10 reasons for MSU fans to give thanks in golden era
Mark Dantonio’s routine of an early Thanksgiving morning practice continues this week. Then he wants his team and staff to spend the rest of Thursday with family and friends.
“It’s an opportunity to give thanks for what you have,” Dantonio said Sunday, “so we want to make sure our players have an opportunity to do that.”
Michigan State fans also have plenty of reasons to be thankful during the holiday season. They're enjoying a cornucopia of success.
The past nine years have been virtually unprecedented in Spartan sports, starting with Dantonio’s football program and Tom Izzo’s basketball team and filtering throughout the athletic department. As we pause to count individual and family blessings, the things that truly matter most, let’s also take a look at some of the things Spartan fans have to be thankful for.
10. Improving facilities: It’s been a decade-plus of projects and a significant number of infrastructure investments, but MSU is on par with many of the top schools in the nation when it comes to athletic venues. Spartan Stadium has undergone the most changes, most recently the new locker rooms and North End Zone expansion that debuted in 2014. Breslin Center will get another addition, which will include a hall of history for MSU hoops. There also have been upgrades at Munn Arena in each of the past two years, with more in the planning stages for the Spartans’ hockey home. And Old College Field picked up three new stadiums for baseball, softball and soccer, as well as the cutting-edge technology of heated infields recently installed at McLane and Secchia stadiums.
9. Recruiting impact: Playing for Izzo has become fashionable again. He signed a stellar 2016 class of Miles Bridges, Josh Langford, Cassius Winston and Nick Ward – all top 100 players, per ESPN.com – and remains in contention for the No. 3 overall player Josh Jackson. And Mark Dantonio’s classes have progressed past the 2- and 3-star recruit stage to the point where more 4- and 5-star players are wanting to join what he has built, a program that continues to move guys on to NFL success.
8. Growing visibility: There is no greater ambassador for MSU than Magic Johnson, who created his legacy with the Los Angeles Lakers as one of basketball’s all-time greats and now is part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, the Spartans’ visibility now goes well beyond the hometown legend. Steve Smith is an NBA analyst. Mark Mulder is an MLB analyst. Draymond Green is an NBA champ, Ducan Keith is an NHL champ and Le’Veon Bell is perhaps the NFL’s best running back – and all three are marketing stars. And let’s not forget Kirk Cousins’ “You like that!” soundbite, which will be played in perpetuity alongside Jim Mora’s “Playoffs?” and Allen Iverson’s “Practice?” rants.
7. Changing perceptions: Younger folks called it “Sparty, No!” Older folks remember “S.O.S.,” a.k.a.. “Same Ol’ Spartans.” It meant somehow, some way, MSU would find a way to lose a football game or not live up to expectations. Those days are gone under Dantonio. Saturday’s victory over Ohio State improved the Spartans to 5-1 against top 10 opponents the past three seasons. In 2010, Dantonio directed MSU to a share of its first Big Ten football title since 1990. The Spartans won a Big Ten Legends Division title the next year, then captured the outright league title in 2013. They are on the cusp of a third division title in the five seasons the conference has been split in two.
6. Success beyond the big two: Since Mark Hollis took over as athletic director on Jan. 1, 2007, the Spartans have been adding to the school’s trophy collection. Men’s basketball has won three Big Ten titles and football two, but they aren’t the only teams excelling. On Hollis’ watch, women’s cross country has four conference championships; women’s golf and rowing both won three; women’s basketball and men’s golf each earned two; and baseball, men’s golf, men’s soccer, field hockey and women’s outdoor track captured one apiece. And in the realm of academics, women’s soccer player Sarah Kovan was named a Rhodes scholar this week after men’s swimmer David Zoltowski was a finalist last year. Zoltowski was named one of 14 Churchill scholars in January.
5. Rising in the rankings: In this week’s Associated Press football and basketball Top 25, MSU is the only program with two teams ranked in the top six. The Spartans are third in the most recent basketball poll after beating then-No. 4 Kansas and sixth in the football rankings after defeating then-No. 2 Ohio State. It was only the third time a school in the past 20 years has defeated a top 5 opponent in both sports in the same week, and MSU did it as well when it beat No. 5 Stanford in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2014 and then defeated No. 3 Ohio State in hoops on Jan. 7.
4. Final Four flourish: Izzo’s place in college basketball history already has been secured, thanks in part to 18 straight NCAA tournament appearances, but the legendary coach continues to add to that legacy. Izzo guided his MSU basketball team to its seventh Final Four in the past 20 years in 2014-15, a surprising run that he called one of the best feelings he’s had during his tenure as head coach. That, along with his recent run of recruiting success, have the 60-year old shifting his program’s priorities from adding another Final Four trip to now openly saying the goal has changed to winning his second national championship and first since 2000.
3. Bowl bonanza: MSU’s football team made 17 bowl games between 1938 and 2006, including a three-year stretch without one that cost John L. Smith his job. Enter Dantonio. The Spartans have played in a bowl game in each of Dantonio’s first eight seasons and will make it nine this winter. That has included victories in the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl the past two years. MSU also could get into the College Football Playoffs as one of the four best teams in the nation this season.
2. Continuity at the top: Izzo is in his 21st season, the second-longest tenure for a Spartan basketball head coach. Dantonio is in his ninth season, the fifth-longest in football program history. But continuity extends beyond them into the top echelon of the administrative ranks. President Lou Anna K. Simon has helped foster the athletic success by channeling and preaching the mission of John Hannah, who guided the school from its days as a "cow-college" into a university of international renown. And Hollis has brought stability and leadership to an athletic department that struggled with in-fighting and back-stabbing for more than 30 years.
1. Mark Dantonio and Tom Izzo: Back in September, CBSSports.com ranked the top football-basketball coaching duo in the nation. There really was only one debate: Do you think of Izzo as Superman and Dantonio as Batman, or vice versa? If Dantonio can win his third Big Ten title this season, he would break a tie with Duffy Daugherty and George Perles for the most in school history. Izzo already is the all-time winningest Spartan basketball coach and now is one away from 500 career victories, all at MSU. Someday, there will be statues of both men on the East Lansing campus. But right now, they’re still in their prime – and MSU athletics is in its golden era with them in command.