Michigan State requested an interview with Robert Saleh of the 49ers but he turned down the request.
Long-time MSU Football head coach Mark Dantonio retired this week and it has left Michigan State with a coaching search. One of the names on the Spartans’ wish list was Robert Saleh, defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. According to NFL Network report Tom Pelissero, Saleh has turned down the Spartans’ offer to interview with the team, stating that he has unfinished business with the Niners after losing in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Saleh has spent the last 15 years in the NFL and 3 years with the 49ers, but before that, he was a graduate of Dearborn Fordson High School. He also played college football at Northern Michigan before starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Michigan State in 2002. He was with the Spartans for two seasons and coached for Bobby Williams and John L. Smith.
Here is the initial report from Tom Pelissero:
Michigan State requested an interview with #49ers DC Robert Saleh for its head coaching job, sources say, but Saleh informed school officials today he plans on staying in San Francisco. Feels he has unfinished business.
The seven invites ties a record for most MSU players invited under Dantonio
Mark Dantonio’s last season as Michigan State head coach could be his most prolific in terms of players sent to the NFL.
Seven former Michigan State Spartans have been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, which is tied for the most under Dantonio with the 2016 group. The players invited are quarterback Brian Lewerke, linebacker Joe Bachie, wide receivers Cody White and Darrell Stewart Jr., cornerback Josiah Scott, and defensive linemen Kenny Willekes and Raequan Williams.
The NFL Scouting combine is the premier job interview for NFL hopefuls and a large majority of players in attendance will get drafted. In 2016 five of the seven Spartans at the combine heard their names called during the NFL Draft. The 2012 NFL Draft saw seven Spartans taken, highlighted by Kirk Cousins and Jerel Worthy.
Long-time rival Urban Meyer commented on Michigan State Football head coach Mark Dantonio’s surprising retirement.
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Michigan State Football head coach Mark Dantonio retired in shocking fashion this week and the sports world is still reacting to the news. The Columbus Dispatch caught up with former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer to comment on the news of Dantonio’s retirement and he had nothing but kind things to say about his former rival.
“Mark and I have been friends since his Cincinnati days,” Meyer told Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch. “I think he’s one of the best tacticians in the game of football that I ever coached against.”
Meyer would go on to say that Mark Dantonio’s era at MSU was the greatest in modern history. You can’t really argue with that. Give me Dantonio’s era over Saban or John L. Smith’s any day of the week.
“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.”
Former Georgia football WR Tyler Simmons has a strong opinion on Mark Dantonio leaving Michigan State abruptly.
On Tuesday, Mark Dantonio abruptly announced his retirement after 13 seasons as head coach at Michigan State.
The timing of his announcement, which came as a complete shock for everyone, could not have been worse for the program. Just one day before signing day and your head coach of over a decade steps down?
For recruits, the Spartans received 19 national letters of intent during the early signing period, with seven players enrolling early. These are all players who, despite placing their trust in Dantonio, will never play a down of football for the man they signed up for.
One of those recruits is Jordon Simmons, a 3-star running back out of McEachern High School in Powder Springs, who fortunately has not actually signed his name to paper yet.
Simmons is the younger brother of former Georgia wide receiver Tyler Simmons, who fans will always remember as the player who blocked an Alabama punt in the national title game but was incorrectly called offside.
The younger Simmons and his family were recently in East Lansing visiting with Dantonio and the Spartans.
Simmons has been committed to the program since October, however, after news of Dantonio’s retirement on Tuesday, Simmons tweeted that he will be delaying his signing until he has had more time to think about things.
“Due to the unforeseen retirement of Coach Dantonio and after discussing things with my family, I have decided to delay my signing with Michigan State University until further notice,” Simmons wrote. “I love everything that Michigan State has to offer and I appreciate the love and support that the fan base has shown me. However, with the uncertainty of the MSU program I have decided to take some time to weight out my options and think about where I will spend the next 4 years.”
Simmons told Rivals.com that other schools have already been calling. Some of those schools include Oklahoma State, Virginia and Washington State. At this time, though, Simmons said he is still considering Michigan State.
Tyler Simmons had his own thoughts on this, which he took to Twitter to share as well.
Simmons took issue with the timing of Dantonio’s retirement, saying he understands that coaches step down all the time but to do so the day before signing day just is not right.
I understand he’s done a lot for the university & I’m aware that coaches step down all the time in college football. BUT it’s the day before signing day. My brother & family were just there for an official 2 weeks ago & put their trust into MSU… This ain’t right. https://t.co/EmLKU8gPbv
Simmons is correct. It’s a shame that Dantonio could do so much good for a university for over a decade, but then to call it quits just one day before signing day shows no concern for any of the 20+ players who signed with Michigan State.
Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell is reportedly the frontrunner for the job — although he said Wednesday that he’s “talked to nobody” at Michigan State — but Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi’s name has also been in the mix. Narduzzi was the Spartans’ (incredibly successful) defensive coordinator for eight seasons under Dantonio, and it’s long been speculated that he’d return to East Lansing at some point in the future.
Well, Narduzzi attempted to silence any speculation about possibly plans to leave the Panthers during his National Signing Day press conference Wednesday and with this perfect video on Twitter from The Wolf of Wall Street.
During his NSD press conference — Pitt’s 2020 class is ranked No. 44, one spot behind the Spartans’ — Narduzzi said he had a feeling he’d get questions about taking over at Michigan State after his “phone was blowing up [Tuesday] night.” He explained he was as surprised as everyone else to hear about Dantonio’s sudden departure.
Narduzzi did, in fact, get several questions about leaving Pitt and repeatedly said he has no plans to go anywhere. He said, via ASAP Sports:
“Rumors are rumors. Speculation… I can’t tell you what’s going on in the outside world. I don’t know what’s happening up there. Obviously it’s fresh. …
“The rumor, squash them, whatever you want to call it. I got decisions to make, too. I’m here at Pitt. I want to be here at Pitt. That’s where I’m going to be.”
When a high-profile and accomplished coach leaves his program (regardless of the cause), every other team in that program’s conference hopes that the successor at that program will not be a rock-star coach. Every other team worries that a program will find the perfect fit. This is the reality for every non-Ohio State football program in the Big Ten as of Wednesday afternoon. The Michigan State Spartans have a coaching vacancy. Mark Dantonio has retired after 13 seasons on the job in East Lansing.
Dantonio had the magic touch from 2010 through 2015, winning 65 games in those six seasons, an average of roughly 11 wins per year… and that was with a seven-win season included in the mix. Dantonio won 11 or more games in five seasons during that six-year period, winning 13 in the 2013 season and 12 in 2015. He made the College Football Playoff. He won a Rose Bowl. He won three Big Ten division titles. He won two outright Big Ten championships plus a split championship in the 2010 season.
It is true that Dantonio lost his fastball the past four years; Michigan State won more than seven games only once in that period of time, and people near the program felt Dantonio’s career had run its course. Nevertheless, Dantonio did show Michigan State — and the rest of the Big Ten — that the Spartans could be great, not merely good, at football.
Wisconsin and the rest of the non-Ohio State teams in the league will intently follow how the Spartans replace Dantonio.
The best man for the job is a matter of opinion, but for me, it has to be Luke Fickell of Cincinnati. Remember that Dantonio came to Michigan State from Cincinnati after the 2006 season. Dantonio was replaced at Cincinnati by Brian Kelly. Dantonio paid his dues and learned how to become a coach, moving up the ladder and knowing exactly what to do when handed a Big Ten job. Fickell has certainly spent enough time at Cincinnati and his previous stops as an assistant coach (Ohio State) to know exactly how to handle the MSU job, should he take it.
Fickell has the added benefit — from a Michigan State perspective — of being very familiar with the recruiting landscape in talent-rich Ohio. Michigan State needs to be competitive in the state of Ohio, getting the players Ohio State doesn’t take plus an occasional player who might think about going to the Buckeyes.
If you wanted to tell me that former Dantonio lieutenant and defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi — currently the head coach at Pittsburgh — is a better choice, you would have a reasonable point. However, Narduzzi’s division championship season at Pitt in 2018 was nevertheless a season which ended with a 7-7 record. Fickell has done more at Cincinnati, and ought to be viewed as the superior choice for MSU.
Wisconsin fans should therefore be happy if Narduzzi takes the job. (I might live to regret that comment, but life is too short to withhold firmly-held opinions in most cases.)
There are rumors that former NFL head coach Pat Shurmur and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh are interested in the Michigan State job. Those rumors might not reflect reality, but if we are to take them seriously, Saleh comes across as the much more competent candidate for the job.
We could go on and on and toss around several more names, but the first domino is Luke Fickell. If he wants this job, it will probably be his. If he turns down Michigan State, this search could get very complicated. Wisconsin will be keeping tabs, along with the rest of the non-Ohio State Big Ten.
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.
