Michigan State Spartans’ Mark Dantonio is “Selling Results”
By Joe Chapp
More from Michigan State Spartans
- Betting Preview: Best Bets for Michigan vs. Michigan State
- Michigan State basketball earns no. 7 seed, will play Davidson
- Jayden Reed returning to Michigan State football is huge news
- Peach Bowl: Michigan State football betting odds and prediction
- Michigan State football’s Kenneth Walker III snubbed from popularity contest
Michigan State Spartans Head Coach Mark Dantonio is a unique man, fueled by the disrespect shown in his mind by certain Michigan football players. Denard Robinson and Mike Hart have both thrown out cracks about Michigan State.
The past two seasons the Spartans have finished ranked in the top five. Mark Dantonio took over a broken program at one time, and turned it into something great.
Michigan State is becoming an upper-tier team in college football like most Spartans have wanted for quite some time, but even with that they’re not the team getting the publicity that Michigan does.
When Michigan hired Jim Harbaugh, it was the sexy hire. The Wolverines eye the glory days of Bo Schembechler, and picking a former quarterback that was once coached by Schembechler makes for the “Michigan Man” the Michigan faithful have clamored over.
Jim Harbaugh is a guy who can win, he is a guy who can take Michigan to their former glory, but at this very moment we don’t know what will happen to Michigan in the next few years to come.
Dantonio was recently asked about Ohio State and Michigan drawing more of the publicty than Michigan State, and he responded in his typical fashion.
"“Hey, we just work at it,” Dantonio said. “Right now, we’re selling results. I’ve said this over and over. We’re selling results. Other people are selling hope.”"
Dantonio didn’t take a shade and throw it at Michigan; he spoke the truth.
There’s no doubt that Michigan, with Jim Harbaugh in the fold, will win. Harbaugh is a great head coach who has the ability to turn the program around.
However, Michigan State isn’t going anywhere. Regardless of what Michigan fans and pundits say, the Wolverines are selling hope. Michigan doesn’t have anything to offer, but the sexy hire.
They don’t have the two top five finishes in back-to-back years like Michigan State has, and one could argue that they don’t even have the quarterback that Harbaugh wants.
Nevertheless, Jay Harbaugh son of Jim Harbaugh and Michigan’s Tight End’s Coach responded.
Michigan is a team that Dantonio circles on the calendar each year in green marker. His players know the importance of that game, as do the fans. Michigan State isn’t going to get the publicity of Michigan. It will never happen, the Detroit media won’t allow it.
Michigan is a brand name and Michigan State, for as good as they’ve been, is the team the local Detroit media puts on the back burner.
For some, Michigan hiring Harbaugh was Michigan State’s funeral.
When Dantonio was asked about Harbaugh coming to Michigan, he responded by pointing out that both programs will ultimately be judged by results on the field.
"“That’s occurred a number of times since I’ve been here, so yeah, it’s going to be a challenge every time there’s somebody new, every time there’s somebody new in the Big Ten,” Dantonio said. “Nobody hires bad coaches. There are no bad coaches out there. Very, very good coaches coach in this conference, including coach (Brady) Hoke and coach (Rich) Rodriguez, so it’s a challenge. Inevitably, the top players play on the field. Coach Harbaugh is an excellent coach. He’s got a tremendous track record; we all understand that. It will be the next challenge for us. But we compete against Michigan regardless of who’s there on a daily basis — we understand that here.”"
Dantonio isn’t petrified of the former NFL coach who took the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl, and why should he be?
Michigan State has never been as strong as a program as they’ve been now. Mark Dantonio has something truly great going in East Lansing coming off back to back top five finishes.
It’s quite the accomplishment.
Regardless of what people want to tell you, Jim Harbaugh coming to Michigan doesn’t suddenly put Michigan into the Alabama or Ohio State elite category.
Some think Harbaugh’s appointment as Michigan’s head coach ushers in the return of the ten year war, and that “Little Brother” is going back to John L. Smith days.
The fact is, College Football as a whole has never been as strong as it is now. If told ten years ago that Baylor and TCU would be the top two programs in Texas, one would’ve likely laughed.
It’s the same principle here. Michigan might make a run at a few Big Ten Titles, or perhaps National Titles, but some would argue the Big Ten has never been as strong as it is now.
Michigan State and Ohio State are here to stay. That’s not even counting Penn State or Maryland who appear to be on the rise.
Dantonio is feeding his team the disrespect of what the media thinks of the Michigan State Spartans compared to the school from Ann Arbor. A school who hasn’t accomplished what Dantonio and the Spartans have the past few years.
Only time will tell if Harbaugh can sell results at Michigan, but results are being shown in East Lansing right now.