Table Of Content

More Triumphs and Turmoil of Michigan State Sports More Triumphs and Turmoil of Michigan State Sports From the peaks to the pits. And back again. That's the always fascinating, often frustrating story of Michigan State sports. And nobody tells it with more ringing authority or more inside straight skinny than award¬ winning reporter Lynn Henning. • What Hall of Fame football coach flirted—not once, but twice—with the head football-coaching job at MSU? Henning found out and tells the inside story of a courtship never consummated, a bizarre marriage that would have rocked college football. • Who was pushing the revolving doors in the MSU athletic department that saw controversial figures swept in as questionable appointees were broomed out? • Why did Nick Saban bail while Tom Izzo stayed? What drove these two coaches to build pre-eminent programs and then take such differ¬ ent paths when opportunities knocked on the heels of their stunning success? Following up his acclaimed original Spartan Seasons of twenty years ago, Henning had to tap into investigative reportorial skills honed in a thirty-two year career to solve mysteries and ferret out the story behind the story. He spent countless hours and traveled many miles to interview the principal players in these sagas. All the key figures live and breathe, fight and connive in these pages. Nick Saban and George Perles. Bobby Williams and John L. Smith. Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo. And the key people who sometimes stayed behind the scenes and Continued on back flap Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/spartanseasonsiiOOOOhenn SPARTAN SEASONS II Other Lynn Henning Books: Spartan Seasons: The Triumphs and Turmoil of Michigan State Sports Published by Momentum Publishing, 1987 Bottom of the Ninth, by Kirk Gibson, with Lynn Henning Published by Thomson Gale, 1997 SPARTAN SEASONS II More Triumphs and Turmoil of Michigan State Sports LYNN HENNING Sports Seasons Publishing Spartan Seasons II: More Triumphs and Turmoil of Michigan State Sports Copyright © 2006 by Sports Seasons Publishing LLC First Edition 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the publisher. Sports Seasons Publishing books are available for special promotions and charitable fund-raisers and for use as premiums. For details, contact the publisher, attention Special Markets. Jacket design by Image Graphics & Design Photography editor: Stan Stein Interior design by Jacinta Calcut and Bill Haney Printed in the United States of America Sports Seasons Publishing 1947 Long Lake Shores Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 email: [email protected] ISBN 0-9787195-1-4 Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form of by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable material. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated. To Susie Whose love is always patient