BV vs Saban at Michigan St

hoffmaja · Thursday at 8:31 PM

We shouldn’t be so quick to give up on BV. Here’s how Saban’s 5 years at Michigan State went. He was 25-22-1 in his first 4 years, and 9-2 in his 5th season. He then moved on to LSU and became the GOAT. BV will get us rolling if we don’t pull the cord too soon.

Michigan State

1995–1997 seasons

Saban became head coach of Michigan Stateprior to the 1995 season.[50] Michigan State had not had a winning season since 1990, and the team was sanctioned by the NCAA for recruiting violations that were committed under his predecessor and former mentor, George Perles.[51][52][53]

Beginning in 1995, Saban moderately improved Michigan State's fortunes, taking the Spartans to bowl games in each of his first three seasons.[54]From 1995 to 1997, Michigan State finished 6–5–1, 6–6, and 7–5.[55][56][57]

1998 season

On November 7, 1998, the Spartans upset the No. 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes 28–24 at Ohio Stadium.[58]However, even after the upset and an early-season rout of then-highly ranked Notre Dame the Spartans finished 6–6, including three last-minute losses featuring turnovers, defensive lapses, and special-teams misplays, and failed to earn a bowl invitation.[59][60]

1999 season

Saban led the 1999 Spartans to a 9–2 season that included wins over Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. The two losses were routs at the hands of Purdue and Wisconsin.[61] Following the final regular-season game against Penn State, Saban abruptly resigned to accept the head coaching position with LSU.[62]Saban's assistant head coach and successor, Bobby Williams, coached the Spartans to a Citrus Bowl victory over Florida, giving the Spartans an overall record of 10–2 for the 1999 season.[63][64] It was the most wins for the Spartans in a season since 1965, and the Spartans reached their highest ranking since the 1966 team.[65] Future NFL head coach Josh McDaniels served as a graduate assistant on Saban's 1999 coaching staff.[66]