Mark Dantonio retires as Michigan State head coach amid controversy

Mark Dantonio retires as the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans, becoming the winningest coach in program history since his arrival in 2007.

Mark Dantonio is out at Michigan State.

It’s the end of an era in East Lansing, as Dantonio has retired after 13 years with the Spartans where he is the program’s all-time winningest head coach.

Dantonio was at Michigan State since 2007, going 115-57 overall, 69-39 in Big Ten play and 6-6 in bowl games. Michigan State won at least 10 games six times, winning the Big Ten three times and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history in 2015.

Dantonio leaves East Lansing as the winningest head coach in program history, but the timing is interesting.

He posted a message about his decision to leave on Tuesday, a day before the official National Signing Day. It also comes days after his $4.3 million retention bonus was paid out on Jan. 15.

Football Scoop reports that defensive line coach Mike Tressel will replace Dantonio in the interim, who is the nephew of former Ohio State Buckeyes and Youngstown State head coach Jim Tressel. who Dantonio had previously worked under.

https://twitter.com/DantonioMark/status/1224780475165577216/photo/2

While Dantonio brought tremendous success to the Michigan State football program, it wasn’t without controversy. Since making the College Football Playoff in 2015, Michigan State has only had one 10-win season, failing to make a bowl game in 2016 and going 7-6 each of the last two years.

There is also a lawsuit filed against him from former football staffer, Curtis Blackwell, that could leave a mess behind for someone else to clean up.

Blackwell and his lawyers allege Dantonio committed multiple NCAA violations during the recruiting process. Dantonio’s lawyers are calling these allegations a “sham.”

With this report coming out the day of Dantonio’s retirement, this is too strange to be a coincidence, right?

Right.

Though this was the best Michigan State football had been in decades, you can’t like how it ended. It’s been the fourth-best program in the Big Ten East since 2016. It feels like Dantonio circled Jan. 15 on his calendar to wait for his retention bonus to kick in before leaving the football program in a tough spot the day before the second National Signing Day.

When we look back on the Dantonio era at Michigan State (2007-19), it will be one of great discussion. The Spartans were nationally relevant throughout most of it but the program and athletic department were swirling in controversy towards the tail-end of his time leading the football team.

Depending on what happens with this suit, it could forever tarnish the memory and legacy of Dantonio in Michigan State.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.