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.