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Job hangs in the balance for Michigan State's Smith
October 20, 2006
He has always been John L. Smith.
Not simply John Smith, someone who could camouflage himself as wallpaper in a room.
Always John L. Smith, lest someone confuse him with the old settler or the many other John Smiths who happen to be college football coaches these days.
Thus, writers in quest of good copy call him "John L.," the way Glenn Schembechler was always called "Bo" and how Wayne Woodrow Hayes was, naturally, "Woody."
Not that John L. can hold a candle to the coaching prowess of either Bo or Woody, mind you, though John L. does have one edge on Woody in that when he hits someone, more often than not, he hits himself.
No, what John L. Smith, currently in the employ of Michigan State, is best known for these days is managing to have his team utterly unprepared to play a game from start to finish.
That and acting like a raving lunatic at various times. It is the latter which masks the former, but it is the former which shows up on the won-loss record. He is Bob Davie, only with personality.
Dennis Green, whose Arizona Cardinals showed themselves Monday to be the Cubs of the National Football League, has nothing on ol' John L. On the contrary, Green is a tyro in this category, for only recently have the Cardinals, whose decades of professional misery stretch all the way back to Normal Park on the South Side, accumulated enough talent to become just good enough to position themselves for heartbreak along with buffoonery. However, Green does seem to be getting there, quite an achievement for a coach who took Northwestern to low after low.
This, as veteran Smith watchers will tell you, takes some doing, but Smith manages to do it. Annually, the Spartans show themselves to be on the cusp of grand success, or nearly so, only to pratfall. Or free fall.
Witness 2003, Smith's first season after arriving from Louisville, where he had managed to let the word leak out during the Cardinals' 2002 bowl game that he was leaving for East Lansing. Instead of "Win one for the Gipper" at halftime, this was "Win one for the movers."
John L.'s first Spartan squad scored eight victories, the most since Nick Saban abandoned his team for a Cajun's ransom at Louisiana State after the 1999 season. But, and with John L. there is always a but, there was the little matter of back-to-back-to-back losses to Michigan and Ohio State and Wisconsin after starting the Big Ten season 4-0 and making everyone think the apparent loon who had shouted down questioners at the conference's football media day actually had a method to his madness.
Nah. The triple implosions, which relegated Michigan State from the Rose Bowl to the Alamo Bowl -- the irony was lost on few, especially as the Spartans lost to Nebraska -- merely teased Spartans fans for what was to come. Their faces would soon be as green as their gear.
The 2004 campaign was the real John L. at work. Among the postcard attractions: a loss to Rutgers, which then was only discovering which end of the football was which, a seven-point loss to Notre Dame, the requisite back-to-back losses to Michigan -- in three overtimes after blowing a 27-10 lead in the last eight minutes -- and Ohio State, and, to put the stale cherry on top of the sour cream, a season-ending loss at Hawaii -- after surrendering a 21-0 lead -- to solidify a 5-7 record. That must have been a delightful plane ride home.
Students didn't e-mail home for money. They wanted old Duffy Daugherty playbooks to pass along. Or at least Bubba Smith's eligibility restored.
Last year, the Spartans kept hope alive through September. A 4-0 start! An overtime win at Notre Dame! A total of 196 points in four games!
Then reality moved into the dorm. Six losses in the last seven games, starting with an overtime loss to Michigan. The only win was over Indiana, which had not yet discovered the magic elixir that has turned their recent fortnight into football magic.
Smith had no answers. This year, there's hardly been a need for questions. It's been the same old sophistry. Comfortable wins over designated patsies Idaho, Eastern Michigan and Pittsburgh. Then, sure as Lucy Van Pelt pulls the football away from Charles L. Brown ...
A 16-point lead over Notre Dame at home in prime time. Poof! A 40-37 loss. Then a 23-20 loss to Illinois -- insert your own punch line -- as time expires. Last week's 38-7 pasting by No. 1 Ohio State, dropping the Spartans to 3-4 overall, was no surprise at all.
This week, Smith and his players try to raise the Titanic against Northwestern, which is possible, but will prove little, so disorganized are the Wildcats at the moment. But this is a must-win game for the Spartans, and especially for John L., who might need to finish with a 7-5 record to avoid negotiating surrender terms with the Michigan State front office. Penn State, along with the reborn Hoosiers and pesky Purdue, are also on the slate. Minnesota seems the only sure win.
Because of that, there's really only one question now about John L. Smith.
Where will he be coaching next year?
