Harlon Barnett reveals how he leaned on Odell Haggins during transition to interim role

Michigan State interim head coach Harlon Barnett is in a very difficult situation, taking over for a head coach in the middle of a season due to a scandal. But it is not the first time he has been on a staff dealing with a mid-season coaching change.

The circumstances were very different in 2019 when Barnett was the defensive coordinator at Florida State. Willie Taggert was fired midway through his second season as head coach due to the team’s performance in November after nine games.

Odell Haggins took over as the interim coach during that time and led the Seminoles the rest of the way.

Barnett’s rise to being the interim coach is different than Haggins. Mel Tucker was first suspended and is now currently in the process of firing him for his alleged sexual harassment of Brenda Tracy.

But Barnett has called Haggins for advice during this turbulent time. One great piece has of advice from Haggins that Barnett has used is meeting with each player.

“I am actually still meeting with the players,” Barnett said his Tuesday press conference. “I’m in the 80s now, individually. So met with some guys yesterday who had a different experience from last week’s guys that I met with because now we got a game experience and then the other things that are going on. The person that actually told me it wa a good idea was to meet with all the guys is my guy at Florida State that became the interim coach, Odell Haggins. He’s the one actually said, Man, I would suggest that you meet with all those players, because it really helped me. He said the staff as well. It ended up being a really good idea by him because you get a lot of insight from the players. One-on-one, they feel like they can share with you. So it’s been really good.”

Barnett is a Michigan State alum who played for the team in the 1980s. A defensive back, his first position coach was Nick Saban.

The two crossed paths a decade later when Saban was the head coach and Barnett served as the sideline reporter for the Michigan State radio broadcast.

Last week, Barnett was asked if he had heard anything from his former coach about him getting the promotion in East Lansing, Mich.

“I have not heard, but I’m not surprised though,” Barnett said. “That’s Nick man, that’s Nick. But Nick is great, and I tell people this all the time, my foundation of coaching defensive backs is Nick Saban all day.”