Mark Dantonio named to the College Football Hall of Fame

Mark Dantonio’s legacy has been secured. The winningest Spartan head coach was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.

The National Football Foundation named their 2024 College Football Hall of Fame class. Among the 22 names being enshrined, former Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio made the cut. Dantonio took the Spartans to new heights during his time as head coach from 2007 until 2019. His accomplishments include the Rose Bowl, 3 Big Ten Titles, and a berth in the second College Football Playoff. 

A brief history of “Coach D” before MSU

Mark Dantonio began his career in college football as a defensive back at South Carolina. The three time letterman was all about football. He went from the field to the sidelines after graduating, starting at Ohio and then Purdue, his first taste of the Big Ten. Dantonio got his first role as a defensive coordinator for a community college for a year, and then it was back to the Big Ten.

Dantonio was a grad assistant at Ohio State for a pair of seasons, and then made stops as a defensive backs coach at Akron and Kansas, with a four-year stint as defensive coordinator in between these two FBS stops at FCS Youngstown State. Following his time at Kansas, coach Dantonio made his first stop with Michigan State under the legendary Nick Saban. Dantonio’s defensive backs went to three bowl games during his time at Michigan State, including a 10-2 season capped off by a win in the Citrus Bowl in 1999.

This led to Dantonio’s move to be the defensive coordinator at Ohio State. In his second year coaching the Buckeye defense, Ohio State went undefeated and won the 2002 National Championship. Following that up with an 11-2 season, Dantonio got his first head coaching job with the Cincinnati Bearcats. He led them to a 7-5 season in their last season in the Conference USA, and then went 5-7 in their first year in the Big East. Following a 7-5 regular season, Dantonio was offered a job back with the Spartans, this time as their head coach. He accepted, and the rest is history.

Mark Dantonio led the resurgence of Michigan State football

Dantonio took over a struggling Michigan State football team, with the team three years removed from their last winning record. Once again, in his first season at the helm of a program, his team won seven games. Following a heartbreaking loss to Michigan, where the Spartans lost a 10-point lead in the final seven minutes of regulation, Michigan running back Mike Hart poked fun at the Spartans. This led to the quote that defined Mark Dantonio’s tenure as a Spartan: “Let’s just remember, pride comes before the fall… They want to mock us, I’m telling them, it’s not over.” 

The next season, Michigan State went 9-4, including a 14-point victory over the Wolverines. This was just the start of Dantonio’s rise. A 6-7 season in 2009 was the exception, as the Spartans then won 10 or more games in five of the next six seasons. 

Dantonio’s teams were composed of underrated, underrecruited players who came in with a chip on their shoulders. He took the Midwest prospects, most from Michigan and Ohio, and cultivated their talents to beat the teams that these prospects grew up rooting for. He broke the bowl game losing streak as a Spartan head coach in 2011, beating Georgia. They won the Big Ten championship in 2010, and the division in 2011 before falling short in the first Big Ten title game. These teams were led by Kirk Cousins, only a three-star from outside the top 1,300 in his class. Cousins and Co. went 4-0 during their tenure against the Wolverines. Mark Dantonio obsessed on the rivalry and his teams keyed in on this.

In the down year of 2012, Dantonio lost to Michigan for only his second time as head coach but found his quarterback of the future in Connor Cook during the Spartan bowl game against TCU. Cook helped fuel the comeback against the Horned Frogs and then was named starter after a battle to start the 2013 season. 

Dantonio had an unwavering belief in his team, and this was highlighted with Dantonio shooting a video in the Rose Bowl before the season. Following a 7-6 season, Dantonio knew his team had the potential. He told them “You will be the ones.”

Sure enough, they were the ones. Following a controversial loss to Notre Dame, the Spartans tore through the Big Ten, winning all of their games by 10 points. This included beating his old team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, in the 2013 Big Ten Championship.

In 2014, the only teams the Spartans lost to ended up playing in the national title game, and his team “settled” for leading an unbelievable comeback to beat Baylor in the Cotton Bowl. Instead of declaring, much of Dantonio’s team bet on themselves for 2015, returning for their senior season. This led to the 11-1 regular season for the Spartans, highlighted by “Trouble with the Snap” as coach Dantonio’s teams could not lose to the Wolverines. Multiple one-possession wins later, the Spartans beat Iowa on a grueling 22-play drive to win their second Big Ten title game, and Dantonio’s third as head coach. The Spartans went to the College Football Playoff. Despite their best effort, a turnover near halftime doomed the Spartans, with the game cascading into a 38-0 rout in the second half. 

This ended Dantonio’s prime, but the Spartans had a resurgent 2017, going 10-3. Dantonio became the program’s all-time wins leader, and finished with 114 victories as the head coach on the Spartan sidelines. 

He retired in February 2020, following a win in the Pinstripe Bowl that December.

Originally, he was slated to help in an advisory role, but the pandemic resulted in him being one of the “non-essentials” being let go. He enjoyed retirement before being called back to the sidelines this fall to aid acting Spartan head coach Harlon Barnett. Despite the rough ending to his tenure as a coach, he still wanted to help the program he called home for a dozen years. 

Mark Dantonio left a lasting impact on the program

Overall, Mark Dantonio led to the most successful tenure of Michigan State football in the last 70 years. His teams were highlighted by sustained success and team unity. Some of his players’ highlights include Darqueze Dennard winning the 2013 Tatum and Thorpe Award, Connor Cook winning the Unitas Award in 2015, and Greg Jones being the 2009 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He had multiple players selected as the Big Ten receiver of the year (Tony Lippet and Aaron Burbridge in 2014-2015) and defensive backs of the year (Dennard and Kurtis Drummond in 2013-2014). 

Dantonio is the fifth former Spartan head coach enshrined in the Hall, and the first former Spartan since Lorenzo White in 2019. 

He leaves a lasting legacy with the Spartans and this selection highlights the significance that Mark Dantonio had during his time. He deserves the honor of being enshrined alongside his Hall of Fame classmates like Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald. He had a tenure of nearly 40 years on the sidelines, and that dedication helped hundreds of staff members, thousands of athletes, and millions of fans. Dantonio has certainly earned this honor and his legacy will be remembered in East Lansing forever.