Michigan State University Athletics
Grinz on Green Blog
9/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 22, 2011
By Steve Grinczel, Online Columnist
From 1987-89, Harlon Barnett and Dan Enos played across the line of scrimmage from each other in practice. Barnett was a Michigan State free safety and Enos was a Spartan quarterback.
In '89, they were both featured on the back cover of the MSU Football Media Guide - Enos, then a junior, as one of the Spartans' top offensive players, and Barnett, a senior, as one of the top defensive players.
Barnett and Enos were members of Mark Dantonio's coaching staff at Cincinnati at the same time from 2004-05, and when Dantonio took over the head-coaching duties at Michigan State in '06, he brought Barnett back to East Lansing with him and retained Enos from the previous Spartan staff.
Barnett and Enos' paths will converge again on Saturday, except they'll be wearing different colors for a change. Barnett is in his fifth season as the Michigan State defensive backfield coach and Enos is the second-year head coach at Central Michigan.
"It'll be great to compete," Barnett said. "I just think about him coming out and being a visitor. I know it's going to affect him a little bit, being a Spartan all his life and all that. As far as the game itself, I'm looking to beat him and I'm sure he's looking to beat us.
"After the game, we'll still be friends and ex-teammates, but on Saturday we're looking to win the ballgame."
Barnett has no memory of intercepting any of Enos' passes during practice under former head coach George Perles, who was renowned for keeping the ball on the ground as much as possible.
"To specifically say I did and remember that, I would be lying," Barnett said. "But I wouldn't be surprised if I did, or that he might have beaten me. As much as we ran the ball, there weren't too many opportunities for picks.
"But we competed and had a lot of fun together."
Barnett and Enos last spoke earlier this summer.
"He's a smart guy, understands schemes and stuff like that," Barnett said. "Danny's an excellent football coach and I hope he does a really good job up at Central and wish him success."
Michigan State and Central Michigan have numerous other coaching connections.
Spartans wide receivers coach Terrence Samuel spent last season in the same role under Enos at CMU.
The Chippewas' quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator is Morris Watts, who was MSU's offensive coordinator under Perles (1986-90), Nick Saban ('99) and Bobby Williams ('00-02). Watts was also the Spartans' interim head coach for the final three games of the '02 season.
Central Michigan running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Kort Shankweiler is a former MSU graduate assistant ('08-09) and CMU graduate assistant Gino Guidugli was Dantonio's starting quarterback at Cincinnati in '04.
Samuel compared going up against Enos to a sibling rivalry.
"He'd want to kick my butt and I want to kick his butt, too," Samuel said of his relationship with Enos. "I want to beat my big brother right now. So Coach Enos, I'm coming to get you."
Enos is in the process of building his own program.
"I think he's definitely putting his own spin, his personality (on it)," Samuel said. "He's definitely go-get-it, try to get the win, be intense, be emotional, but he cares. It's no different than how we do things here.
"He's very similar (to Dantonio). I see very similar programs."
Enos, still smarting from last week's 44-14 loss to archrival Western Michigan, appeared to be more interested in getting what he called his "fragile" 1-2 team back on track than going down memory lane this week.
However, he said Dantonio has been instrumental in his development as a coach.
"He gave me a lot (of advice)," Enos said during the Mid-American Conference weekly coaches teleconference. "I worked for him for five years, so there were a lot of conversations. He's been a huge mentor for me and an unbelievable person.
"I appreciate everything he's done for me. He's shared a lot with me over the years. The one thing that maybe sticks with me the most is how he has his priorities in order. I don't feel he ever lets football consume him or his family.
"He always keeps his faith and his family his No. 1 priority at all times, and he treats people that way on a day-to-day basis. But I really learned to be more secure with myself as far as understanding it's just a game. We're here to help these young people get better on the field and off the field. You can treat people the right way and still be a good football coach and still win and do things the right way."
