Mark Dantonio
Mark Dantonio
Mark Justin Dantoniois 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...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth9 March 1956
CityEl Paso, TX
I don't think our confidence was shaken at all, I think we came out in the second half prepared to play.
I am very excited about this class because we have guys that can contribute now with the young guys that now have experience after one year under their belt.
I would allow anyone to play. Whatever we can do to help, we'll do.
Nick Davila had a good day yesterday. He's another guy that's got game experience. Tony Pike for the first time since he's been here has made gains in winter conditioning and feels more confident as a player. He's a Cincinnati guy and he's got a lot of talent.
I firmly believe if we get that ball in there, it's a football game. I don't know if we were going to win, but it's a football game. ... We weren't the same team in the second half.
This will be their first game in this type of environment. I'm sure they'll be a little wide-eyed, but hopefully we've learned our lesson in terms of young players and how they prepare.
When we lost one receiver on signing day to North Carolina State, we made the decision then that if we found the right kind of guy, we'd take one. He's definitely that kind of guy.
We had three or four wide receivers out. And we had some (passes) dropped. That will make a difference. But the defense played well.
We just have to play better on special teams, and we need to start making plays on offense.
Today will give us a good opportunity to continue evaluating where we are and how we need to get better.
We came in at halftime and we thought we were going to win the game.
We would not take a guy at this late date if he couldn't help us. When you watch him on film, he looks like (an impact player). He catches the ball very well over the middle. We hope he is that type of player. You never know until they get here, but he was one of the top players in the Pittsburgh area last year.
We are excited about getting a player like Lance to join our program. He went back and forth on which sport to play, but decided on football after the signing date and we are pleased that he will be in the fold this coming season. I really like what I see in him and so do all of our coaches.
It's not just another game, it's a huge game on our schedule. We'll measure our success as a football team against that game, and we always will.