The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, February 5, 2020 — 7A
After years of turmoil, longtime Michigan State coach Dantonio retires
Mark Dantonio, who brought
Michigan State football back
to prominence in the Big Ten,
announced Tuesday that he would
be stepping down as head coach of
the Spartans.
“Today makes one of the most
difficult decisions that I have ever
made here at Michigan State,” he
said in a statement on his Twitter
account. “ … I will miss it all but
feel the sacrifices that I have made
away from my family must now
become my priority at this time in
my life.”
Dantonio
also
announced
that he will transition into a role
with the athletic department as a
special projects adviser.
In
13
seasons,
Dantonio
went 114-57, won three Big
Ten
championships
and
led
the Spartans to 12 bowl games,
including a Rose Bowl win in 2013
and a College Football Playoff
appearance in 2015. He revived
the
Michigan-Michigan
State
rivalry, going 8-5 against the
Wolverines.
However, things had been
trending down both on and off
the field in recent years. The
Spartans finished 7-6 each of
the past two seasons while the
program was mired in scandal.
In a lawsuit against Dantonio and
other top Michigan State officials,
former recruiting director Curtis
Blackwell accused Dantonio of
ignoring reports of sexual assault
against former player Auston
Robertson dating back to his high-
school days, then scapegoating
Blackwell.
According
to
a
Detroit News report released
Tuesday, Blackwell’s lawyers also
accused Dantonio of committing
recruiting-related
NCAA
violations, giving employment to
parents of recruits and making
home visits with staffers who
were not authorized to do so.
Before that, a 2018 ESPN
Outside the Lines report found
that 16 Spartan football players had
been accused of sexual misconduct
during Dantonio’s tenure and
that the school attempted to
suppress those records. Dantonio
and other coaches were accused
of mishandling the allegations,
though were never punished for
doing so.
Despite
these
issues,
the
athletic department stood by
Dantonio throughout the 2019
season.
Early
in
November,
Michigan State athletic director
Bill Beekman told reporters that
firing Dantonio was “not even a
discussion.”
Dantonio had a $4.3 million
retention bonus in his contract
— which has essentially been a
lifetime contract since 2011 — that
vested on Jan. 15.
His retirement also came a
day before National Signing Day,
which could throw the Spartans’
recruiting situation into flux —
something they can ill afford,
given that their 2020 recruiting
class is ranked just 10th out of 14
Big Ten teams, per 247Sports. All
but three of their commits signed
letters of intent on early signing
day in December.
The program has announced
that Mike Tressel, previously the
assistant head coach, defensive
coordinator
and
linebackers
coach, will serve as the interim
head coach. Tressel worked on the
same staff as Dantonio for the last
15 seasons.
Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell
has been named in multiple
reports as a potential full-time
replacement.
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio announced his retirement Tuesday.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
EAST LANSING — Mark
Dantonio spent the past few
weeks hitting the recruiting
trail as always, visiting schools
and talking to high school
prospects.
He realized that it was
getting increasingly hard to
promise kids that he would still
be the coach when they came in
2022. The nonstop grind began
to weigh on him. He realized he
was 50/50 on what to do about
his future. As he explained this
all at a press conference on
Tuesday night at the Breslin
Center, the former Michigan
State football coach extended
his hand out to his right.
“In the end, if you’re 50/50
on something, you need to be
over here, because this job
demands 100 percent,” he said.
As Dantonio flew back and
forth from those visits, he
began to draft a statement
about why he wanted to step
away, a decision he announced
Tuesday afternoon.
The
timing
is
awkward,
to
put
it
generously.
The
coaching carousel has long
since come to a halt, and many
of the top young coaching
candidates already have new
jobs.
Dantonio
announced
his decision the day before
National Signing Day, after all
but three of his 2020 recruits
have signed National Letters
of Intent, binding themselves
to a program that is suddenly
without a coach. The Detroit
News reported earlier in the
day that, in an ongoing lawsuit
filed
by
former
recruiting
director
Curtis
Blackwell,
Dantonio was alleged to have
committed multiple recruiting
violations in his time with
the Spartans. And Dantonio
recently earned a $4.3 million
retention bonus for remaining
with the team through Jan. 15.
Dantonio offered up his own
justification for the timing,
explaining the many cycles
of being a college football
coach, including the one every
February where he resets his
football team, saying goodbye
to the seniors and bringing in
the rookies, in preparation for
spring ball.
“As I’ve gone into schools
in the last week or two weeks,
these last two weeks of the
dead period ... I would find
myself saying, there’s gonna be
a gap,” Dantonio said. “There’s
gonna be a gap created if I
don’t stay, if I leave after next
season, it’s gonna be a gap in
recruiting. And the best time,
I felt, to step away, when you
reset your football team.”
Meanwhile, Dantonio denied
that his decision had anything
to do with the Blackwell lawsuit
or the recent deposition he was
required to give. When pressed
further, he said, “We’re not
talking about this. This is a
celebration.” Athletic director
Bill Beekman later derided the
allegations as “patently false.”
Dantonio
waxed
poetic
about
the
three
Big
Ten
championships, the Rose Bowl,
the Playoff appearance and the
players he’d gotten to work
with. That was the best part
of the job for him, he said, and
there was no doubt he’d left the
program in better shape than
he’d found it.
Still, that program is now on
a downward trajectory, having
finished the last two seasons
7-6 with losses to Michigan in
both. The Spartans have the
10th-best 2020 recruiting class
in the Big Ten, per 247Sports,
and haven’t secured a single
commitment for 2021. Now,
Beekman has to find a coach
who can restock the Spartans’
cupboard while also competing
in the difficult Big Ten East.
“I don’t know that there’s
ever a good time (to retire),”
Beekman said. “There are times
that are better than other times.
But I think that when you’ve
won 114 games and you’re the
all-time winningest coach and
you’ve taken us to the places
Mark’s taken us, you’ve set the
bar where Mark’s set it, that
I was comfortable operating
on his timeline, whatever that
would be, and I think that we’ll
find a very good coach.”
Dantonio and Beekman both
reflected on what they wanted
in a new coach and were largely
in agreement: someone who is
familiar with the Midwest,
knows Michigan State’s history
and culture and has a high
character. The Spartans’ top
candidates are reported to be
Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell
and
Pittsburgh
coach
Pat
Narduzzi.
But Dantonio isn’t worried
about
finding
the
right
candidate.
“Are
you
kidding
me?”
Dantonio said. “People will
run here. They’ll crawl here.
Michigan State will get an
outstanding coach that will
care
about
young
people.
They have a great foundation
coming back. This program
has won a lot more than it’s
lost, as indicated by 13 years
of what has been. … My hope
for anybody who’s choosing
to coach, I may be involved a
little bit, maybe not, but that
they hire somebody who will
be here 13 or 14 years and win
114-plus games.”
Meanwhile,
Dantonio
plans to move into a special
ambassador
role
with
the
athletic
department,
a
provision that was afforded
him in his contract. Beekman
and Dantonio haven’t quite
decided what that role will be
yet, but Beekman offered up a
few possibilities they’ve tossed
around, such as alumni and
donor engagement and perhaps
teaching a class on leadership.
For Dantonio, it’s the best
of both worlds. He gets to stay
involved with the program
while cutting back on his
workload, allowing him to
spend more time with family
and developing hobbies he’d
never had the capacity to
explore.
When asked to define his
legacy, Dantonio said it wasn’t
about the wins and losses,
“although there’s a lot of
them.” When he looks back
on his career, Dantonio will
remember the people he got
to work with and the careers
he helped shape. More than
most other coaches, Dantonio
has come to define Michigan
State football — for better and
for worse. He was the coach
who
brought
the
Spartans
back to prominence, redefined
the rivalry with Michigan and
made a Big Ten laughingstock
into
a
powerhouse.
He’s
also the coach who showed
arguably undeserved loyalty
to his assistants after down
seasons and the coach who
allegedly mishandled sexual
assault allegations.
It’s
hard
to
envision
Michigan State without him,
but that’s exactly the task the
athletic department now has
on its hands. He may have
defined the program as it is
today, but now, Dantonio wants
more than just the program to
define him.
“I’ve told my players on
many occasions that Michigan
State is bigger than any one
person,”
Dantonio
said.
“It’s the program that’s so
important. Someday there will
be someone else talking to you
from this podium. That day has
come.”
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
Mayotte revitalizing penalty kill
A backdoor rebound on a
five-on-three advantage and a
perfectly placed shot at Penn
State. A bounce off a Michigan
defenseman’s stick in front of
the net against Ohio State. A
wide-open
forward
sniping
over Mann’s shoulder from
the slot against those same
Buckeyes.
These
are
the
only
three power play goals the
Wolverines have allowed to
start the second half of the
season. Michigan has killed off
18 other penalties, two of them
five-minute majors, without
allowing a goal.
Only one of them came
off a true breakdown in the
penalty kill. A five-on-three
is one of the toughest tasks
for
a
penalty-killing
unit,
and an unlucky bounce off a
defenseman’s stick is just that
— unlucky.
Friday night against Ohio
State, the Wolverines gave up
two goals to Ohio State on the
power play. Saturday night,
Michigan turned around and
killed all three of the Buckeyes’
power
plays
—
including
killing two five-minute major
penalties.
“We
didn’t
change
anything,” assistant coach Kris
Mayotte said Monday. “I just
think we simply didn’t execute
who we’ve been on the kill
recently on Friday. I thought
we got a little too aggressive,
and while we’re a kill that likes
to pressure in certain spots, we
still have to be under control.”
On
Saturday,
freshman
forward Johnny Beecher was
ejected early in the second
period, putting the Wolverines
on the penalty kill for five
minutes, regardless of if a goal
was scored.
Michigan
allowed
the
Buckeyes only one shot, while
taking two shots of its own
shorthanded.
Sophomore
forward
Garrett Van Wyhe — one of
the Wolverines’ main penalty
killers — was ejected late in the
second, bringing another five-
minute power play for Ohio
State. This time, the Buckeyes
managed four shots, but none
were particularly dangerous
scoring chances.
“We just knew we had to be
more composed,” sophomore
defenseman Nick Blankenburg
said. “That was the biggest
thing we talked about was
we were playing well, and
we did good things on the
penalty kill, but we just kinda
got overextended at times. I
feel like on Saturday, we were
kinda a lot more
compressed
and
more
of
a
cohesive
unit,
all
four
of us working
together, so I
feel
like
that
helped
out
a
lot.”
Michigan
trailed
throughout
Saturday’s game, and the two
major penalties presented an
opportunity for the Buckeyes
to fully put the game away.
Instead, the Wolverines built
momentum on the kill and
stayed within a goal until Ohio
State made it 3-1 with nine
minutes remaining.
“I think we saw it as an
opportunity,”
Mayotte
said.
“We felt like it was one of those
spots where we didn’t like the
way it was going, whether it
was on the refs or on us, but an
opportunity to gain momentum
and break their will a little bit.
“I think we took it more as,
‘Let’s be great here and really
try to demoralize them,’ rather
than us getting down and
thinking we have this massive
challenge ahead of us. Kinda
put the onus on them to make
them beat us.”
Mayotte was brought in from
Providence in the offseason
in large part to improve the
Wolverines’ penalty kill. Last
year, Michigan finished 46th
of 60 teams with a 78.5 kill
percentage. The unit Mayotte
ran with the Friars, meanwhile,
ranked sixth, killing penalties
86.6 percent of
the time.
Just
about
three
quarters
of
the
way
through
the
season,
the
Wolverines now
come in at No.
17 in the nation
with
an
84
percent kill rate,
and
Michigan
has started to take ownership
over Mayotte’s system and find
its stride on the kill.
“You know what, it has
the potential to be better,”
Mayotte said when asked how
Michigan’s unit stacks up with
others he’s coached. “... Early
in the year, it’s me getting
used to them, them getting
used to me. Now, instead of —
you see it with them. They’re
not thinking, ‘Well, what does
Mayo want me to do here?’
They’re just playing hockey.
They’re making the reads.
When you get guys into that
position, that’s when you’re
successful.”
Sidor gets confidence boost vs. Iowa
Michigan came out of the
timeout
up
by
eight
over
Iowa. With the massive lead
that it had built up over
the first 13 minutes of the
game dwindling, it needed a
momentum changer.
Michelle Sidor caught a pass
at the 3-point line, her space
disappearing as a defender
sprinted toward her, briefly
thought of a shot — and passed.
The
freshman
guard’s
decision to give up an open
look is the culmination of
a month-long onslaught of
missed shots and diminished
playing time. She’s no longer
the first player off the bench,
or even the second. Her last
points came in a Jan. 12 loss to
No. 17 Maryland, where she hit
a single 3-pointer.
Her first Big Ten season has
taken its toll.
Sidor
offers
something
that
can
make
this
team
go from good to great: the
3-pointer. Whether it’s Sidor,
junior forward Hailey Brown
or
sophomore
guard
Amy
Dilk, Michigan’s offense is
nearly unstoppable when it
gets an outside threat. Its
dismantlings of Penn State
and Michigan State show how
when its offense diversifies,
the sky is the limit.
“A lot of times people try
to pack the paint on us,”
sophomore
forward
Naz
Hillmon said. “But when we
have the shooters that we have,
and they’re on and they’re hot,
it’s really hard to pack the
paint. You have to get out to
those shooters, and then when
you do that, they kick it back
in.”
Coming into the season,
Sidor’s shooting ability was
highly touted and she’s shown
she’s an impact player in
spurts, with 16 points against
Morgan
State
and
seven
against Syracuse.
Then she started missing.
She’d
rush
her
shooting
motion, shots bounced off the
rim and her defense — still not
developed — was a liability.
Against the Hawkeyes, one
of the last players off the bench
and her main weapon missing,
Sidor came onto the court. And
she passed, when she may not
have earlier this year.
Five seconds later, standing
in the same spot and no
defenders
around
her,
she
received another pass. Iowa’s
Makenzie Meyer didn’t close
out and Sidor launched a
3-pointer, barely any pressure
in her face.
She nailed it, the bench
celebrating as she ran back to
play defense.
The
next
possession,
the
Hawkeyes
were forced to
respect her shot
and when she
got the ball, she
drew out two
defenders from
the paint. Sidor
found Hillmon
in the vacated
space, getting an assist.
On Sunday, Sidor was the
sparkplug Michigan needed
her to be all season. In just
over a minute of play, she
contributed five points. And
she wasn’t done.
For
a
third-straight
possession, the offense ran
through Sidor. She gathered a
pass on the opposite side of the
arc from her first possession,
but this time she didn’t need
an open look to launch a shot.
Her
confidence
—
the
biggest weapon in the arsenal
of a shooter — was back. She
was back.
That’s why Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico pumped
her fists across the court, why
the bench celebrated a second
quarter 3-pointer like a buzzer
beater. Why, when a stoppage
of play occurred seconds later,
chests were thumped in Sidor’s
direction and everyone patted
her on the back.
“She was due to hit a couple
shots,” sophomore guard Amy
Dilk said. “And
once
you
see
that first shot
go in, you keep
shooting,
and
she found two
really
good
looks, and that
really
put
us
over the edge
of
that
close
score.”
Freshman
year is hard, and while Sidor
has struggled to make an
impact of late, there’s a reason
Barnes Arico compared her
to Katelynn Flaherty before
the season began. Sidor is a
shooter, just like Flaherty, and
even the program’s best-ever
player struggled her freshman
year. Perhaps all Sidor needed
was a boost of confidence to get
her season back on track, and
she got that bout of confidence
Sunday.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Editor
KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Kris Mayotte has brought a stellar penalty kill from Providence to Michigan.
They’re just
playing hockey.
They’re making
the reads.
DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
Freshman guard Michelle Sidor scored her first points in three weeks Sunday.
Once you see
that first shot
go in, you keep
shooting.