Mike Dontonio (get off my lawn!!!)

[Oh8ch]

The top five reasons Michigan State's football program appears to have a bright future:
Better leadership: Former coaches with questionable character and swayed by political persuasion created roadblocks when it came to major decisions regarding the football program.
But the silliness has appeared to cease since the hiring of Mark Dantonio and new athletic director Mark Hollis, two members of what could be a powerful athletic department in the years to come. The football program,
and athletic department as a whole, seems to conduct their business in a much more classy and respectful way with a true sense of cooperation.

You gotta love the timing on this. With the potential for a rough season in AA and the questions about RR, Dantonio has a chance to plant his flag. If MSU beats UM this year it can get real interesting in the state of Michigan.

 

[Buckskin86]

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Dantonio stabilizes Spartans football
Eric Lacy / The Detroit News

EAST LANSING -- For years, Michigan State's football program has had an identity crisis. What it stood for and where it was headed, after several changes to team jerseys, helmet designs and, most importantly, coaching staffs and playing styles, baffled supporters, especially during the most frustrating seasons.

A program under George Perles -- one that saw Lorenzo White carry the ball an eye-popping 419 times in 1985 -- changed two decades later to a fullback-free, pass-first offense directed by the unconventional John L. Smith.

Now, 20 years after their last Rose Bowl appearance, the Spartans might finally have the man to direct a more stable environment that includes more consistent success on the field and less controversy off of it -- coach Mark Dantonio.

"When a new coaching staff comes in, it wipes the slate clean for everyone," quarterback Brian Hoyer said. "There's a clear definition now of what Michigan State football is expected to be."

Dantonio, entering his second season, knows too well about the often-brutal collapses of MSU football in recent seasons.

As an assistant under Nick Saban for six years, he's also aware of the "Same Old Spartans" reputation, one created by teams that often competed hard but were penalized heavily and occasionally underachieved in the clutch.

Dantonio stabilizes Spartans football

 

[BB73]

Crabtree talks up MSU's results so far in the 2009 class.

usatoday

Michigan State, Duke surprise in football recruiting
By Jeremy Crabtree, Rivals.com

There's another recruiting beast brewing in the Big Ten.

Sure, traditional powers like Ohio State and Michigan are still going to get their share of blue-chip players and end up near the top of the team recruiting rankings come signing day. But the recruiting job Mark Dantonio is doing at Michigan State is impressive.

The Spartans have 14 commitments at this point, rank in the top 10 nationally in the Rivals.com team recruiting rankings and have eight four-star pledges. Two of those four-star commitments ? running back Edwin Baker of Oak Park, Mich., and quarterback Andrew Maxwell of Midland, Mich. ? recently impressed at the Football University Top Gun Camp and the EA Sports Elite 11.

Baker was one of the most complete players at the three-day Top Gun camp. Baker arrived at meetings early and asked coaches several questions, showing he's a real student of the game. He's quick and built like a body-builder. He should be a great every-down back for Michigan State.

Maxwell definitely caught the eye of Rivals.com recruiting analyst Barry Every with his strong week of work at the Elite 11.

Cont'd ...

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio and his family took a trip to Italy this summer and spent a full day in Montenerodomo, a mountain town of about 700 located about three hours east of Rome where his grandparents were born. The former OSU defensive coordinator met his father's first cousin, who treated Dantonio, his wife and two daughters to a 2 1/2 -hour dinner.
Dantonio's grandparents emigrated from Italy in the early 1900s and settled in Pittsburgh. Dantonio grew up in Zanesville.
"It was an emotional day," Dantonio told the Detroit Free Press. "To think about how they got from there to America -- where they became steelworkers -- to where we sit right now is just amazing."

 

[osugrad21]

Link

Checking in with ... Mark Dantonio, Part II
August 24, 2008 11:29 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Matthew Emmons/US Presswire Despite vowing to take it one game at a time, Mark Dantonio's Spartans can't help but look forward to the matchup against rival Michigan. Mark Dantonio discusses quarterback Brian Hoyer, the Michigan rivalry and his influences in the second of of my interview with the Michigan State head coach.
With Brian [Hoyer], you've talked about the fourth quarter and making plays and the difference between the great quarterbacks and the others. Have you put him in more pressure situations in camp and how has he responded?
Mark Dantonio: We constantly work all different types of situations in camp, but it's very difficult to prepare you for 80,000 people at the end of the game with a national TV audience and the chips on the table. That's tough. You've got to go through that first-hand, I think. We can act like that in practice and then say, 'Hey, you need to get this done or that done,' but it's not the same. Quarterback is such a big decision-maker in all those things. As far as how Brian played last year, going into the season our receiver situation was very unsettled, our tight end position was unsettled. One thing we knew we had [Javon] Ringer, but we didn't know if we had a backup tailback. Our quarterback had played a little bit and had a couple nice games, but he was not the starter coming back. So with a quarterback who's thrown the ball over 300 times back, who's seen all the different situations, the different looks, he's going to grow from those experiences. His leadership will be invaluable. He's got presence on the field and he knows our offense such so that he's almost like having another coach on the field. I think we'll take a step forward, but it's going to depend on execution. It all gets evaluated on gameday.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Link

Dantonio's approach pays

MSU clicks on offense, in secondary

Someone said to me Sunday, in reference to Michigan State's 17-0 drowning of Florida Atlantic in Saturday's rain at Spartan Stadium: "That's a game they wouldn't have won during the John L. Smith era."
Then, Monday, someone of similar wisdom made the same observation. And I had to agree with both parties.
What made the difference for MSU on Saturday was structure and comportment. Coach Mark Dantonio's offense enabled State to opt for a straight-ahead power game that buried Florida Atlantic and maximized the Spartans' overall muscle up front and in the backfield.
Dantonio's team has the versatility to go both ways, but Saturday, as a September monsoon made everyone feel as if they had been dunked in Lake Superior, all that was required was an ability to hang onto the football and plow forward with resolve. A coach's influence was thereby on display for four quarters -- and not only on offense.

Cont...

 

[IronBuckI]

As much as I like Coach Dantonio, he is going to get Ringer killed. Javon Ringer has 104 carries in only three games. That's 25 carries more than the second highest total in D1A. At 4.8 yards per carry, it's not like he's getting easy yards either. I hope Hoyer stops being so terrible, and another RB can step up for MSU. 5'9" 202lbs doesn't hold up to ~35 carries a game in the Big Ten.

 

[NOTREDAMECHIEF]

As much as I like Coach Dantonio, he is going to get Ringer killed. Javon Ringer has 104 carries in only three games. That's 25 carries more than the second highest total in D1A. At 4.8 yards per carry, it's not like he's getting easy yards either. I hope Hoyer stops being so terrible, and another RB can step up for MSU. 5'9" 202lbs doesn't hold up to ~35 carries a game in the Big Ten.

Yet, it might do very well against ND....:(:(

 

[daveeb]

I still think that the #1 problem at MSU right now is the QB position. Brian Hoyer has way too many issues in big games and in small games. Still, MSU pretty much has recruiting in the state of Michigan locked down. Michigan kids want to go to MSU. Let me show you guys some things I found on that, since laughing at TSUN's misfortunes is always fun:

2007 Recruiting Head to Head in MI, Lloyd Carr vs. John L. Smith
Vince Velmuth, 4*, Michigan
Martel Webb, 4*, Michigan

2-0 Lloyd Carr. John L. Smith did not like to recruit inside the state of Michigan. He did not offer a lot of the highly touted recruits out of Michigan.

2008 Recruiting Head to Head in MI, Lloyd Carr vs. Mark Dantonio
Boubacar Cissoko, 5*, Michigan
Mike Martin, 4*, Michigan
Kenny Demens, 3*, Michigan
Rocko Khoury, 3*, Michigan

Fred Smith, 4*, Michigan State
Tyler Hoover, 3*, Michigan State

4-2 Lloyd Carr

2009 Recruit Head to Head in MI, Rich Rodriguez vs. Mark Dantonio
Chris Norman, 4*, Michigan State
Edwin Baker, 4*, Michigan State (The big one)

2-0 Mark Dantonio

Obviously DickRod likes to recruit outside of Michigan (One Michigan recruit), so that is a factor and it is something that will hurt TSUN in the future. Dantonio gave early offers to a few other Michigan recruits, so that factors in as well (Dantonio has been getting early recruits this year, sort of like how Tressel has been). The fact that Dantonio brought in a WR named Patrick White could be hilarious as well, as seeing someone named Patrick White score on DickRod's team would be hilarious.

Oh, and for some more hilarity, check out 5* QB Tajh Boyd. Bill Stewart got him, Rich Rodriguez didn't. Pretty funny stuff.

 

[Jake]

As much as I like Coach Dantonio, he is going to get Ringer killed. Javon Ringer has 104 carries in only three games. That's 25 carries more than the second highest total in D1A. At 4.8 yards per carry, it's not like he's getting easy yards either. I hope Hoyer stops being so terrible, and another RB can step up for MSU. 5'9" 202lbs doesn't hold up to ~35 carries a game in the Big Ten.

He had 43 of those carries last week because the game was played in a rainstorm, making it nearly impossible to pass well. I would resist the urge to project that kind of usage over the course of the season.

I miss Dantonio as our DC.

 

[IronBuckI]

61 over the first two games still gives him 30.5 carries per game...still going to get him killed and Hoyer still sucks.

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

It's worth clicking on the link and watching the video of Dantonio's press conference for those who haven't seen it.

Mark Dantonio shows Mike Gundy how to release press conference rage like a man

Source: Yahoo Sports / Rivals

A little background: last week, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and East Lansing police confirmed rumors that at least one MSU football player was under investigation for putting a Spartan hockey player in the hospital during a brawl following MSU's home loss to Ohio State ...

Among them were three players the nearby Oakland Press speculated "may have had something to do with an off-campus incident last weekend." Not to be outdone, the Detroit News' Rob Parker went on local television Sunday night and told thousands of listeners, "A lot of names being mentioned, but the one name being thrown out there big time is backup QB Kirk Cousins ... and uh ... he was a part of the big thing that happened," or something very, very close to that.

There's just one tiny issue: Cousins' parents were in East Lansing , and said Kirk was with his family Saturday night. He went to church with them on Sunday morning. The chief investigator said Cousins wasn't involved in the fight, as far as he was aware. And, by the way, one of the players mentioned by the Oakland Press was out recovering from surgery.

Dantonio, understandably, was not too thrilled at his Tuesday press conference -- but he also refrained (barely, from the looks of it, but successfully) from making an instant YouTube joke out of himself, like certain other coaches upset at the press. This, Mike Gundy, is how you shame the local media like a man:

 

[jwinslow]

Apparenly Rob Parker has a history of tossing out baseless accusations at UM football players as well (which were later proven false). It's about time someone held him accountable.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

It's worth clicking on the link and watching the video of Dantonio's press conference for those who haven't seen it.

Mark Dantonio shows Mike Gundy how to release press conference rage like a man

Source: Yahoo Sports / Rivals

While MD gets the points for his class, I'm giving all my style points to MG.

Either way, I love both of these coaches for standing up for their guys. Regardless of how it's done, the message to the players is clear -- "I have your back."

 

[ant80]

That interview was worth seeing. I have never seen a better example of anger expressed in a controlled and directed way. Hats off to Dantonio.