When Michigan State hired Mark Dantonio as its new head football coach in November of 2006, no one could have predicted the historic run and success he would bring to East Lansing.
From the start, he embraced the university and showed he was someone who understood what it meant to be a Spartan, and he set out to transform the team into the great program he knew it could be. That determination has now led him to the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame, where he was inducted as a member of the Class of 2025 last weekend.
"This place will shape you. There's no doubt about that," Dantonio said to new athletic director J Batt as he began his speech. "It's a challenge sometimes, but it will shape you."
Michigan State's all-time winningest coach faced plenty of challenges during his tenure.
First, it was returning the program to a point of respectability and consistent bowl appearances it hadn't seen since Nick Saban. Having been part of Saban's staff in East Lansing, Dantonio knew just how important that was for the university and its fanbase.
"I came here in 2007 as the head football coach, something I didn't even think was possible," he recalled. "I looked around and said, 'This is what we want to accomplish: graduate players, bring character people here, and develop character. We wanted to take people to the highest level in the NFL. We wanted to win. We wanted to go to bowl games. We wanted to win championships. We wanted to go to the Rose Bowl."
Dantonio's program accomplished all of that in his first seven years at the helm, slowly becoming a model of consistency and a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. The Spartans won two Big Ten championship games (2013 and 2015) and a couple New Years' Six Bowls, made the College Football Playoff, and by the end of Dantonio's run, won 114 games in 13 years as he passed Duffy Daugherty as the school's all-time wins leader.
"We dared to dream big with it," he said. "We dreamed big, and I thought we built a legacy. My favorite memory was clapping out 110 wins in the locker room after [setting the record against] Northwestern. Everybody involved in our program was part of those 110. They were all part of that, and I think it makes a statement for the people who played for us from 2007 to 2019."
By the end of his tenure, it seemed like Dantonio had a greater impact on the university and its community through his program than the other way around. He, his players, and his staff restored the program to a standard that many of us fans and alumni are now accustomed to. We have him to thank for our passion for the program and shaping our expectations.
"Archimedes once said, 'Give me a place to stand, and I can move the world," Dantonio concluded. "Michigan State -- not just for me but for all the honorees here -- gave us a place to stand, and I think we moved the world. We built a legacy that's something that will be remembered. For all Spartans all across the world, my hope is you'll remember this -- this time, whenever you played, whenever you were involved, that time period of your life where you made this place special."
Thankfully, MSU gave Dantonio that place to stand. Because, as a student during the peak seasons of that era of Spartan football, there was nothing more exciting than game day and the memories those teams gave us. We all recognized Coach D's drive to make the program what he thought it deserved to be, and the fact that he was actually able to do it was incredibly impressive.
And it all has rightfully led him to both the Spartan Athletics and College Football Halls of Fame.