It stinks, but this is the Michigan State Spartans’ football reality. Head coach Mark Dantonio doesn’t have it anymore and they need to move on from him.
In what should have been one of the better games of the early window, the Michigan Wolverines wiped the floor with their in-state rival Michigan State Spartans in The Big House. Michigan improves to 8-2 on the year, while Michigan State stumbles to 4-6. While Jim Harbaugh has his team playing well, Mark Dantonio‘s team is in a complete free-fall.
Michigan may have two losses on the year, but those were to quality teams in the Wisconsin Badgers and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Though it seems like an outside shot, Michigan still has a chance at reaching a New Year’s Six Bowl if the Wolverines can win one of their final two regular-season games. If the Wolverines shock the Ohio State Buckeyes, they may go to the Rose Bowl.
As for Michigan State, the Spartans have now lost five Big Ten games in a row. They have to beat both the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Maryland Terrapins to achieve bowl eligibility. While those are two of the worst teams in the Big Ten, who’s to say a reeling Spartans team is guaranteed to win both of those games at this point? They’re in a full-blown nose dive now.
So what are the Spartans to do? Can they continue as is with the winningest coach in program history? At the end of the day, MSU must look at the situation with complete honesty and recognize that Dantonio doesn’t have it anymore. His offense is terrible and his defense can’t stop hardly anybody. It might be time for both parties to part ways.
Firing Dantonio at the end of the year would be controversial since he did win three Big Ten titles in East Lansing. He led the Spartans to their first College Football Playoff appearance in 2015, but it’s been all downhill since getting their brains beat in by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
At 63 years old, there is a chance that Dantonio could resign from coaching to save himself the embarrassment of getting fired. While he was an outstanding coach for the Spartans, Dantonio sadly no longer is. Fortunately for Michigan State, they have a proven track record of success and should be able to garner several excellent head coaching candidates if they were to move off him.
Sure, Michigan State could give Dantonio the benefit of the doubt if he goes 6-6 and leads his team to a bowl game this season in a down year for the program. However, another loss would signify Michigan State’s second losing season since qualifying for the Playoff. Michigan State should win seven or eight games a year, and they need to get a coach that can do that for them.
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