Thanks to the ongoing Michigan State coaching search, we have a new term we can use the next time we get into a verbal altercation — as “waffling flake” has been thrown out there by one of the school’s trustee members to describe a candidate for the job.

That’s the term Michigan State trustee Brian Mosallam used after Luke Fickell decided to stay at Cincinnati in a recent radio interview with “Jamie and Stoney on 97.1 The Ticket.”

Mosallam also caused news in Michigan after he followed Fickell on Twitter, leading many to speculate that the Cincinnati coach had accepted the Michigan State job.

Here’s how Mosallam explained the situation when asked if Michigan State screwed up the courting process of Fickell during the program’s coaching search.

“Let me say this, by 9 p.m. (Monday) night, I personally had more information, finally, than the media did,” Mosallam explained. “And let me be as diplomatic as possible here, for Spartans everywhere, at the end of the day, we can’t force somebody to come here. Spartan Nation should want somebody that wants to be here. We don’t want a waffling flake who views this is as a destination job. So no, I don’t feel so.”

Later in the interview, Mosallam was asked if the speculation that Michigan State’s history of off-the-field concerns cost them a shot at landing Fickell.

“I think that a compliance question has come up with many candidates and understanding where we are with that and the fallout of the Nasser scandal, that’s why Jen Smith was their accompanying to answer those questions and to alleviate concerns regarding bed,” Mosallam answered.

In addition to that comment, Mosallam explained the role the Board of Trustees actually has in the coaching search.

“The process is for the committee to come to the board to make a recommendation and the board to give a thumb up or a thumbs down,” he noted. “That’s where a lot of the misinformation was. Everyone else can draw their own conclusions, but we need to move forward collectively.”

While Mosallam did not reference making calls to radio stations and calling out previous candidates as part of his responsibilities for MSU, apparently, he feels that’s also among his duties for the Spartans.