Seems like a good guy but I’m doubtful this works out for Sparty. He’s coming in with a cupboard that isn’t just bare, it’s missing shelves and has a punch hole through two cabinets.
To win there though, he’s going to have to reinvent the program completely. He knew Oregon State because he lived and loved Oregon State. Winning at Michigan State has always been predicated on Michigan being down. If you can’t snipe 4* recruits from Michigan and Ohio State, you’re going to have to find diamonds in the rough in suburban Michigan and Ohio, of which he has no connections. The expansion of the B1G will help, as kids in the northwest (where he is familiar) will know who MSU is, but you’re not going to go 10-2 in the new B1G by recruiting kids to go to East Lansing from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. And when they go 3-9 next season, they’re not going to be an attractive destination for anybody.
Meanwhile Valenti is currently setting his expectations as making the expanded playoff every other year, and that Smith has “failed” if he hasn’t made the playoff three times by the end of this contract. I think they’ll be lucky for one first-round exit in that time.