mark dantonio - MSU Alumni Association - Michigan State University

Photo courtesy of MSU Sports Information
(L to r) Kristen,
Becky, Mark and
Lauren consider
MSU their “home.”
The Spartan Nation is abuzz with excitement.
By Robert Bao
On the day Mark Dantonio
was officially named new MSU
head football coach, an instant
tsunami of approval from alumni,
fans, media and football experts
seemed to spread across Michigan
and beyond.
The comments bouncing across
airwaves and Internet message
boards were uniformly positive—
a rare phenomenon for MSU
football in recent years.
Credit President Lou Anna K.
Simon for successfully conducting
a model, inclusive search. Simon
had to navigate adroitly around a
number of timelines, schedules,
protocols and hiring issues and processes,
in a timely manner to satisfy
alumni, trustees, donors, fans, players
and recruiting timetables. She
and her core team, which included
basketball coach Tom Izzo, athletics
director Ron Mason, senior associate
athletics director Mark Hollis,
and former player Lt. Alan Haller
of MSU Police, worked quietly but
efficiently, effectively and ethically.
The final choice not only met her
announced criteria but also secured
unanimous support from MSU
trustees.
In Dantonio, MSU has landed
a coach who solidly meets every
major selection criteria—and then
some. He even boasts a surname
that ends in O, a criterion Izzo had
inserted in jest. Dantonio--like
“paisans” Izzo and Palombo (as in
Joanne P. McCallie)—has produced
success at the highest level
of competition, boasts a terrific
football pedigree, has BCS conference
head coaching experience,
knows MSU’s recruiting territory
intimately, knows the university,
and perhaps most importantly,
truly wants to be at Michigan
State, his “dream job.”
Don’t think this last point is
a minor one. When Dantonio
appeared on Izzo’s radio show a
couple of days after his naming
and when his daughters Kristen
and Lauren sang the MSU Fight
Song on air, it electrified many
listeners who were longing for
a Spartan to lead the football
program. While Mark did not
graduate from MSU (he has
degrees from South Carolina and
Ohio University), his heart lies at
“We’re looking
forward to competing
against him, but the
neighborhood just
got tougher.”
--Jim Tressel, Ohio State.
MSU. He spent six years as Nick
Saban’s defensive backfield coach
and Bobby Williams’ associate
head coach from 1995-2000. East
Lansing is where his children
essentially grew up, where the
family made some great friendships,
and where they consider
home. As he puts it, “This is our
final destination.”
“We still lay on Spartan
blankets at home,” he noted at his
introductory press conference at
the Duffy Daugherty Building
auditorium. “We have a lot of
things from Michigan State that
are really just cherished as part of
our past.”
While at Cincinnati, he
recounts, Mark and wife Becky
had decided that MSU was one of
only two Big Ten jobs for which
they’d leave Cincinnati.
His words leave no doubt they
come from someone who bleeds
green.
“It’s tremendous to be a Spartan,”
he said. “To me, I know the
phrase ‘boldness by design’ exists
here right now. I can tell you as
a Spartan, whenever I walked
into any school in America . . . I
walked in with boldness because
I knew I represented something
that was very special. I knew I
represented something that had
history behind it, had tradition
behind it, had championships behind
it, a place that was nationally
known for its athletics. . . . I’m so
proud to be here today, to represent
Michigan State University in
this capacity.”
In December, Dantonio made a
brief appearance at Breslin Center
during the halftime of the Chicago
State game. To thundering applause,
he quickly announced his
three goals—to graduate players,
to have players become productive
members of society, and to win
championships. He also deftly
had the crowd circle Nov. 3—the
date of the Michigan game.
Dantonio’s credentials go way,
way beyond simply deeming East
Lansing as his dream destination.
Dantonio, 50, boasts an
impressive pedigree, counting
Nick Saban, Jim Tressel and Earl
Bruce—all championship caliber
coaches—among his key mentors.
He has 27 years of experience
as football coach, the last
three as head coach at Cincinnati,
where he led the Bearcats to two
bowls and where he significantly
improved a program as it made
a transition from “mid-major”
Conference USA to the Bowl
Championship Series’ Big East
Conference.
Dantonio’s three-year record
of 18-17 at Cincinnati is deceptive,
argues Jim Comparoni,
editor and publisher of Spartan
Magazine. Cincinnati, notes
Comparoni, had to compete in
a major-conference environment
with mid-major resources. He
adds that Cincinnati gained
significant credibility by beating
No. 7-ranked Rutgers, a previously
unbeaten team. Cincinnati
played the second-toughest schedule
in the country and four of its
losses this season were on the road
against Top Ten teams—West
Virginia, Louisville, Ohio State
and Virginia Tech.
“I don’t think there are 20
teams that could have beaten one
of those teams on the road,” notes
Comparoni. “Cincinnati was
playing its best football in the last
half of the season, winning four
of its last five.”
Before Cincinnati, Dantonio
was defensive coordinator at Ohio
State and helped the Buckeyes win
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