When Mark Dantonio took over as head coach at Michigan State University this year, he was really a low-profile appointee and far less known than Dennis Erickson and Nick Saban outside of the college football fraternity.

Dantonio had made his biggest impression as an assistant coach at Ohio State rather than as a head coach at Cincinnati. Not that he did poorly at Cincinnati. He became only the second head coach in Cincinnati history to take the Bearcats to a bowl game in his first season in 2004, topping Marshall 32-14 in the Fort Worth Bowl to cap a 7-5 season.

His 2006 Cincinnati Bearcats played the second toughest schedule in the country and went 7-5 overall with four losses to ranked teams and also an upset victory over then-ranked No. 7 Rutgers, marking the highest-ranked opponent ever defeated in Bearcat history. While serving as the Defensive Coordinator at Ohio State, he helped the Buckeyes to a 32-6 record in three seasons, and Ohio State was 14-0 and won the national championship in 2002. His national championship defense was 2nd nationally in Scoring Defense.

In the 2003 season his defense ranked first nationally in Rushing Defense and 9th in Total Defense, which led the Buckeyes to an 11-2 record and a No. 4 national ranking. Six Buckeye defenders were named first team All-Big 10 during Dantonio's 3-year tenure and 13 were drafted into the NFL, including two first round picks.

Prior to becoming Michigan State's head coach, he spent 6 years with the Spartans as the secondary coach and associate head coach. He was instrumental in Michigan State's successful 1999 season when the Spartans were 10-2, won the Florida Citrus Bowl, and ranked No. 7 in the final polls.

Dantonio's first season at Michigan State was the school's most successful since 2003. His Spartans went 7-5, losing all 5 games by 7 points or less, and becoming bowl eligible for the first time in four years. The Spartans will play the Boston College Eagles in the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 28. Coincidentally, Michigan State defeated Boston College for the College Hockey National Championship in 2007. Dantonio, known for his defensive prowess, won 7 games this year despite his inherited players scoring Average in all major defensive categories: Scoring Defense, Total Defense, Rushing Defense, Pass Defense and Pass Efficiency Defense.

His offense was Good in Scoring Offense (24th nationally), Rushing Offense (22nd nationally) and Pass Efficiency Offense (23rd nationally) while his Total Offense and Passing Offense were Average.

The former defensive back at South Carolina inherited a team that was not bowl-eligible and went 5-7, 5-6 and 4-8 the last three years. Going 7-5 and earning a bowl game in his first season was an accomplishment, especially since Dantonio did not pick the talent-level of his players, and trust me when I say they had some slugs on defense. Michigan State lost by a touchdown to both No. 1-ranked Ohio State and Iowa in away games, lost by a field goal to Wisconsin away, lost by a touchdown to Northwestern in overtime at home, and lost by 4 points to Michigan at home. In 4 of those losses, the Spartans gave up 48, 37, 34 and 28 points; that is simply giving up too many points to expect to win.

Dantonio's first recruiting class currently ranks 55th according to Scout.com with no recruits in the Top 100, no 5-star players and one 4-star player. This is not a good sign. Notre Dame has the top recruiting class in the country with seven Top 100 players, four 5-star players and thirteen 4-star players. Yikes!

Ohio State, another big competitor for recruiting in the Midwest, has nine Top 100 players, four 5-star players and eight 4-star players. The Spartans are going to have to tighten their helmet strap a little tighter and dig deeper to fight off this kind of opposition.

Let us hope that Mark Dantonio and his players understand that motivation is an inside job. The coaches pick the talent and convince the talent to come to their program, but the players ultimately make their talent pay. You cannot win big without talent, but talent has to not only show up but play on game day or you lose anyway.

Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of a 3-Part Series. Part 3 evaluates Nick Saban's performance at Alabama.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley