Urban Meyer had many tough battles against Mark Dantonio and Michigan State. He spoke to the Columbus Dispatch about Dantonio’s retirement.
In case you haven’t heard, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio has decided to call it a career. He announced his retirement on his Twitter account Tuesday. The timing and fashion in which it was done came as a shock to many, but Dantonio was clear in his intention to spend more time with family and leave the stress and time commitments behind.
If anyone knows about those demands, it’s one of his fiercest former combatants, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
The Columbus Dispatch spoke to Meyer about the shocking news, and he had nothing but good things to say about Dantonio and the Michigan State program under his guidance.
Mark and I have been friends since his Cincinnati days,” Meyer told The Dispatch. “I think he’s one of the best tacticians in the game of football that I ever coached against.”
That’ some high praise from a future Hall of Famer that’s gone against some pretty remarkable coaches during his career in the SEC and Big Ten. When asked about the Michigan State program under Dantonio, he went on to say that it was a golden era.
“Arguably the greatest era of Michigan State football — the modern era — is Mark Dantonio’s,” Meyer said.
Meyer also touched on some of the heartbreaks administered by Dantonio during the time in which the Spartans and Buckeyes were arguably the two best programs in the Big Ten going toe-to-toe.
Urban Meyer shocked by Mark Dantonio's retirement as Michigan State coach https://t.co/tD9OQLSIrq
The former OSU coach said the 2013 loss to Dantonio’s Spartans in the Big Ten Championship game was a gut punch. It ruined a shot at a national championship for Ohio State. But the 2015 one that was dealt to OSU by the Spartans in the ‘Shoe still haunts him “to this day.” That Buckeye team will go down as one of Ohio State’s most talented teams in the history of the program, but that single loss kept it out of the conversation for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Sometimes the best combatants end up having the most respect for each other, and that’s clearly the case for Meyer as he reminisced about those battles against Dantonio and Michigan State.
“I’ve always had respect for the Michigan State community and football program,” Meyer said. “I love Michigan State. Since my Notre Dame days (in the 1990s), I’ve thought Michigan State is a great place. They’ll find a great coach.”
Ohio State seems to have found a great one in Ryan Day, now it’s Michigan State’s turn. Could that guy also have Buckeye ties?
Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio announced his surprise retirement Tuesday on Twitter, and the Spartans are better off for it. Despite becoming the team’s winningest coach while leading it to historic achievements, Dantonio is leaving the program in worse shape — at least, off the field and barely better on it — than when he arrived back in 2006, and he needed to go.
There’s no denying his on-field achievements are impressive: He resurrected the program out of the dark days of John L. Smith, seemingly doing more with less and overachieving. He has 114 wins with the Spartans, three of his teams finished the season ranked in the top-10, and he led the team to thrilling bowl game victories over Georgia, Baylor and Stanford in the 2014 Rose Bowl.
Under Dantonio, Michigan State became one of two Big Ten teams to make the College Football Playoff (though most fans would probably rather forget the result). He won three conference titles and beat Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State plenty of times, sometimes winning in stunning fashion. Trick plays became a trademark of Michigan State football, thanks to plays like the “Little Giants” fake field goal against Notre Dame or the “Mousetrap” fake punt against Northwestern. The 2015 season was filled withwild endings.
But those are all distant memories compared with Michigan State football’s current status.
To all Spartans: Thank you for everything. You have truly helped my dreams come true. pic.twitter.com/uKkubvp1cW
Not only does Dantonio’s departure come as the program is falling back into the dismal pit he once carried it out of — Michigan State has had back-to-back 7-6 seasons — but he also either helped create a toxic environment marred by controversy or idly watched it unfold during his 13-year tenure. Not to mention that his exit strategy is questionable at best and pathetic at worst.
It doesn’t matter much that Dantonio, 63, retired the day before National Signing Day. The once-highly anticipated event means significantly less with December’s Early Signing Period, and the Spartans’ 2020 recruiting class isn’t even in the top 40. (Who would want to commit to Michigan State right now anyway?)
Far more importantly, Dantonio leaves Michigan State as he’s embroiled in a wrongful termination lawsuit. He announced his retirement less than 24 hours after he was accused of multiple NCAA violations in court documents. Oh, and he also may have committed perjury.
In a press conference Tuesday evening, Dantonio said the lawsuit had “zero” to do with his departure, but the timing is awfully suspect.
He — along with former university president Lou Anna Simon and former athletics director Mark Hollis — is the target of a federal wrongful termination lawsuit brought by former director of college advancement and performance Curtis Blackwell in November 2018. (Blackwell is also suing two Michigan State Police detectives, claiming his was wrongfully arrested for allegedly interfering with their investigation. No charges were filed.)
Dantonio announces his retirement during a press conference Tuesday. (Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports)
The suit argues Blackwell, whose contract expired in 2017, was scapegoated when four members of Dantonio’s 2016 recruiting class were kicked off the team after sexual assault charges were filed. But according to Blackwell, he actually tried to dissuade the head coach from recruiting one troubled athlete and was brushed aside:”Dantonio was warned by staffers including Blackwell that 2016 recruit Auston Robertson was a liability because of his past criminal record, but the head coach ignored those pleas”, the Detroit Free Press reported based on a deposition Blackwell gave in September. That criminal record included a 2016 misdemeanor battery charge and several allegations of sexual misconduct, records obtained by The Detroit News show.
Michigan State already has a reprehensibly long history of ignoring sexual assault allegations — specifically those against disgraced physician Larry Nassar — and it sure looks like Dantonio carried on the administration’s tradition. He either didn’t do the bare minimum to vet the players he recruited into his program or he knowingly brought a four-star predator to campus who is now behind bars for sexually assaulting someone and will be a registered sex offender when he gets out.
But instead of resigning amid any of this off-field controversy, or after a 2018 ESPN report found at least 16 Michigan State players were accused of sexual assault or violence against women on his watch, or after several indefensible (but less important) coaching decisions — like being loyal to a fault, rearranging his staff and expecting something other than the same mediocre results — Dantonio assured everyone he’d still be coaching the Spartans in 2020.
A trustworthy athletic director would have canned Dantonio — or at least demanded his resignation — a while ago. A respectable coach — or human being, really — would have attempted to do right by the university he claims to love so much, accepted some responsibility and walked away. But Dantonio vehemently denied any wrongdoing and continued touting the program’s “high standards,” even as issues related to sexual assault being ignored or covered up continued arising.
Dantonio and the team in 2017. Mandatory Credit: (Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports)
He stayed in his job just long enough for a $4.3 million bonus to kick in back in January “in recognition of his long-service to the University.” And then he took the money and ran, announcing his resignation just as the public was becoming aware of new allegations of NCAA violations and possibly a federal crime.
Asked at his press conference if he’d do anything differently, Dantonio said: “No, I don’t think I would.” Yeah, and that’s the problem.
So sure, if you look at only stats and season records, it’s reasonable to think Michigan State is better off after 13 seasons under Dantonio. But he’s also tangled in only the latest example of the school putting sports above the health and safety of its students; compared with that, winning big games means nothing. All of that is part of his legacy.
If athletic director Bill Beekman had anything resembling a backbone, he’d veto Dantonio sticking around the department in a “special projects” role that involves working closely with players. The idea of the now-former head coach teaching a leadership class is laughable.
Dantonio — like so many administratorswho resigned in disgrace in recent years — shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the athletics department. Directly or indirectly, he contributed to a toxic culture in East Lansing, and Michigan State is better off without him in every facet.
Everyone deserves better than the coach Dantonio became.
Mark Dantonio, former Michigan State Football head coach, addressed the MSU Basketball crowd during halftime. Watch this clip here.
Today, Mark Dantonio shocked the world with his resignation. He also addressed the home crowd during Michigan State Basketball’s game against Penn State. As always, Dantonio was straight to the point with his farewell address
Fans and former players reacted all over social media to Dantonio’s resignation. He retires as the most winningest coach in Michigan State Football history and also a Rose Bowl champion. I’m glad Dantonio said goodbye to the fans at this game. Plus, watching Dantonio and Izzo chop it up on the sidelines is always such a treat.
The Buckeyes may be seeing a familiar foe more consistently as Luke Fickell is the frontrunner for the Michigan State HC position.
The Ohio State Buckeyes could be seeing a familiar face more consistently as Luke Fickell is reportedly the frontrunner for the Michigan State head coaching position.
This report comes just hours after Mark Dantonio stepped down as Michigan State’s head football coach. Dantonio has been the Spartans’ coach since 2007 and has recorded six winning seasons in that time.
As for Fickell, he started off his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ohio State, left for Akron and returned to eventually become the program’s defensive coordinator.
After the 2016 season, Fickell left to take the head coaching position at Cincinnati, a program he’s completely turned around. After a 4-8 win season in 2017, Fickell has gone 22-5 in the last two seasons.
That type of success gets big-time programs like Michigan State looking, and Fickell may soon be the Spartans coach.
Luke Fickell the front-runner to replace Mark Dantonio at Michigan State, sources say https://t.co/GLskdjyfOx
“Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell is the front-runner to replace Mark Dantonio as Michigan State’s football coach, multiple sources with knowledge of the athletic department’s thinking told the Free Press on Tuesday,” Detroit Free Press‘ Chris Solari reported.
This will be quite the development and a testament to how skilled of a coach Fickell is. Trained at Ohio State, it should make the university proud to see his continued success.
The only question if the offer comes, is if Fickell is willing to make the leap to another team with a different view of rivalry with Michigan.
Who are some names to watch for as MSU opens up a coaching search?
For the first time in 13 years Michigan State football is looking for a new coach.
Mark Dantonio resigned Tuesday afternoon leaving the school in a spot it hasn’t been in since the 2007 season when he took over. The school promoted defensive coordinator Mike Tressel to interim head coach while a formal search is conducted.
Here are some names being bandied about as a potential replacement.
Luke Fickell, Cincinnati Head Coach
Luke Fickell is a well-respected defensive mind that has been successful at Cincinnati after an excellent run as defensive coordinator at Ohio State. Sound familiar? Fickell’s path is on the exact same trajectory as Dantonio’s before he took the MSU job. Fickell is a midwest guy and an excellent recruiter. He would bring the same blue-collar mentality that Dantonio built Michigan State with. He’s among the most mentioned names whenever a job comes open and is prime for a step up. Michigan State could be just the opportunity Fickell is waiting for.
Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh Head Coach
Narduzzi could very well return to East Lansing as the head man. He has great memories here, leading some of the best defenses in the nation during his time as defensive coordinator, a position he held for eight seasons. Narduzzi is 36-29 during his five seasons at Pitt and won the ACC Coastal division in 2018. Narduzzi’s Pitt teams have been to bowl games in four of his five seasons.
Mike Tressel, Michigan State Defensive Coordinator
Tressel could be in the mix, depending on how the administration wants to handle Danotnio’s late departure. Many of the good candidates have begun preparations for the 2020 season and with recruiting classes finishing up in the next few days, it may be hard to lure somebody to move their family and ditch their current programs this late in the process. If that’s the case, MSU may end up with an internal promotion and Tressel would be the candidate there, leading top defensive units the last two seasons.
Mark Stoops, Kentucky Head Coach
Stoops has midwest ties being from Youngstown and we all know the connection between Michigan State, the midwest and specifically the town of Youngstown. Stoops has done a really good job at Kentucky despite being in impossible circumstances. Yes, he’s in the SEC, but his program doesn’t have the resources available to them as the big boys in the conference. Plus, Kentucky football will always be a distant second fiddle to the basketball team in Lexington. Stoops has already proven to be an excellent recruiter of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, stealing top prospects from the big in-state programs.
Matt Campbell, Iowa State Head Coach
Campbell has been a hot name in recent coaching searches and truth be told, he might be waiting for a bigger job than Michigan State. Heading to East Lansing would certainly be a step up for Campbell, but if he waits he could be a name mentioned for Texas or Oklahoma or a job that size when they open up. Campbell is a gifted offensive mind that has piled up a number of impressive wins during his time in Ames. He took over a 3-9 team and had them to eight wins within two years.
Jason Candle, Toledo Head Coach
Another Ohio guy! Candle has done a really good job at Toledo, racking up a 34-19 record in his five seasons, including and 11-win campaign in 2017. Candle is an offensive mastermind type and the Rockets are always among the top offensive teams in the MAC. He’s a little bit like Matt Campbell light, having worked with Campbell at Mount Union (WI) and Toledo in the past.
Urban Meyer
Just kidding. He’d never do it, but wouldn’t that be fun?!
Michigan State has four former players who will are on active rosters in the XFL to start the season.
[jwplayer fg15QU4s-PROpJzTY]
With the NFL season now complete, you know what that means! It’s XFL time baby! No, seriously, it’s XFL time. For the first time in 20 years, the XFL will kick off with a newly redesigned league on February 8th. MSU Football had six players drafted back in October, and of those, four of them are on rosters to start the season.
Here is every former Michigan State player who will be lacing up cleats for the XFL this season:
QB Connor Cook, Houston Roughnecks
LB Taiwan Jones, Los Angeles Wildcats
S Demetrious Cox, New York Guardians
WR Keith Mumphery, St. Louis Battlehawks
Note: Kurtis Drummond and Miguel Machado were both drafted, but are currently not listed on any rosters.
It’s definitely an interesting group of players, headlined by former Big Ten Quarterback of the Year Connor Cook. Cook was a fourth-round draft pick of the Raiders who since bounced around the league, never seeming to find a place, for one reason or another. He is currently listed as the backup for the Roughnecks and former Temple quarterback Philip Walker…
Former Third Team All-Big Ten safety Demetrious Cox also spent some time on a few different NFL teams but will now try his hand in Vince McMahon’s league.
Taiwan Jones played a couple games for the New York Jets back in 2015-16, but never really stuck in the NFL. He recently had tried out for WWE but now will look to find a fit with their sister organization in the XFL.
Keith Mumphery had, without a doubt, the most successful NFL career of anyone on this list, playing 27 games with the Houston Texans. However, Mumphery was released from the Texans after a report came out about an alleged sexual assault while he was at Michigan State. He should be the most impactful former Spartan playing in the XFL this season if Connor Cook remains the backup.
In 1983 he was hired to be the head coach of his alma mater where he led the Spartans through 1994, leading them to the Rose Bowl in 1987 which was their first trip to the game in 22 years at the time.
Former Michigan State defensive tackle, head coach and the man who helped oversee one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties died Wednesday at the age of 85.
George Perles played on the Michigan State defensive line from 1954-56 before returning to East Lansing as an assistant coach from 1959-70. His ability to coach consistently strong defensive lines helped lead him to Pittsburgh where he coached the defensive line starting in 1972 until 1982 when he took a job in the short-lived USFL.
In 1983 he was hired to be the head coach of his alma mater where he led the Spartans through 1994, leading them to the Rose Bowl in 1987 which was their first trip to the game in 22 years at the time.
George Perles, who led @MSU_Football to the 1988 Rose Bowl title, has died.
As much success as Perles brought to Michigan State, beating Notre Dame is something he had much trouble with, going just 2-10 against the Irish. Even in the 1987 season that saw Sparty finish the year as Rose Bowl Champions, Michigan State lost at Notre Dame 31-8 in September in a game that helped launch Tim Brown’s eventual Heisman campaign.
Perles finished his career with a 68-67-4 record at Michigan State.
As the 2019 season brings to a close another decade of college football, Badgers Wire has been engaged in a series of reflective pieces. “Record Review” is another series examining how the Badgers have fared against the rest of the Big Ten. Next up is an examination of the Badgers’ record against a program that found a winner in Mark Dantonio. Michigan State has been a mixed bag for the Badgers. Let’s look at what Badgers Wire means by that.
Using Stassen, Badgers Wire pulled up every result against Michigan State since the start of this decade. The Badgers gained a 4-3 advantage in wins with this year’s victory, but the Spartans prevented UW from getting on a roll in this series over the past decade. Only this year did Wisconsin win two games in a row in the series during the 2010s. The Badgers had a 2-1 advantage at Camp Randall, a 1-2 disadvantage in East Lansing, and had the only victory at a neutral site, which happened to be the 2011 Big Ten Championship Game. The two teams seem to trade losses and wins, and that was true within the 2011 season itself. Wisconsin and MSU split the 2011 meetings between them.
Let’s talk about the biggest game played between these teams in the past decade, Wisconsin’s gritty win in the 2011 Big Ten Championship Game. The Badgers trailed 29-21 at one point and allowed Michigan State to take a late 39-34 lead, but Montee Ball capped an eight-play, 64-yard scoring drive on a score with 3:45 left and then closed the game out with more disciplined responses in key situations. When the chips were down, the Badgers found a way to win. This is what they haven’t done as often against Ohio State and Penn State.
If the Badgers could somehow take the success they have against Michigan State and Michigan, and apply that to Penn State and Ohio State, they would be cooking with gas. It’s hard to tell where they would be in the overall conference title picture if they’d won a few of these close games against the tougher teams and found a touch more consistency against Michigan State. Fortunately for the Badgers, the biggest game they played against the Spartans this past decade resulted in a Wisconsin victory. More of that in 2020, and the grill will be cooking all season long… and well into the decade to come.
For the Michigan State entry in our “Big Ten, big ’20s” series on college football in the next decade of Big Ten competition, I asked a friend on #CollegeFootballTwitter, Matthew Herek, for some perspective. Matt follows the Spartans avidly and has the gift of being a fan who will tell it straight on the Spartans. He will say things are bad if they are bad. He will say things are good if they are good. He is a reliable observer when I need the real story on Michigan State sports.
Here is what Matthew Herek said about the big question facing MSU football in the 2020s:
“The easy answer is who will be the next coach..one way or the other that’s happening in the next decade. And yet I think the bigger question is where is that coach going to recruit? Michigan’s population is shrinking, leaving fewer players to split with U of M. The best and second-best players in Ohio are staying put. The next decade will see MSU need to find a durable recruiting pipeline outside of their comfort zone.”
It does indeed seem that Mark Dantonio is not going to coach through the entirety of the 2020s. That is a relatively easy call to make, even if you think Michigan State is going to bounce back in the next few seasons. Dantonio had health problems this past decade. It will take hard work to improve MSU to Michigan’s level, let alone Penn State’s or Ohio State’s level. Even if Dantonio shows more staying power than a lot of people expect, he will probably be out of coaching by 2024 or 2025. The strain of the job will take its toll even if Michigan State has one more revival under Dantonio.
Let’s say, though, that Dantonio does NOT revive MSU in the 2020 season. He could very well step down a year from now. If that happens — and given the lack of movement on the coaching staff at Cincinnati — a lot of people in the college football industry think that Luke Fickell might have his eye on the Michigan State job. If you are unsure why Fickell would choose Michigan State, let’s remind you that Dantonio himself came from Cincinnati to coach the Spartans after the 2006 season.
If Michigan State wants to recruit Ohio well in the 2020s, Fickell would rate as an obvious choice, if Luke wants to make the trip to East Lansing. We shall see.
The 2016 season wasn’t as great as the 2017 season for the Wisconsin Badgers football program, but it was loaded with great moments. The season-opening win over LSU was immensely satisfying and validating. The season-ending Cotton Bowl win might have come against Western Michigan, a “no-glory” assignment in a New Year’s Six game against the Group of Five champion (somewhat akin to what Penn State faces this December against Memphis), but it was still a New Year’s Six bowl win. Those are always moments to cherish.
In the 2016 season, there was one other moment which stood out from the rest, a moment important enough to highlight in our review of great Wisconsin achievements in the 2010s. The 30-6 beatdown of the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing reverberates through the Big Ten landscape today.
When Wisconsin and Michigan State played on that sun-drenched, late-September afternoon in 2016, Wisconsin was ranked 11th and MSU No. 8. Michigan State was riding high, having just won on the road at Notre Dame and coming off a 2015 season in which it made the College Football Playoff, having won the Big Ten title over Iowa in Indianapolis. Michigan State had won the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl in the 2013 season. Two years later, MSU reached the playoff and climbed over Ohio State in Columbus to do it, dethroning the defending national champions and making their own powerful statement. Mark Dantonio was at the height of his powers. Michigan State was the 1-B in the Big Ten compared to Ohio State’s 1-A. Wisconsin was the third-best program in the conference, a cut below the Buckeyes AND the Spartans in the Big Ten pecking order.
What happened in that 24-point win over Michigan State reflects more on the Spartans, in a sense, than the Badgers. Yes, this victory put Wisconsin on track to win 11 games, a division title, and a New Year’s Six bowl, sustaining the Paul Chryst era and forming an on-ramp to the brilliant 2017 season which would follow. Yet, in many ways, this game marked a turning point more for Michigan State than UW… and not in a good way. Michigan State did win 10 games in 2017, but that has become the aberration, not the norm, for the Spartans.
The blowout loss to Wisconsin in early 2016 led to a disastrous domino effect for Dantonio, whose team plummeted to 3-9. Michigan State has lost at least six games in each of the past two seasons (bowl game included), and many people in and around the Big Ten feel that Dantonio is on his last legs. His program clearly doesn’t have the strength or resilience it once owned.
Wisconsin clearly weakened Michigan State’s program in 2016. It didn’t deliver a finishing blow, but it began a process of erosion which is in evidence to this day. Few in the college football industry would be shocked if 2020 is Dantonio’s last season on the job.
Michigan State hasn’t been back to the Big Ten Championship Game since 2015. It hasn’t returned to a New Year’s Six game. It hasn’t kept up in the Big Ten, whereas Wisconsin has supplanted the Spartans as the second-most successful team in the conference, with Penn State also having an argument to make on that front. Wisconsin and Ohio State have met in two of the last three Big Ten Championship Games, and the Badgers are playing in their third New Year’s Six game in the past four seasons, matching Penn State in that category.
The 2016 Michigan State game will be viewed as an important moment in the story of Big Ten football 20 years from now. Wisconsin authored the story, but its biggest development affected the team the Badgers bludgeoned.
