For the second year in a row, Michigan State Football is fighting to be bowl eligible. Every head coach has a rise, a peak, and also a fall. For head coach Mark Dantonio, that rise seemed to start in the Kirk Cousins Era. Slowly, but surely building an elite program in East Lansing. The peak being the Connor Cook Era starting in 2013. During that era, MSU won the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and earned a pair of Big Ten championships. They also beat Michigan three years in a row, as well as defeating Ohio State twice. But now it seems to be that Dantonio has entered the fall of his career at Michigan State. With him being 24-23 after the 2015 season, and potentially worse, should Mark Dantonio retire?
Stuck in their Old Ways
The past season and a half for MSU has preached one thing: stubbornness. Mark Dantonio seems to be stuck in his old ways from the “golden days.” The 2018 season was definitely one to forget offensively. They only scored 18.7 points per game, averaging 9.5 points per loss. Granted, they were riddled with injuries everywhere, including QB Brian Lewerke. But the play calling from co-offensive coordinators Dave Warner and Jim Bollman didn’t help either. There were lots of head-scratching and bone-headed moves. It seemed that the two coordinators were playing NCAA Football on Freshman difficulty. By the end of the season, the Spartan Faithful were calling for a change at OC position. They eventually got that change. Well, not exactly…
Loyalty Over Winning
Shortly after the 2018 college football season, Mark Dantonio gave fans the change they wanted. He promoted Brad Salem to the offensive coordinator position, moving Warner to the quarterbacks coaching position. While yes, technically a change was made, I don’t think Spartan fans were envisioning an in-house rotation. This move made it clear that Dantonio valued his friendships more than he did the success of the team. That’s not the water you want to be treading in if you’re Dantonio.
Now, to look at it from Mark Dantonio’s perspective, it’s understandable to see why he didn’t bring in new coaches. Warner has been with him for 13 seasons now, Salem for 10, and Bollman for seven. Two out of three of those guys have been with Dantonio since damn near the beginning. They’ve been through the rise and the peak together. Their relationships became stronger over that time along with their loyalty for each other. I understand why Dantonio didn’t want to just dump them to the curb like that. He knows what level of coaching they can achieve because he saw them do it for such a long period of time. Also, bringing in an outside coach can mess up lockeroom chemistry. We don’t how the players feel about the coaching staff. Firing certain people can not only lower team morale, but also lose you recruits as well.
New Year, Same Result
There was lots of optimism going into the 2019 season for MSU. Even though the fans didn’t get the exact change they wanted, nonetheless, it was still a change. With a now healthy Brian Lewerke, and a veteran WR core, on paper the Spartans looked like threat. As every fan knows though, it’s all fun and games until you actually get out there on the field. After the first three games, it looked like a copy and paste of the 2018 season. Besides against Western Michigan, the offense struggled to finish drives. The offense scored 19 points against Tulsa kicking four field goals in the process, three of them being from at least 40 yards out. Against Arizona State, well, the offense only scored 7 points. That’s pretty self-explanatory.
The offense came alive in the next two games though. The Spartans had a solid 31-10 win over Northwestern, and a 41-30 win over Indiana. Michigan State seemed to be back on track of their winning ways. Confidence was rising which was well-needed for their primetime game against Ohio State. All of that hype and confidence seemed to diminish as the Spartans got slapped in the Horseshoe 34-10. Things didn’t get much better as they lost to Wisconsin the following week 38-0, then to Penn State 28-7 at home. MSU had 8 scoreless quarters from the 2nd half of the Ohio State game, till the 2nd half of the Penn State game. The team as a whole looked lifeless. There seemed to be no effort from anyone on the field whatsoever. It was a terrible performance in an important three-game stand for the Spartans
Beat Michigan
Sitting at 4-5 (2-4), there really isn’t anything the Spartans can salvage. Before the Illinois game, winning out and going 8-4 didn’t seem so bad. It would’ve been a strong finish to a lackluster season, and they would probably make a decent bowl game. But after a terrible 25 point collapse against the Illini, there’s only one thing that can win the hearts of Spartan fans, and that’s beating Michigan. Going into Ann Arbor and upsetting Michigan is the only thing that can be salvaged for MSU fans. At this point, records don’t matter and bowl game predictions don’t matter. All that matters is who walks out of Ann Arbor with the Paul Bunyan trophy.
Is it time for Dantonio to step down? Some think yes, some think no. It seems like the man has lost his magic. Whatever happens at the end of this season, his legacy shouldn’t be tarnished. This is a frustrating time for the Spartan Faithful. But they can’t belittle the man who brought them to the promise land in the first place. Mark Dantonio has had an amazing head coaching career. He put the Spartans back on the map. It just seems to be that he’s stuck in the past.
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