Michigan State Football: With Mark Dantonio, Sparty Goes Sparty Again

Michigan State could be on a special run.  They beat both Michigan and Wisconsin already, they don't have the Buckeyes on the schedule and play Iowa on Saturday for a very realistic shot at a Big Ten championship and even a shot at the BCS championship. 

Then Sparty decides it can't get out of its way.  The situation is Chris L. Rucker who was in jail 24 hours ago due to violating his probation for a misdemeanor assault and battery charge by getting arrested for driving while intoxicated the night after the Michigan victory. 

When Michigan State hired Mark Dantonio from Cincinnati, I thought it was a good hire.  A tough coach that would take the un-disciplined Spartans and turn them around into a competitive Big Ten football team.  Or just the opposite of the person they fired, John L. Smith that was more known for being a clown than a leader of young men.    

Then we started to see a few chinks in the armor of Mr. Dantonio after State struggled against Michigan.  The first sign was a verbal comeback against Mike Hart's "little brother" comment.  Dantonio didn't just dismiss it, he decided to get into a childish, classless "war of the words."

Then came the disaster before the Alamo Bowl game last year where it seemed his entire team was in a dorm fight.  Some players got to come back to the team, others didn't.  After that event, he declared a "zero tolerance" policy.  Then Chris goes out and has a couple of drinks, gets behind the wheel and gets arrested again.  Spends eight days in jail and as soon as he gets out he walks right into practice.  Dantonio then says it will be up to Chris if he makes the trip to Iowa. 

I was sorry to hear about Dantonio's heart condition early this year and he certainly surprised me by his newfound "river boat" gambler profile by faking field goals and punts to win games (those were very high-risk decisions that came out positive that could have easily gone the other way).

Head coaches are missing the fact that they are responsible for everything.  They are the CEO of the football program.  Rich Rodriguez has learned that hard lesson over the past three years.  Brian Kelly is learning it right now with the tragedy at Notre Dame.  He was responsible for that young man being in the tower under those conditions and he needs to realize that.  

Dantonio thinks he is a football coach trying to win a game.  It's not that simple and he has enough experience to understand that "this isn't his first rodeo."

Let me ask you this:

Doesn't Chris have a few classes to catch up on after being in jail for eight days?

Does winning at all costs mean you go from jail to field?

What happened to the "zero tolerance" policy?

I don't know Mark Dantonio personally and it's very hard to judge someone's integrity when you don't know them, but Mark is the wrong person to lead the Michigan State football program.  The above examples are enough proof for me.  He is not Tom Izzo. 

IMO, Dantonio is soft of discipline and took a potential magical journey this year and just turned it into a car crash.  If you think about it, John L. Smith is much less dangerous to MSU than Mr. Dantonio.  Isn't it funny how one decision can get you fired when your team is 8-0?  Go ask Mike Leach or Jim Leavitt? 

Detroit News Bob Wojnowski takes Dantonio to the woodshed.
So does ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.