Harlon Barnett Post-Game Interview

Level headed, self aware, and reasonable?

That would be a start yes, but it's hard to believe the people in charge want anything like that long term.  Time will tell.

They've interviewed Barnett before on the MSU radio show during halftime. He seems a good guy, although indistinguishable from any of the other position coaches they put on the radio. He's in a terrible spot because the literal best thing to do going forward is completely clean out the entire building and start over again, and I think he knows it. It's nothing against him, it just needs to happen. 

Barnett is a Sparty lifer but despite that seems to be a standup guy.  As has been said many times, he's in an impossible spot.  

Dan Enos got fired after yesterday so he is now available to take the job.

I pictured Barnett at halftime walking in and giving the “Dad Nod”. We all know that look where a Dad walks into a situation of chaos and just stands there and nods for a few seconds as he examines the ruins. Everyone then waits for what he is going to say, because once the nod has been used, you know you’re in deep shit.

The only difference was that I picture that Barnett just nodded, kept looking around.l thinking of something to say to address the situation and begin to remedy the issue. Unfortunately after an awkward 5 or so minutes of that he just said “alright guys let’s go back out there”

Doug Skene knows Harlon Barnett, played football with him on the Patriots, and says that Barnett is a really good guy:

He does seem like a decent person, so I'm sure MSU will pass on him to get some rabble-rouser.  

The guy was promoted to a job he never would have gotten on his own.

MSU has developed a perverse hatred of a school supposedly over 1 "little bro" comment, from a 21-year old guy after an emotional comeback win.

Barnett is a quality person and deserves better than this mess but he's a loyal soldier to ensure perhaps the 1st 2-10 in MSU history. 

Mork has to be forcibly led to a permanent TO room. Even having him around for cocktail hour is too much.

The MSU BoT is living proof that you need a board of people, nominated by the Gov, appointed by the State Senate based on qualifications and not political paybacks. 

Everything said by the OP is true.  But the fact is you can't hire the interim to the permanent position who lost 49-0 against your most hated rival at home. 

Harlon Barnett doesn't seem like a bad guy. He's just a poor bastard stuck in an impossible situation.

Having said that, fuck MSU. They deserve every misfortune coming their way. It's called karma. Pride comes before the fall, and the fall is now upon them.

I had never hated MSU until they hired Dantonio. Yeah he turned them into a good football team but his demeanor and the stuff he let his team get away with on and off the field led to their current condition. Izzo was always a little detestable but it seemed like he fed off of Dantonio’s ugliness to the point that MSU’s bball team is just as thuggish and ill tempered as the football team is. I don’t think the current state of their university leadership, with izzo being an influence there, would allow them to hire someone who could bring respect and sportsmanship back to their program. 🤷‍♂️

Harlan seems like a fine man.   He doesn’t deserve to deal with this.

Not sure what to say about their fan base or others associated with the program.

In all honesty, the guy is in a no win situation and saying he is in an “up hill battle” disrespects actual up hill battles.

The roster isn’t very good, the rest of the staff isn’t very good and Mel Tucker gutted the entire program while ridding Kenneth Walker to signing the most overpaid contract in the history of contracts.

He won’t be there next year and he won’t be anything this year to show future employers. He looked frustrated and hopeless, on the sideline, that his team would do anything of note. He’s more or less a babysitter, trying to make sure the entire house doesn’t crumble, like a majority of it already has and it sucks for him.

OP, I agree with your thoughts completely. Especially not being optimistic. MSU will never hire an HC for their football team who doesn't put hating Michigan and conjured disrespect above everything else. It is their complete identity as a program and they know nothing else nor want anything else.

IMO the best thing long-term outcome for MSU from expanding the Big Ten would have been for the bigwigs to not have made them one of Michigan's protected rivals. That's the only thing that could ever force the program to grow in a healthy, non-Michigan centered way. 

Barnett seems like an ok guy. The chippy stuff was way down this year at least while the starters were in, apart from Spencer Brown going rogue and spearing McGregor when he was on the ground.

I've had the pleasure of meeting coach Barnett a few times at coaching clinics and other events, and he's definitely a cool guy. An outlier for sure. 

Hire him, Sparta!

Don't know too much about him, but those are some of the right things to say. 

Maybe Barnett was smiling after the postgame handshake because JH told him he’d hire him as an assistant after he gets canned by MSU. 
 

Or, maybe he had gas.