win in East Lansing.

This, so far, has been the college basketball equivalent of the Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart sweepstakes a few years ago. People only know a couple of names and so they fixate on them and if those options aren’t available, panic ensues.

There are gobs of good coaches out there. This is where the real work begins — when not everything lines up. Among the challenges for Beekman: He doesn’t have the built-up credibility to sell a coach to his fan base the way Mark Hollis might have. Hollis, I think, could have made the case for former MSU co-defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett. Or for former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema. Or anyone. If Hollis were to say of Barnett, “I’ve pictured him as MSU’s head coach for some time and think he’s an ideal fit for this program right now,” folks would be more likely to jump on board than they would hearing that from Beekman. That’s not Beekman’s fault. It’s just what is.

He didn’t close the deal with Fickell. Now he’s really got to show his teeth. That doesn’t mean picking a coach to win the press conference. The immediate reaction of MSU’s fickle and frustrated fan base, pun intended, can’t be the primary concern.

The social media reaction to Bielema’s reported interest has been a collective “no thanks.” But Bielema won big in Big Ten country before. The man went 68-24 at Wisconsin before a less auspicious stint at Arkansas. MSU is looking for someone to go exactly 68-24 in East Lansing. MSU is trying to again be Wisconsin.

At this point, you hire the person you believe in and tie their fate to yours. It’s just no longer as obvious as it was this weekend. No need to panic and make an interim hire. It’s not June. An interim hire would cripple recruiting and set the program back.

The timing doesn’t help. This isn’t about timing, though. Would Fickell have been more likely to come to MSU in December? I don’t know. Would Narduzzi be any less forced to withdraw from consideration if he wasn’t the top candidate two months ago? Nope.

Would MSU’s situation be less under a microscope, if surrounded by the noise of a moving carousel throughout the sport? Yep. That might make the situation more comfortable. But not necessarily easier.

Would MSU have more options? Perhaps. Different options? Probably. Would the Spartans wind up with a stronger hire? A better fit?

We don’t know that now and never will.

It’s up to Beekman and Co. to make sure we never wonder.

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Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.