Dantonio at Delta Charter Township, Michigan in 2010
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Sport(s) | Football |
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Current position | |
Title | Head coach |
Team | MSU |
Conference | B1G |
Record | 90–42 |
Annual salary | $3.24m |
Biographical details | |
Born |
El Paso, Texas |
March 9, 1956
Playing career | |
1976–1978 | South Carolina |
Position(s) | Defensive back |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
1980 | Ohio (GA) |
1981 | Purdue (GA) |
1982 | Butler CC (DC) |
1983–1984 | Ohio State (GA) |
1985 | Akron (DB) |
1986–1990 | Youngstown State (DC) |
1991–1994 | Kansas (DB) |
1995–2000 | Michigan State (DB) |
2001–2003 | Ohio State (DC) |
2004–2006 | Cincinnati |
2007–present | Michigan State |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 108–59 |
Bowls | 5–5 |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
3 Big Ten (2010, 2013, 2015) 2 Big Ten Legends Division (2011, 2013) 1 Big Ten East Division (2015) |
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Awards | |
2x Big Ten Coach of the Year (2010, 2013) The Bugle Sports Hall of Fame (2012) |
2x Big Ten Coach of the Year (2010, 2013)
Mark Justin Dantonio (born March 9, 1956) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he has held since the 2007 season, presiding over one of the most successful eras in the program's history. He's led the Michigan State Spartans to three Big Ten Conference championships, and seven victories over archrival Michigan in eight years. In 2013, he coached Michigan State to its first 13-win season and the program's fifth trip to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated Stanford and finished the season ranked #3 in the nation. At the time, this was only the second instance a Big Ten team had reached the 13-win mark, the other being Ohio State's national championship season in 2002, where Dantonio was the defensive coordinator. The 2013 season also marked the first time a Big Ten team won nine conference games by double digits in each contest. In 2015, Dantonio became the first head coach in Big Ten history to achieve at least 11 wins in 5 of 6 seasons. On December 6, 2015, it was revealed that Dantonio's Spartans qualified for the College Football Playoff for the first time in the program's history. The Spartans were the #3 seed in the Playoff and faced the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2015 Cotton Bowl, but lost 38–0.
In 2006, Dantonio was hired as the Spartans head coach, returning to the school where he had previously served six years as an assistant coach under Nick Saban and Bobby Williams. Known as a defensive-minded coach, Dantonio has compiled an 90–42 record at Michigan State, giving him a .682 winning percentage, the highest of any Michigan State football coach since that of Clarence Munn, who coached the Spartans from 1947 to 1953. During his tenure the Spartans have won the school's first bowl game since 2001 in the 2012 Outback Bowl and the school's first Rose Bowl since 1988 in 2014. Dantonio's Spartans hold active school records with 8 consecutive bowl appearances and 4 consecutive bowl wins. On October 8, 2011, Dantonio signed a contract extension that made him a "Spartan for life." In 2014, he earned the second highest salary among college football coaches, due largely to a retention bonus.