Coach Mark Dantonio: On the Hot Seat?
In his last 33 games, MSU coach Mark Dantonio has a less than impressive record with only 17 wins to show for his efforts, while racking up 16 losses. One has to wonder if the game of football has passed him by, or if he has lost his team.
For a program like MSU to scuffle to a record barely above .500 for running on three years now is, in a word, unacceptable. With results like this, it is no wonder the media has latched on to this narrative and won't stop beating the drum about Dantonio's recent success, or lack thereof. Can Coach Dantonio provide a consistent winning culture? Are his methods outdated? Is he over-rated? When taken as a whole, it's a shock he hasn't been fired already.
With the prolonged stretch of mediocre results on the field, it is safe to assume Coach Dantonio has held on to his job only due to his integrity and the high level of mentorship he provides to the young men on his team.
October 20th, 2018 at 7:30 PM ^
Nah, he almost scored a point in a playoff game once. MSU will build him a statute for that achievement and let him stay as long as he wants.
October 20th, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
No he's not on the hot seat
October 20th, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
Nah. I would think it’d take a couple losing seasons in a row. 2-3, then yeah.
October 20th, 2018 at 8:22 PM ^
All satire aside Dantonio is a near elite coach, at least the 10th best coach in the country. His player development is excellent. He always prioritizes run D and run O (even if they aren't good at run O this year, that is his focus), and that is critical given the Michigan weather in October and November.
And given how much the B1G sucks (even when teams get really good coaches, they aren't willing to pay to keep them), MSU will almost always finish in the top half of the B1G going roughly 9-3 on average every year.
Now, if he loses to UM three years in a row ... THAT could cause problems.
October 20th, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
The Bo and Woody era saw a down time at MSU; it is easy to forget that in the 1950's they were really good - and the first "game of the century" was MSU with Bubba Smith against an Ara Parseghian Notre Dame team in 1966. During Bo, Mo and Lloyd, MSU went through a lot of coaches, some better than others, some downright bad, and the key was none could get anywhere - they'd have a good team here or there but couldn't build momentum. Then we went through our Rich Rod - Brady Hoke phase and luckily for MSU, that was when Dantonio appeared - their best coach in a long time and the first one not to face an annual buzz saw in Michigan.
Rich Rod didn't care about defense and it showed. Honestly, we are finally getting cleared of that period.
October 20th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
he is a better coach than harbaugh
October 21st, 2018 at 1:49 AM ^
Funny joke.
October 20th, 2018 at 11:41 PM ^
Dantonio is the most overrated coach in Big Ten history. Cuts corners while taking advantage of the traditional Midwest power programs having down years. And a shit ton of luck thrown in. He is not recruiting well and is looking at a long losing streak to Michigan...I expect him to retire after next year to preserve his winning record against Michigan.
October 21st, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
Not to mention the league splitting lead to immense schedule imbalance, which they were on the plus side of until it went simply geographical.
October 21st, 2018 at 12:23 AM ^
Congratulations, you could get a job as a beat writer.
October 21st, 2018 at 1:19 AM ^
I like the cut of your jib, OP.
October 21st, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
Unacceptable? Totally acceptable for me.
October 21st, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
We found Valenti’s MGoBlog account