“Thanks for everything you’ve done.”
That’s what I told Mark Dantonio in the summer of 2015 when I brought him a copy of “Raye of Light” at the Duffy Daugherty Building. We chatted briefly, and I introduced my daughter. How shortsighted was I not getting a snapshot that afternoon?
Thank you is all that needs to be stated upon his retirement decision Tuesday after 13 years as Michigan State’s head coach. He is the winningest football coach (114-57) in Spartans’ history, passing College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty (109-69-5).
Thank you for demonstrating Michigan State, with the right leader, can return to elite national stature. That was shown with the final 2013 rankings of No. 3 in both AP and USA Today polls, No. 5 in both polls in 2014 and No. 6 in both in 2015.
Thank you for calling Michigan State a “Destination School,” when your name was mentioned for the Texas job that was open in 2014. Michigan State was a destination for Daugherty when he turned down Texas A&M in 1958 and Notre Dame in 1963.
Thank you for making MIchigan State (2015) the only Big Ten school other than Ohio State (three times) to earn a College Football Playoff bid in the tournament’s six-year history.
Thank you for an 8-5 record against Michigan, including a streak of four straight wins (2008 to 2011) and marks of 7-2 and 8-3 until losing the last two. Daugherty was 10-7-2 with a 6-0-1 streak (1956-62).
There was no national title for Dantonio to match the NCAA officially sanctioned crowns that Biggie Munn’s 1952 team claimed in the AP and UPI polls nor Daugherty’s 1965 UPI national title and 1966 National Football Foundation co-championship with Notre Dame, but the whiff of the aroma at the top was sweet.
When I was a Michigan State student writing for the “State News,” Darryl Rogers was the new football coach hired in 1976. I asked Rogers, who was two coaches and 10 years removed from Duffy’s 1966 national title, if Michigan State was still a school that can win a national championship.
“Yes,” he said, “because it’s been done here before.”
But only Dantonio came close to living up to Michigan State’s history under Munn and Daugherty, two College Football Hall-of-Famers that are waiting for Dantonio to join them.
To recognize the canyon Dantonio bridged, understand that between Duffy and Dantonio, the Spartans hired seven coaches spanning 33 years. They all came up short. None of their teams contended for a national title in either the preseason or final rankings.
— Denny Stolz (1973-75) had only one nationally ranked team in a final poll at No. 12, in 1974. His 1975 was preseason No. 12 and finished unranked (7-5). He was let go with the team placed on three years NCAA probation. Stolz also severed Duffy’s Hawaiian Pipeline – in other words, Michigan State history.
— Darryl Rogers (1976-79), one, No. 12, 1978. His 1979 team was a preseason No. 10 and finished unranked (5-6). He won with Stolz’ players and bailed on the program for Arizona State when he couldn’t recruit against Michigan. He left behind a depleted roster.
— Muddy Waters (1980-82), none. He was an abysmal choice, especially at the expense of Sherman Lewis, who was on staff since 1969 and wanted the job. Lewis had been and a Michigan State All-American and assistant coach for Duffy. Dantonio wouldn’t have faced such a cultural rebuild in 2007 if Lewis had been hired in 1980.
— George Perles (1983-94), three, No. 8, 1987; No. 16, 1989; No. 16, 1990. He never had a preseason ranking higher than No. 15 in 1988. The 1988 Spartans finished unranked (6-5-1). The 1990 team was the only one of his 11 to have a preseason ranking (No. 23) and finish ranked No. 16 (8-3-1).
True, Perles rebuilt the Spartans to win the 1988 Rose Bowl in his fifth season, but in all he had only three teams finish in the Top 25. The 1987 team with a 9-2-1 record was never a national title contender, starting the year unranked and finishing with a high-water mark of No. 8 after the Rose Bowl victory.
From that point forward, Perles undermined his own recruiting while flirting with the NFL for pay raises and lobbying for the dual role of athletic director and football coach, an outdated concept by then. Perles put his personal goals ahead of the program, which was very un-Duffy-like.
— Nick Saban (1995-1999), one, No. 7, 1999. He had only two preseason ranked teams and both finished unranked: 1997 preseason No. 25, unranked 7-5; 1998 preseason No. 23, unranked 6-6. Forget what he’s done at Alabama and LSU. He never came close to national title contention at Michigan State. When he couldn’t compete with Michigan, he left for LSU, a state that appealed to him with only one Power 5 program. His 1999 team was the only one to finish ranked (10-2), but he was gone to LSU by the time the Spartans won the Citrus Bowl without him and the final rankings were posted.
— Bobby Williams (2000-2002), none. He deserved the opportunity to be head coach when he handled the 1999 interim role with a Citrus Bowl win over Florida, but ultimately he proved he’s not head coach material.
— John L. Smith (2003-2006), none. He was another terrible choice, especially with the Spartans picking a coach with no understanding of the school’s history. He started a fued with Hawaii and then-coach June Jones despite Hawaii’s long established fondness for Daugherty and Michigan State. They take pride in Hawaii that Daugherty recruited Bob Apisa as the first Samoan All-American player out of Honolulu.
Dantonio (2007-2019) inherited Smith’s 2006 team that finished 4-8, “coached up” players on the roster and went 7-6. Dantonio followed with final national rankings seven times in 13 seasons. By himself he tops the combined six nationally ranked seasons among seven previous coaches in 33 seasons. Dantonio’s 3-5-6 final rankings were in succession. The only other MSU Top 10 teams were No. 8 in 1987 and No. 7 in 1999. Both successive seasons finished unranked.
Dantonio’s understood Michigan State’s history upon his arrival. He had been an MSU assistant coach from 1995 to 2000 under Saban and Bobby Williams. When Saban wanted Dantonio to join him at LSU, he stayed in East Lansing with Williams.
As a head coach, Dantonio’s Spartans overachieved or played up to expectations — until that disastrous 2016 season, that is.
The Spartans sank to 3-9, and Dantonio dismissed four players for sexual assaults. It didn’t end there. Curtis Blackwell, the program’s recruiting director, was fired. He filed an ongoing wrongful termination case.
When Dantonio met with the media later in the day, he explained he realized his enthusiasm wasn’t what it had been in the past. About to turn 64 next month, he decided it was time.
He had earned the right to go out on his timetable, but prior to his retirement announcement my concern was his career was winding down similar to Daugherty’s final years marked by underachieving teams.
Daugherty not only lost his edge and didn’t have quality quarterbacks on his final teams. Dantonio’s edge has been questioned two of the last three years. Entering 2020, quarterback and offensive line are Michigan State’s bigger two question marks.
Daugherty later admitted he had been considering retiring, but he thought he had one good team left when he returned in 1972. He had future NFL talent but not his old edge. The Spartans started 1-4-1. Once Daugherty announced his retirement at midseason, the Spartans rallied behind their coach. They went 4-1, including a 19-12 upset of No. 5 Ohio State, to finish 5-5-1.
But with time, Daugherty is remembered for his successes.
The same will be true of Dantonio, the only coach since Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty to live up to what the two giants established in East Lansing.
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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
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