Dantonio Deserves Benefit of Doubt As Head of Spartans Football Program

Well, the college football season is coming down the home stretch. Few games remain, teams are fighting for bowl position, and conference front-runners are becoming clearer.

So, with Michigan State sitting at sixth in the Big Ten (4-5, 3-3), the only conceivable goal remaining is to reach a bowl game.

Coach Mark Dantonio has arguably faced more pressure this season than his previous two combined.

His first season was a welcome change from the John L. Smith regime which consisted of choking big leads, making horrible play calls, and slapping one’s self on a podium in a news conference.

Last season, the Spartans turned heads around the country, winning nine games and playing in a New Year’s Day bowl game against a mighty SEC opponent in Georgia. Michigan State lost the game, but it was not a blow-out and it only made the players more aware of what needed to be done to compete at a high level year after year.

Now, as the team’s record seems to be a figment of most Spartan fans’ imaginations, the team has to go back to square one. The team must also realize that progress does not come over night; building a winning program takes many years and many good recruits.

And losing players like Brian Hoyer and Javon Ringer is tough for an upstart program looking to make a name for itself, especially when the usual perennial powers include Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan (although not lately). Those players were leaders, and it is never easy to replace the heart and soul of a productive unit.

Adding insult to injury, the University of Cincinnati is currently undefeated under coach Brian Kelly—and he is winning with players Dantonio recruited during his tenure there.

Now, depending on whether you are glass half-empty or glass half-full type of individual, that could mean different things. Maybe those players did not show any type of promise until their senior season, or maybe Kelly has coached them into becoming great players. Either way, everyone will wonder whether it was Dantonio’s doing or Kelly’s.

But you know, it really doesn’t matter anymore.

Dantonio is the head coach at a large Big Ten university. He has defeated the program’s biggest rival (Michigan) two years in a row for the first time since the 1960s. He has taken the program to a bowl game which does not involve the name “pizza” or “Meineke.” And he still has a good team which he can help mold into becoming great.

Kirk Cousins is still young, as are the promising running backs Edwin Baker and Larry Caper. Greg Jones is still around, and a big recruit in William Gholston should improve a lackluster defense.

When it comes to Dantonio and the future of the Michigan State football program, I’m a glass-half full type of guy.