These are the coaches that Michigan State needs to look at first

Here are some head coaches in college football that Michigan State needs to talk to and offer a lucrative contract to if they are interested in possibly becoming the next head coach of the Spartans.

There have been many outlets discussing who Michigan State should interview and who they should offer their head coach job to. However, the majority of these national publications don’t fully understand where Michigan State and its athletic program is in comparison to other top-tier programs across the country.

Michigan State has the 4th largest number of alums out of all of the universities in the United States of America with an estimated 552, 000 total living alums. That number will grow as Michigan State University has the largest undergraduate enrollment on university record.

The athletic department is ranked in the top 20 out of all Power Five conference schools for Power 5 Desirability Ratings according to Si.com. Michigan State is also listed as the No. 12 Most Profitable Sports for 2024 among college athletic departments. The Spartan’s athletic department according to USA Today is also ranked No. 12 in college athletics total revenue in reported data in 2022-23.

CBS Sports ranks Michigan State No. 11 in the Top 25 best programs in college athletics and Sporting News has the Spartans football program ranked No. 19 among the best programs of the College Football Playoff era.

Michigan State will also continue to climb the various rankings as part of their new media rights deal in terms of being one of the top financially stable programs in all of college football. They also added a new 78-million-dollar football building this Fall and the Spartans have the 21st-biggest football stadium in the country.

The university itself is doing well in terms of its academics as well and they were recently ranked one of the top public institutions in the nation. Michigan State as well have numerous academic programs ranked in the top 10 nationally. Academics of a school is not the driving force of a coach choosing a school to coach at but it doesn’t hurt the chances of a coach picking the school either.

There are also some specific things that Michigan State could offer a new coach to make the job even more appealing. For example, the school could offer the coach a long-term contract, a significant salary, and the autonomy to build the program in their own vision.

Overall, Michigan State is a very attractive job for a new coach. The program has a strong tradition, and resources, in a great conference, and has a passionate and dedicated fan base.

The data proves that Michigan State is a top 20 football program in the country and their athletic department by the numbers is a top 15 athletic program in the entire nation. Therefore, even though the Spartans recently fired their head football coach during the season, Michigan State should at the minimum, ask for interviews with some of the top college coaches in the country and make an offer to the coach who they believe is the best candidate to lead their program going into next season.