Sports: Dantonio is Fully Committed to the Rise of MSU Football
Dantonio believes MSU football can return to the top, but it will take a major commitment to his formula for success.
Mark Dantonio knows a thing or two about building a football program, this being his fifth time doing so. He knows x’s and o’s, but he realizes that to build a championship program, you need to go well beyond drawing up trick plays on the chalkboard.
Citing his experience, Dantonio believes three things are absolutely crucial in building the MSU program. In a recent interview with the MSU Alumni Magazine, he said those three critical factors are commitment, passion, and attention to detail.
“You have to have commitment from the top down, and that means everybody from the board of trustees and the president to the athletics director to the head coach to the coaches, players, managers, the academic people—everybody,” he says. “It has to be a commitment to work together to reach a vision we all want.
“You can’t have one foot in and one foot out. Either you’re committed or you are not.”
Dantonio is prompt to add that he has felt that commitment at MSU “from day one when I walked in here.” He notes that President Lou Anna K. Simon has attended recruiting dinners and that his suggestions about the Duffy Daugherty Building renovation project were quickly put into effect.
“Workouts begin at 5:30 a.m.,” says Dantonio. “When you have 100 players and 15 workouts, and only two players missed a workout, that’s a good percentage and it’s indicative of commitment.”
The second critical ingredient for success is passion. “You have to have enthusiasm for what you are doing,” explains Dantonio. “Passion puts fire in your heart. If you do anything with passion, you will succeed. When there is no passion—when it’s just a job—you become unsuccessful.
“This has to be felt throughout the entire program. We have to be energized, and in some cases, re-energized.”
The third critical element for success, in Dantonio’s view, is attention to details.
“You have to pay attention to details, from the way we run our practices to the way we set up recruiting,” he explains. “When we tell a player to take a six-inch step, it’s a six-inch step—not an eight-inch step. This starts at the top and it has to be maintained on a continual basis. You have to plan your work, and work your plan.”
Dantonio absolutely believes that MSU will rise to the top as a football power, just as Ohio State, LSU, Southern California and Oklahoma have won national championships after very lengthy hiatuses. He believes that football success works in cyclical ways.
“History to me is the best indicator of the future,” he reasons. “The fact that we’ve been there before gives us the opportunity to knock on that door again. (Past national championships) are proof that it can be done here.”
Building a program begins with recruiting, and Dantonio believes MSU needs to recruit close to home primarily and then supplement those efforts with recruiting out of state. “Those who have the enthusiasm and commitment to MSU will be predominantly people who have grown up here, or who have a connection to the state or to MSU,” he points out.
How can MSU recruit against the likes of Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame? “First you reach back to the past, and then you reach forward to show them a vision of where we’re going,” he says. “We have a new facility being built, we have a dream, etc.”
Dantonio wants an offense that can establish the run, and also pass effectively. He likes to use the word “multiple,” a word that was strongly associated with Biggie Munn’s national championship offenses in the early 1950s.
“I’ve been a defensive coach for 20-plus years and have played against every type of offensive formation,” he says. “The most difficult team to defend is the team that can both run and pass—that is two-dimensional.”
Transcending schemes and formations is what Dantonio calls toughness, by which he means both the ability to get that one yard when necessary (or stop the opponents from getting that one yard).
“You have to build your program on toughness,” he says. “You have to be able to run the football, and you have to be able to stop the run on defense. When those two things happen, they open up all different kinds of things. It’s very easy for me to sit here and talk about these things, but it’s another to do those things.”
Toughness, both physical and mental, can be taught, Dantonio believes. “More importantly, it’s got to be an expectation,” he says. “You have to put the players in adverse situations—for example, can they make plays when they’re tired—and practice it. You have to have consequences on the field and in practice. If you’re passionate, peer pressure takes over amongst everyone. If you have those expectations and they’ve worked from a physical standpoint to establish them, then you will be successful—maybe by going out and out-willing someone.”
Dantonio believes MSU enters this fall with the right mindset, but needs to pay more attention to detail and stay healthy. He believes Javon Ringer can emerge as a premier running back in the Big Ten. On defense, he believes the team is a bit young and needs to be more consistent. On special teams, “we have an established kicker and need to solidify our punting situation.” He believes some freshmen may contribute right away, more likely skilled players rather than linemen.
“That’s it in a nutshell,” says Dantonio. “I don’t want to give you a complete scouting report.”
Alumni have been very supportive of Dantonio thus far. “We’re going to have growing pains and we need to stay focused, to stand together and to stand united,” he says. “We need to expect some bumps on the road and be ready to handle them.”
He has a four-word message to convey to alumni. “We are going to move forward with passion and a sense of purpose,” says Dantonio. “A good way to end this article is to say, ‘We will measure up.’”