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Dantonio calls MSU job a 'dream come true'
Dave Dye / The Detroit News
EAST LANSING -- Mark Dantonio officially was approved as Michigan State's football coach Monday morning with a unanimous vote by the university's Board of Trustees.
"This is a dream come true for me," said Dantonio, a Spartan assistant coach from 1995-2000 who spent the past three seasons as head coach at the University of Cincinnati. "It's great to come back and it's great to be home."
Dantonio, who replaces fired John L. Smith, was given a five-year contract worth $1.1 million annually with the opportunity to earn significant bonuses.
"This is a performance-based contract," Michigan State president Lou Anna K. Simon said during a meeting with the trustees at the Clara Bell Smith Academic Center.
The contract includes $600,000 in base salary, $500,000 in supplemental income and a $200,000 signing bonus.
Simon said the guaranteed portion of Dantonio's deal puts him in the bottom half of the Big Ten for football coaches' salaries.
The president, however, indicated she is looking forward to renegotiating the contract to reward Dantonio with raises for having success on the field.
Michigan State is coming off its second four-win season in the last five years. During that time, the school has played in only one bowl game.
Simon said Dantonio informed his team at the University of Cincinnati at 7 a.m. Monday of his decision to take over at Michigan State. He was introduced at a noon news conference in East Lansing.
The timing of his hiring was crucial because this week begins an important recruiting period. Dantonio is expected to begin meeting with high school players immediately, including Lowell quarterback Keith Nichol, who made an early commitment to Michigan State but has been getting wooed recently by Oklahoma.
Not only did Dantonio work under Nick Saban for five of his six years at Michigan State as the defensive backs coach, he also was an assistant for Jim Tressel at Youngstown State and Ohio State.
Dantonio was the Buckeyes' defensive coordinator for three years, including the 2002 national championship season, before spending the last three years at Cincinnati. His Bearcats finished 7-5, 4-7 and 7-5 while earning two bowl bids.
"When (Tressel) took over at Ohio State, Mark was the first person he called to bring him back as defensive coordinator," Michigan State athletic director Ron Mason said. "(Dantonio) had the intestinal fortitude to leave a cushy program at Ohio State, where he probably could have won another national championship, to take over his own team at Cincinnati and demonstrate he could be a head coach. Those three years really gave him the necessary experience to come in and take over at Michigan State."
Simon credited basketball coach Tom Izzo for his role during the search process. Izzo took a trip Saturday night after the Spartans' basketball game to visit with Dantonio and another candidate, LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini.
"I think pedigree is important," Izzo said. "He's got a little of Nick, a little of Tressel."
Simon then interrupted, adding, "And a lot of Tom."
Izzo said there was another factor that pushed Dantonio over the top in the final analysis.
"I think it's important that a guy was dying to be here," Izzo said. "Mark is dying to be here. He knows we're all dying to get this football program going."
Associate athletic director Mark Hollis, who helped lead the search committee, said Dantonio's background fits nicely at Michigan State for many reasons.
Dantonio is a Youngstown, Ohio, native. Besides coaching at Michigan State and Ohio State, he spent time in the Big 12 under Glen Mason at Kansas.
"He's also coached at levels where he's had to do more with less, which I think is an important component," Hollis said.
Dantonio's knowledge of recruiting in Michigan and throughout the Midwest, especially Ohio, was another strong factor in his favor.
"He has more players on his (Cincinnati) team from Detroit than Michigan State's had the last couple of years," trustee Joel Ferguson said. "It's a person who understands the landscape. He wants to be here."
Simon said Michigan State should receive high marks from the Black Coaches Association for how the process was handled.
Ferguson said Miami Dolphins assistant Charlie Baggett, an African-American and former Spartans player and assistant, was among the candidates.
"They did a thorough search, and minority candidates, who were excellent candidates, were given a totally fair chance for the job," said Ferguson, an African-American. "The person who we picked was absolutely the right pick for Michigan State University.
"That's all anyone ever asks for is the opportunity to participate and compete and not be a token. Being a person who was very close to this search and understood what was going on, that (token candidates) never happened."
