Ad Disclosure
Staff evaluation won’t come until after season ends for Michigan State, Mark Dantonio says
Published:
Mark Dantonio made it pretty clear on Tuesday that he has every intention of returning to Michigan State as the head coach for the 2020 season. If he’s allowed to control his own destiny, he’ll be in East Lansing for at least another season.
His assistant coaches, though? That’s a conversation for another day.
With Michigan State sitting at 4-6, the second-straight year the program has struggled to be competitive with the elite programs in the B1G, there’s concern that Dantonio’s loyalty to his staff members has cost the program. So, the question is then, if Dantonio plans to return, will there be some staff changes for the 2020 season?
Right now, Dantonio isn’t concerned with that. He doesn’t intend to make any evaluations or decisions until the 2019 season comes to an end.
“Probably I have the most knowledge in terms of what’s going on within our football team as to who did what in terms of was that a player, structure, coaching, officiating, all the underlying things that go along with that,” Dantonio said at his press conference Tuesday. “I think that I’ve tried to figure out what worked, what didn’t work, how to critique it, what was in control, out of our control, how do I evaluate that. I’ve always made those decisions after the fact. That’s what I’ll continue to do to the best of my ability.”
Following last season’s awful offensive performance, Dantonio opted to reshuffle his staff in an attempt to get more production. So far, it hasn’t made much difference. Michigan State ranks in the bottom half of the B1G in most offensive statistical categories, including scoring (12th), rushing (13th) passing (8th) and total offense (11th).
RELATED: Mark Dantonio Confident He Can Have Future Success At MSU
Michigan State has games against Rutgers and Maryland remaining, so there’s a good chance the Spartans snap their five-game losing streak and still earn a bowl berth. But the questions at the end of the season will still remain, regardless of how this year finishes out.
If we learned anything from last season, it’s that 7-6 simply isn’t good enough in East Lansing.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB