Michigan State Football: Will Mark Dantonio “feed off” doubters?

Former Michigan State football defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi defended Mark Dantonio this week, stating he’ll feed off the doubt. Is he right?

Pat Narduzzi knows all about what it’s like to be doubted.

He saw Michigan State fans doubt the Spartans after an ugly Capital One Bowl loss to Alabama in 2010 only to go 11-3 the next season with an Outback Bowl win over Georgia. He then witnessed the doubt creep back after the 2012 season when Michigan State was just 7-6 with Andrew Maxwell at quarterback only to watch the Spartans go 13-1 in 2013 with a Rose Bowl win — arguably the best team in college football that season.

Narduzzi has seen Mark Dantonio shoulder plenty of blame and an excess amount of doubt over his Michigan State career, and he can’t be that surprised that it’s happening again.

But this time, the former coordinator is at Pitt, watching it happen from a distance yet he has the same confidence that Dantonio will turn things around that he did in the previous instances.

In a time when Michigan State fans can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, Narduzzi does, and he believes Dantonio will feed off this doubt and turn the program right back around.

Should we believe this or is this just one friend speaking highly of another?

Honestly, this is a little of both. Obviously Narduzzi is going to defend Dantonio until the end because they are good friends and he likely wouldn’t be at Pitt without Mark. He was one of the nation’s best defensive coordinators under Dantonio and he made that job possible for Narduzzi.

But there’s a reason he believes this. Sometimes coaches leave and then talk about how their former boss didn’t have everything all together, but there’s a reason people keep rushing to the defense of Dantonio: they believe he has what it takes to be great.

Tom Izzo, a Hall of Famer in the basketball ranks, has said that Dantonio will be at Michigan State for as long as he wants — and he’s a winner. You don’t get that type of endorsement if you just don’t have that “it” factor. Izzo believes Dantonio still has it and he interacts with him regularly and the two talk quite a bit.

Will Dantonio feed off this negative energy? History says yes. The head coach has been doubted numerous times in the past and he turned it into positive seasons.

Everyone wants to mock the hats that Dantonio made for his team after they reached bowl eligibility, claiming the Maryland victory as a “program win” but the last time he did that was in 2012 when the Spartans reached six wins. The year after, a team that no one expected to do well ended up going 13-1, winning a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl. They were a few phantom pass interference calls against Notre Dame away from going unbeaten and playing for a national title.

While we seem down on the program and the head coach that built it up, maybe we should believe those who have seen him behind the scenes and the players that continue to buy in and state that the future is bright and they believe.

Maybe — just maybe — the light at the end of the tunnel is closer than we think.