A day after Michigan State was spurned by Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell for its head football coaching job, a Board of Trustees member pushed back against criticism of the university and said MSU does not want a "waffling flake" as a head coach.
Fickell had been considered the front-runner to replace Mark Dantonio, who stepped down last Tuesday after 13 seasons. Fickell met with athletic director Bill Beekman Sunday in Cincinnati and then revealed Monday morning he would remain in his current job.
Brian Mosallam, a member of MSU's Board of Trustees, joined the "Jamie and Stoney" show Tuesday morning to discuss the status of the search. The Board of Trustees met with the search committee at Beekman's office for about two hours Monday night to get an update on the search, which must now pivot after Fickell declined.
Among the coaches who have expressed interest for the MSU job is former Wisconsin and Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema, now with the New York Giants. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, formerly MSU defensive coordinator, came out last week saying he was staying with his team, as did Colorado coach Mel Tucker. San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh also reportedly turned down an interview request from Michigan State.
Other names that have popped up as potential candidates are Central Michigan's Jim McElwain and Eastern Michigan's Chris Creighton.
"Let me say this, by 9 p.m. last night, I personally had more information finally than the media did," Mosallam told hosts Jamie Samuelsen and Mike Stone, "and let me be as diplomatic as possible here for Spartans everywhere _ at the end of the day, we can't force somebody to come here.
"You know, Spartan Nation should want somebody that wants to be here. We don't want a waffling flake who views this as a destination job."
Samuelsen and Stone then asked Mosallam if he was referring to Fickell as "a waffling flake."
"I'm just saying, in general, there's a lot of misinformation out there and I think it's important that some of that stuff clears up," he said. "At the end of the day, we can't make somebody come here. So we want somebody that wants to be here, that understands Michigan State, that wants to do everything they can to get here. It's very, very important for a job like this."
The show hosts asked another follow-up regarding Fickell.
"I think we gotta move on from here, guys," Mosallam said. "We're on to the next phase. It's time to move on."
Mosallam responded to reports that candidates are concerned with the issues regarding campus culture at Michigan State.
"So I think that the compliance question has come up with many candidates and understanding where we are with all of that and the fallout from the (Larry) Nassar scandal," Mosallam said. "And that's why (MSU compliance director) Jen Smith was there accompanying, to answer those questions and to alleviate concerns regarding that.
"I think there's been a lot of misinformation about the Board of Trustees and what they knew and who meddled and who did what. And, I think it's important for everybody to realize that ... we're not involved in this process. The process is, as I stated last Wednesday, that it is the committee comes to the board to make a recommendation and the board to give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. That's where a lot of misinformation was. Everybody else can draw their own conclusions, but we need to move forward collectively together."
