Thank You Coach Dantonio

In a shocking announcement via Twitter on Tuesday, Mark Dantonio announced he’d be retiring as Head Football Coach of the Michigan State Spartans. With his retirement, an era of Spartan Football has come to a close.

Mark Dantonio brought great success to Michigan State Football. This past season, Dantonio became the winningest Head Coach in Spartan History with a 31-10 win at Northwestern, and finished his career with a 114-57 record. From his hiring, Coach Dantonio turned the Spartans into a Big Ten contender year in and year out. He won 3 championships, and brought the Spartans to the College Football Playoffs.

I’m young enough to have grown up watching Mark Dantonio lead teams. My first Spartan Football game was Senior Night in 2015, where the Spartans dominated Penn State 55-16 and clinched the Big Ten East title, sending them to the Championship Game, and eventually the playoffs.

As a freshman, I witnessed Mark Dantonio take a struggling 3-9 team and completely flip the script and finish with a 10-3 record, capped with a blowout win over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl. The work Coach Dantonio did at Michigan State was incredible. Mark Dantonio gave me, and Spartan Fans everywhere, memories that will last a lifetime.

The news on Tuesday stung a little bit for that reason. But, all good things must come to an end, and eventually, Dantonio had to retire.

Coach Dantonio, thank you for your time here in East Lansing. Spartans everywhere can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for the program, and for the university as a whole. And Spartan Fans, if you’re worried about the future, just remember. It’s not over. It’ll never be over. It’s just getting started.