CHICAGO — Mark Dantonio once explained his icy game-face glare is merely the byproduct of focus and concentration. “You try doing your job with 75,000 people looking over your shoulder,” says Dantonio, perhaps also explaining why he keeps the scrimmage portions of Michigan State practices shuttered to all but a few select donors. Dantonio’s trademark scowl was once again in effect at Big Ten media days last week, the ninth-year MSU head coach stepping up to the podium as the opening act on Thursday. Even as Dantonio delivered a positive report on the future of his program, his facial expression drew comparisons to that of a prison warden. But before anyone could get too high on the Spartans, the 59-year-old Dantonio reminded the hundreds of media in attendance that the Spartans fell short of their goals last season. Dantonio has proclaimed 10 wins as the annual benchmark, but by no means were he or any of his players satisfied with last season’s 11-2 mark, even if it did include the biggest come-from-behind bowl victory in program history and a second straight national top-five finish. Dantonio has set Michigan State records with eight straight bowl appearances and four consecutive bowl victories. The Spartans were underdogs in all four bowl wins, and more amazingly, trailed by 10 points or more in each game. Dantonio is in such rare air that even he can’t even keep up with all of his own superlatives. Only three Big Ten coaches in the history of the league have recorded four 11-win seasons over a five year period — Michigan’s Fielding Yost, Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and Dantonio. “I didn’t even know that,” Dantonio said in a rare moment away from the cameras at the voluminous McCormick Place conference center. “All that matters now is how we do this season.” Dantonio makes it a habit to win the games he’s supposed to win, leading his MSU teams to a 29-0 mark when they are ranked and playing against an unranked opponent. …
Continue Reading: Column: A smile lies beneath the trademark scowl of Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio
