I am going to keep my thoughts and opinions short and to the point. I miss college football… a lot!
In-House
Michigan State’s Head Coach Mike Dantioni – I’m sorry, I mean Mark Dantonio – needs to quit in-housing his teams problems. When all-star defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi left, he went with in-house co-defensive coordinators, which worked out decent at best. One eventually left to take the same position under Willie Taggart’s Florida State Seminoles and Mike Tressel seemingly righted the ship after a shaky start this past year.
After a season that saw injuries, a botched quarterback situation, and a total lack of coaching responsibility the offense did not fair as well as the defense did come the final bowl game against the Oregon Ducks.
The offense was awful with lots of talent and promise all year. Young talent merged with seniors like Felton Davis, and LJ Scott gave the offense a promising outlook. Yes, you could blame injuries to key upper classman as reasoning for offensive woes but all Spartan fans truly know it was 99% coaching.
So, what does the coach do after a 7-6 loss in a bowl game to Oregon? Demotes the Co-Offensive Coordinators Jim Bollman and Ed Warner to lesser position coaches and promotes long time QB coach Brad Salem to new OC duties. Personally, I love the fact MSU doesn’t have co-coordinators on either side of the ball, but Dantonio truly dropped the ball on this massive coaching decision.
Do we Trust Coach D?
I am truly one to back Coach D until something monumental blows up in his face, but this choice was not wise or thought out. It was time to go out and find a young new coach with a different voice and a more modern-day approach to the offense.
Michigan did with their hire of Alabama co-OC Josh Gattis, and new Buckeyes coach Ryan Day did it with his staff shake up and transition from Urban Meyer. Ferris State is an in-state school MSU could’ve looked to that just played in the D-2 national championship, Grand Valley State, a perennial best D-2 school, or even a smaller D1 school like Kent State that had one of the most efficient offenses in all of college football last year.
As Spartans football fans, we just wanted options! A different look and a little more effort than just the QB coach!