r/MSUSpartans • u/Next-Camera1530 • 4d ago
News Nick Saban in ESPN docuseries: I left Michigan State over $100,000
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state-university/2026/10/12/nick-saban-details-why-he-left-michigan-state-in-new-espn-docuseries/92223735007/Michigan State stiffed Nick Saban. And in doing so, it did him — and his legacy — a huge favor.
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u/Next-Camera1530 4d ago
MSU could’ve done worse. People forget that Jerry Sandusky was a candidate for MSU HC. Imagine if MSU had Sandusky AND Nassar
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u/kkrell23 4d ago
It’s hilarious how incompetent MSU is when it comes to shit like this. A representative also told Urban Meyer that “they’re good, they want a Tier 1 HC” back when he was at bowling green. Then you have the fickell/Tucker debacle etc, I’m just curious to see how they fuck up Izzos replacement somehow but if I were to guess Izzo would name Borovich as his successor
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u/pkglove 4d ago
I think it's going to be Borovich as well
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4d ago
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u/JMSpartan23 4d ago
If this happens, we ride at dawn.
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u/timothythefirst 2d ago
Would that really be that bad?
Not that I’m campaigning for him, but it’s not like he has years of being a terrible coach on his resume. I wouldnt exactly be excited about it but it wouldn’t be a “ride at dawn” kind of hire either.
If we replaced tom Izzo with a guy who had the exact same resume as tom Izzo did before he became head coach the fanbase would riot lol. Just seems kind of funny.
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u/blabula 4d ago
Letting Hartline go to USF is going to be remembered as a legendary bag fumble
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u/Keyblade_Yoshi 4d ago
Eh, given his stint as an OC at OSU and the fact he hired Tim Beck as his OC at USF. He doesn’t seem like the type of coach that could have turned MSU around.
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u/Secludedmean4 4d ago
Izzo doesn’t seem to be one who is interested in a succession plan. They have an opportunity RIGHT NOW to train and develop and are wasting it. Keep Izzo as long as he wants but damn you have to have a plan and don’t push people away with your “i won’t tell anyone it’s my last game I’ll just leave” attitude. Set the program up for success man
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u/bigrockcandimountain 4d ago
Objectively bad take. You’re talking about Izzo, not Dantonio 10 years ago. Is there anything that DOES suggest he is going surprise fans and the university and just to ride off into the sunset without giving the basketball program’s future much thought? He IS the university. He’s out there killing it in recruiting, is invigorated, and seems to be in good health. If coach were reading this thread, what would you tell him to do that would make you feel more comfortable about his retirement?
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u/Secludedmean4 4d ago
Purely the thought of having some replacement. MSU has been absolutely torn apart from leadership changes, coaches changes, politics, board of trustees (or lack of any collaboration). Izzo is the last piece of the MSU legacy from 2000 on.
Nil has changed the game and we are already behind in other sports with recruits, talent and coaching. If this replacement goes poorly this is the DARK AGES for msu.
I love and trust Izzo just want to ensure we have more than a 2 year outlook on this all with the pace the college athletics scene has changed even in the last 5 years.
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u/No-Independent-226 4d ago
What sports other than football is MSU "already behind with recruits, talent, and coaching" in the NIL era?
Just an objectively weird thing to say, looking at the last few years of performance in the athletic department. If all you care about is football, just say that.
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u/ramdog 4d ago
This is important. Basketball strong, hockey strong, and our second tier sports that get attention like men's/women's soccer, volleyball, gymnastics etc all seem to be doing great.
Haven't seen many accolades for our swim and dive program recently, though. That interim administration was so, so bad.
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u/RedHorseOne21 2d ago
Unfortunately, and all too often, we have to cope with “Spartan fans” that touch a little too close to looking and sounding like Michigan fans.
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u/DavidB0wieUB40 4d ago
Do you think that the high level coach that you're describing is going to sit on Izzo's bench and wait around the next 2-5 years for that to happen?
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u/Secludedmean4 4d ago
No, but having an idea of when he retires so we can time it is important hence why I said we should have an idea past “I’m going to leave at this date and there will be no farewell tour because it’s sudden” as he has previously described that exact scenario. If you know it’s imminent then take the proactive opportunity to push a plan for succession. This is not a knock on Izzo just a reality that we need to acknowledge while we know he’s at the end of his tenure .
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u/No-Independent-226 2d ago
How do you know that these conversations aren’t happening in private settings? Why in the world would it make sense to publicize any of those discussions?
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u/sabatoa 4d ago
My cope is that had it not been LSU, then it would have been someone else, including the NFL
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u/magicscientist24 4d ago
That's the thing; in the article/documentary MSU admin promised the $100k as an incentive to stay because apparently the NY Giants were showing interest in Saban at the time.
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u/-Economist- 4d ago
I am very close to MSU athletics and this is fairly accurate. But to be fair, money was not the only issue. It was the draw of a bigger conference (SEC). Even if he accepted the money and stayed at MSU, the next season, Ohio State, Miami, USC, Alabama, and Georgia all had HC vacancies. In 2002, it was Florida and ND. There is just no way MSU would retain Saban.
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u/ComicSportsNerd •Kirk Cousins 4d ago
you close enough to get a low down on wth spartan ventures turly is gonna be lol
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u/WhiteNikeAirs 4d ago
I’ve heard he even called back after accepting the LSU job asking to stay at MSU saying he “made a mistake.”
Gives me the impression he was more emotionally connected to our program than history suggests.
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u/420allstars 3d ago
Not really, Saban had a foot out the door almost his entire tenure at State, and yet he's constantly tried to justify this maneuver away for the last 25+ years. He didn't want to/or feel like had the ability to turn the tables consistently against Michigan or Ohio State. Seems like he just wanted to be at a school who's sole focus was football and he could get that in the SEC
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u/600George 4d ago
All biography is "alibiography." Not sure who said that, but it's true, especially when it comes to sports bios.
The facts about Saban's departure have been known for a while, here they are:
Saban wanted to leave MSU, most likely for an NFL job, almost from the moment he arrived in East Lansing. His agent, Jimmy Sexton openly courted several NFL openings and Saban was seriously considered for the NY Giants job. Remember, Saban ultimately left LSU to go to the Dophins because his dream was always to be an NFL coach. He wanted to be remembered with the likes of Lombardi and Belichick, not Bear Bryant.
Saban could never accept that MSU was not a "football school" that also played basketball, and to a certain extent, hockey. He wanted every ounce of the athletic department's, and the administration's energy, to be focused on football, with everything else a very distant second. He got that at LSU and Alabama. He was never going to get that at MSU. He liked Izzo and remains good friends with him so it wasn't personal, it was just the way Saban felt the pecking order should be.
Saban could never accept that as good as he made MSU, it would always, at best, share the spotlight with Michigan. Remember, in Saban's final year at MSU, the Spartans beat Michigan, finished with the same record, but lost out on the Orange Bowl because Michigan had more "tradition" and, it was assumed, a larger traveling fan base. MSU went to the Citrus Bowl (with more fans than UM brought to the Orange, btw). Saban knew it would always bee that way in Michigan, but not in Louisiana and not really in Alabama either (and in Alabama, Saban would be the "big brother").
Jimmy Sexton approached Peter McPherson after the Michigan win to renegotiate Saban's contract. McPherson told Sexton that while he was happy to renegotiate the deal and pay Saban more, his policy was to wait until the end of the season to reopen any coach's contract. That was really the final straw for Saban and Sexton and they then began to listen to overtures from the NFL and other colleges.
Ultimately, Saban was never gong to be satisfied at MSU. Not with Izzo building a basketball program of national prominence, and certainly not when Ron Mason (a hockey coach of all things!) took over the athletic department. There would always be schools with money to dangle in front of Jimmy Sexton and the NFL dream would always be there until it imploded in Miami.
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u/NachoManRandySnckage 4d ago
Dantonio should really go down as the greatest college football coach of all time with all his success at a school that does everything it can to shoot the program in the face.
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u/Raptormann0205 4d ago
This is the issue that has plagued MSU for decades. They're cheap.
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u/cavaysh 4d ago
$401 million donation and they still cheap out on the football team. At that point is more corruption than incompetency?
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u/SenorConstipation 4d ago
??
The money wasn’t even usable until July. Also most of it goes towards the stadium.
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u/carknut 4d ago
With a team like this, why even bother with the stadium
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u/Raptormann0205 4d ago
Idk, why did Northwestern bother with a new stadium when their program was in the dumpster for as long as it was?
You're not going to be able to outbid the blue bloods on players, you've gotta hedge what bets you can when it comes to recruiting. The NIL budget also needs to be competitive, but so does the venue.
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3d ago
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u/SenorConstipation 3d ago
Given it’s a matter of public record and the university has confirmed the funds were received, yes I do.
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u/OldResponsibility982 4d ago
I think this is just an easy excuse for Saban to justify why he walked away. He was gone no matter what, this is just a way for him to make it look like it wasn’t his fault.
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u/MissionFilm1229 4d ago
My uncle worked at Fox at the time in the Sports department. If I’m remembering correctly MSU offered $800k and LSU offered $1.2m. I never heard that MSU upped their offer to $1.1m.
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u/Many-Highlight7676 4d ago
Msu's whole administration culture could be described simply.
Toxic.
Horrible leadership.
No accountability.
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u/Initial-Season-6568 4d ago edited 4d ago
MSU has made 1.5 good major hires in the past 30 years.
Mark Dantonio. They fucked that one up with how they structured his contract so he could leave at a time when his entire recruiting class could bail. That's just incompetence on MSU's part.
Adam Nightengale. He has been fantastic, but they refused to give Rod Brind'Amour an interview...you know the Jack Adams and Stanley Cup winning head coach for the Carolina Hurricanes who played for Ron Mason...not even an interview. EDIT: This meant MSU hired Danton Cole, who was a perennial loser.
Their ability to evaluate talent has lead to ...
Bobby Williams - Shit coach...cried during a press conference like a clown.
John L. Smith - Shit coach...slapped himself during a press conference like a bitch.
Mark Dantonio
Mel Tucker - Average coach...sexual misconduct and terrible recruiter.
Jonathan Smith - Shit Coach. Utter lack of competency at any aspect of coaching.
Pat Fitzgerald - We all see why he went 4-20 in his last two seasons at Northwestern.
Those are not the decisions of an athletics department that has ANY handle on reality or alumni expectations following the Dantonio era.
So..for $100,000 they created this timeline. It's a hilarious clown show of fools in Michigan State's AD office.
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u/ComicSportsNerd •Kirk Cousins 4d ago
why would we interview Rod when he is a NHL HC? doubt he would've even seriously considered it.
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u/Initial-Season-6568 4d ago
He was not a HC when he approached MSU. Let me find the article with the story.
Here ya go.
https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/burnside-coaching-in-carolina-is-home-for-brind-amour-330498718
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u/ComicSportsNerd •Kirk Cousins 4d ago
oh i thought you meant when we hired Adam cause Rod was definitely HC then
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u/Initial-Season-6568 4d ago
No, Adam is a great hire, but MSU *COULD* have had Rod the Bod.
MSU is lucky to have Adam and he's built an insanely great program after Cole damn near ran it into the ground with annual finishes in the bottom half of the big ten...
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u/Accomplished_Bit6168 3d ago
I would argue that Steve Mariucci was a good coach and a good hire at the time.
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u/JMSpartan23 4d ago
I’m glad this is being brought to the forefront. Can we again shine some light (like a huge one) in the faces of the scumbag(s) within the Board of Trustees?
You can’t help but think they also had a huge hand on the matter.
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u/GoGreeb 4d ago
Who cares man, Saban wouldn't have stayed at MSU if we gave him $12 trillion dollars bc he didn't believe in MSU at his core
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u/Fantastic-Lie52 4d ago
I would’ve rather gone through life not knowing this