Spartan seasons II : more triumphs and turmoil of Michigan State sports

2006·28.4 MB·English

by  Henning, Lynn

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
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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
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To
Susie
Whose love is always patient