Mark Dantonio is probably the greatest football coach in Michigan State football history.
Yet, because of his recent struggles, coupled with his blind loyalty and unwillingness to change, Dantonio has found himself on the hot seat…at least when it comes to many Spartans’ fans.
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Well, one person who still believes in Dantonio is Michigan State head basketball coach, Tom Izzo.
Izzo joined The Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket on Tuesday and he was asked about Dantonio’s future at MSU.
Not surprisingly, Izzo showed support for Dantonio by saying he will be at MSU for as long as he wants.
From 97.1 The Ticket:
“The haters are gonna hate, that’s about as normal as you can get. If you look at his record and what he’s done, it’s unbelievable,” Izzo said. “There’s only two (Big Ten) schools that have been to the BCS Final Four, as I call it, and he’s one of them. At one time he was (36-5). He’s had a couple years of incredibly injury-prone (teams), I’ve never seen so many injuries.
“My buddy Mark Dantonio, I hope is here for years to come. I hope him and I get together and when we want to call it quits, we do it together. But it ain’t gonna be in the near future. I mean, that’s Mark’s choice, but as far as whether it’s not his choice, as some people (say) … this guy’s an incredible human being, a good football coach and I think he’ll be here as long as he wants to be here.”
“If Mark Dantonio was ever gone because of pressure, Tom Izzo would probably be right behind him, because I believe in the guy. I think he’s got years left. But hey, every decision is an individual’s — how you feel, how’s your health, how’s your family, where do you think you are. I still think he’s got a lot of passion. He flew back in for (our) game the other night because he’s been on the road recruiting.”
“I’m here at Michigan State. From our people here, there’s no issue with Mark Dantonio,” said Izzo. “Is he disappointed? I was here when 6-6 were great years, so yeah, disappointed. I think if he had to do it over again, losing to Illinois and Arizona state — although Arizona State ended up pretty good, and so did Illinois – were games they could have won. They’d be 8-4 and nobody’d be saying nothing.
“You know what, not because we’re both Italian, you got a big Dantonio fan here and this fan thinks that our football and basketball programs are still in great shape. But in the eyes of the public, that changes not yearly, not monthly, not weekly, not hourly, but ‘minutely,’ and I just kind of blow it off and go back to work.”
