College Football: 25 greatest head coaches of the 21st century
By Dakota Cox
Best college football coaches of 21st century: 16. Mark Dantonio
- Cincinnati Bearcats (2004-06)
- Michigan State Spartans (2007-Present)
Michigan State is an interesting team. In the Big Ten, people will always look at Michigan and Ohio State. Thanks to Mark Dantonio, the Spartans were consistently in the mix among those football giants.
Michigan State was coming off multiple down years before they hired Dantonio to change the program. It took some time to get his own recruits in there, but he finally turned the program around. So far, he’s had six seasons with 10 or more wins. However, he has also had his fair share of struggles. In 2016, the Spartans went a miserable 3-9.
Dantonio isn’t perfect. However, he has overcome a ton of adversity. It’s hard to recruit in Michigan. Without a surplus of in-state talent, it seems like all the great recruits choose either Michigan or Ohio State. However, he of course had developed the talent on the roster.
Michigan State’s best season under Dantonio was easily 2015. After finding a way to beat Ohio State and Michigan on the road, the Spartans made it to the College Football Playoff for the first time. They inevitably lost to Alabama, but getting there was still a great accomplishment. That puts Dantonio on an exclusive list of coaches to coach in the College Football Playoff.
One mark on Dantonio’s coaching career was his inability to let the offense develop with the times. He prefers to be slow-paced, relying on offensive line play and defense to win games. Against some of the potent offenses we are beginning to see, that simply didn’t work. The best coaches in college football have pivoted. Instead, Dantonio fell behind the times.
There are plenty of reasons to discard Dantonio. When you look at his record or overall achievements, there are some bad signs. However, when you factor in the fact that he built a program, he deserves to be on the list. He is flawed in many ways, but he has done some great things in college football with Michigan State.