Duffy is no doubt proud of Mark Dantonio and happy for his school. In fact, the late College Football Hall of Fame coach is bubbling over in green and white.
A Michigan State Destination Man, which Duffy Daugherty most certainly was for 19 seasons in East Lansing, emerged as the successor that ultimately broke his school record for career wins. Michigan State’s 31-10 win over Northwestern on Saturday was Mark Dantonio’s 110th victory – topping Duffy’s 109.
In Duffy’s time, he resisted offers to lure him away to Texas A&M in 1958 and Notre Dame in 1964. Duffy’s son Dan Daugherty said his father “turned down a lot of money to stay at Michigan State.” (Raye of Light, Chapter 6, Duffy and His Legacy, Page 77.)
In Dantonio’s time as a future College Football Hall of Fame coach, he reached the peak of his job marketability power when the Spartans won the 2013 Big Ten title and 2014 Rose Bowl. The Spartans finished No. 3 in the final Associated Press poll.
When the Texas job opened at the end of the 2013 season, Dantonio’s name was one of the first floated by the national media, but he quickly made it clear he wasn’t interested.
“I see Michigan State as a destination, not a stop,” he said at the time.
With those words he has lived up to, he was unlike any of the previous seven head coaches separating Duffy and Dantonio.
Those seven either jumped ship or were pushed off the plank.
— Denny Stolz (1973-75, 19-13-1, no Big Ten titles): Stolz was not Daugherty’s choice to succeed him, according to his son. After initial success his second season, including a 16-13 upset of No. 1-ranked Ohio State in an era when No. 1 teams rarely were upset, the NCAA slapped Michigan State with a harsh probation – three years, no bowls, no TV.
“My Dad never would have recommended Denny Stoz as head coach, but Michigan State did not listen to him,” Dan Daugherty said. (Raye of Light, Chapter 18, Last Vestiges of the Underground Railroad, Page 228.)
Stolz also alienated many boosters and fans with his aloofness, a trait that also led to his dismissal at San Diego State in 1988.
Stolz also cut with Michigan State’s past by severing Daugherty’s Hawaiian Pipeline. By the 1970s, everybody was recruiting the South, where Daugherty led the way mining talent for his Underground Railroad teams in the segregated 1960s. Duffy’s Hawaiian Pipeline included Bob Apisa, the first Samoan All-American in 1965-66, Apisa’s success launched the tsunami of Polynesian talent still influencing all levels of the game. Sports Illustrated began writing about the wave in the early 1970s.
Upon succeeding Daugherty, Stolz informed Arnold Morgado he not only was switching him from running back to linebacker, he had no plans to continue recruiting Hawaii. Morgado returned home to play for the University of Hawaii and then four years in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I wouldn’t waste a second breath on Denny, but I will talk to anybody about how great Duffy was,” said Morgado. (Raye of Light, Chapter 14, Hawaiian Pipeline, Page 173.)
Michigan State subsequently lost its foothold on Hawaii, a state that now produces Heisman Trophy winners (Marcus Mariota, 2014, Oregon), Heisman finalists (Manti Teo, 2011, Notre Dame; Tua Tagovailoa, 2018, Alabama) and a Heisman 2019 favorite (Tagovailoa).
— Darryl Rogers (1976-1979, 24-18-2, one Big Ten title, 1978): Rogers put together 7-3-1 and 8-3 seasons with Stolz’s talent while under probation. The 1978 season included an upset of Michigan to share the Big Ten title, but probation prevented the Spartans from playing in the Rose Bowl. However, recruiting began to fall off when Rogers, from California, failed to build Midwest recruiting ties and alienated Detroit-area high school coaches. He failed to replace Stolz’s players and saw the handwriting on the wall. He packed up in the middle of the night following the 1979 season (5-6) for Arizona State.
— Muddy Waters (1980-1982, 10-23, no Big Ten title): Waters had strong ties to the school as a player from 1946-49 for Biggie Munn as head coach with Daugherty as an assistant, but he was past his prime at age 57 and had never coached at the Division I level, which was becoming increasingly sophisticated. By his third and final season (2-9), there were stories of Waters forgetting players’ names at practice.
Worse, the school’s administration egregiously betrayed Daugherty’s legacy when it passed over Sherman Lewis for Waters.
In addition to Daugherty’s legacy leading the integration of college football with black players and his Underground Railroad teams, he was ahead of the curve hiring black assistant coaches. He brought Lewis, an Underground Railroad passenger from Louisville, Ky., back to campus in 1969 and Jimmy Raye, a passenger from Fayettevillle, N.C., in 1971. Both were later long-time NFL assistant coaches and offensive coordinators.
Lewis was 38 when Rogers was fired and Waters hired. He had remained at Michigan State under Daugherty, Stolz, Rogers and Waters.
He wasn’t too young for the job. Stolz was hired at age 39, when he was picked over two candidates that went on to fame elsewhere, 36-year-old Barry Switzer and 38-year-old Lee Corso. Rogers was 42 after he had been a head coach at Fresno State at 32 and San Jose State at 39.
“The Michigan State job would have been the greatest thing that ever happened to me,” Lewis said. “I love that place so much. I felt I could have recruited, hired a great staff and done the job. I’ve always thought it was a great institution with great facilities. It’s the most beautiful campus in the country. They just needed to recruit better. I felt we could have been playing for national titles again.” (Raye of Light, Chapter 22, The Cursory Head coach Interview, Page 269.)
Michigan State’s administrations after president John Hannah have failed to fully understand, appreciate or embrace the school’s leading role in integration — Hannah was appointed the first Civil Rights Commission chairman by President Eisnehower and subsequently renewed by President Kennedy and President Johnson — and the impact Daugherty’s Underground Railroad teams have had on college football.
There is a marker outside of Jenison Fieldhouse that honors the “Game of Change” when all-white Mississippi State played eventual NCAA champion Loyola Chicago in Jenison Fieldhouse in the NCAA tournament. The only connection to Michigan State is Jenison happened to host the regional that year.
Meanwhile, there is no marker honoring Daugherty’s Underground Railroad teams and no statue of Daugherty. Not fully appreciating and understanding Daugherty’s impact on football — sports often clears a path for society — also hurt Lewis and Raye in their hopes to become the head coach of the school that gave them opportunity they had been denied in their southern home states. College and pro football weren’t giving black head coaches opportunities in the 1980s, but Michigan State’s history was to be ahead of the curve, leading the way to opportunity.
— George Perles (1983-1994, 68-67-4, two Big Ten titles, 1987 and 1990): Perles leveraged his playing days for Daugherty and time as a Daugherty assistant to land the job in 1983, although there has been conjecture on just how close he actually was with Daugherty. He certainly wasn’t true to Daugherty’s devotion to the school. Once Perles had the 1987 Rose Bowl win in his pocket, he repeatedly used NFL job offers as power plays for extensions and later the dual role of head coach and athletic director.
By the 1990s, former coaches were no longer jobs for head coaches. Preparing for the 21st century meant a business background grew in importance. Eventually, recruiting fell off under Perles. There also were NCAA sanctions and a poor graduation rate for black players that didn’t live up to Daugherty’s Underground Railroad teams.
Perles was forced from the job in disgrace. In his final season, the Spartans forfeited their five wins in 5-6 record for a 0-11 mark.
— Nick Saban (1995-1999, 34-24-1, no Big Ten title). This time Michigan State passed over both Lewis and Raye as head coach candidates. Saban, who had been Perles’ defensive coordinator on the 1987 Rose Bowl team before he departed for the NFL, was chosen.
Lewis, then 52, was the Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator. Raye, then 48, was serving a stint with the Kansas City Chiefs that included offensive coordinator. Saban as 44 in 1995.
But Saban grew frustrated recruiting in the shadow of Michigan. He left the Spartans for LSU, where he owned the state. He stayed five seasons and won a national title before jumped to the Miami Dolphins. After a a failed two-year stint (15-17), he landed in Alabama.
— Bobby Williams (2000-02, 16-17, no Big Ten title): He was fired nine games into the 2002 season that finished 4-8. The Spartans hired Williams after he led the Spartans as interim coach to a bowl game win over Florida to finish the 1999 season.
Before he was hired, though, the school reached out to Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham, a Michigan State alum recruited under Daugherty and coached by both Lewis and Raye.
Willingham, 47 at the time, wasn’t ready to leave Stanford (1995-2001). He did leave for Notre Dame (2002-04), where he was fired after a 6-5 record and 21-15 three-year mark. He was at Washington (2005-08) when the Spartans contacted him a second time following the 2006 season.
“Michigan State knocked on my door twice,” Willingham said, “but the time was never right. It’s difficult for me to say that because it’s my alma mater. I love and want to do things for it because it was good to me. But the timing was never right.” (Raye of Light, Chapter 22, The Cursory Head Coach Interview, Page 280.)
Willingham also says about Lewis and Raye that they were better coaches than him and deserved a chance to be a head coach. But in addition to MSU passing over Lewis in 1980, the school turned down Lewis again when Nick Saban got the job in 1995. The Spartans also passed over Raye in 1995, 2000 and 2003.
— John L. Smith (2003-06, 22-26, no Big Ten title): A coach with no ties to Michigan State or even the Midwest, he was fired with three games remaining in the 2006 season, although he was permitted to coach the remaining contests in a 4-8 season (1-7 Big Ten).
— Mark Dantonio (2007-, 110-52, three Big Ten titles in addition to a division title): The Spartans finally got it right when they hired Dantonio in 2007. He understood the school’s untapped potential to add to Duffy’s legacy, having served as an assistant from 1995 to 2000.
The administration, with loyal basketball coach Tom Izzo part of the search committee, set its sights early on Dantonio, but they had to wait for Cincinnati’s 2006 season to end before he would agree to interview for the job. The Bearcats played their final game Nov. 25 at Connecticut and Dantonio was hired two days later.
Dantonio built relationships with boosters and high school coaches where Stolz, Rogers and Saban failed. He won games where Waters, Williams and Smith failed. He has Duffy-like streaks of beating Michigan four and three in a row and 8 of 12. Upsets of Ohio State in the 2013 Big Ten title game sent the Spartans to the Rose Bowl and inthe 2015 regular season to the College Football Playoff.
And unlike Perles, he didn’t pull power plays. He didn’t accept credit alone for rebuilding Michigan State’s program. He has called it a group or family effort while compiling a 110-52 record with three Big Ten titles, and addition Big Ten division title and three seasons ranked among the final top six teams. Michigan State (once) and Ohio State (twice) are the only two Big Ten schools to reach the CFB semifinals.
Michigan State’s program has been in good hands, thanks to finding its Destination Man.
Duffy Daugherty can rest easy. He no longer rolls over in his grave.
* * *
I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055
Tom Shanahan, Author: Raye of Light http://tinyurl.com/knsqtqu
— Book on Michigan State’s leading role in the integration of college football. It explains Duffy Daugherty’s untold pioneering role and debunks myths that steered recognition away from him to Bear Bryant.
http://shanahan.report/a/the-case-for-duffy-and-medal-of-freedom
Don’t believe the myths at Duffy Daugherty’s expense about Bear Bryant’s motivation to play the 1970 USC-Alabama game or myths about the Charlie Thornhill-for-Joe Namath trade. Bear Bryant knew nothing about black talent in the South while he dragged his feet on segregation.
http://www.shanahan.report/a/forty-four-underground-railroad-legacy-facts
http://shanahan.report/a/myths-that-grew-out-of-1970-alabama-game-with-usc
http://shanahan.report/a/mystery-solved-in-thornhill-and-namath-myth
David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize winner and biographer; “History writes people out of the story. It’s our job to write them back in.”
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