After Harbaugh Praises Dantonio, Dantonio Returns The Love
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
When it comes to the football programs at Michigan and Michigan State, there's no love lost between the players.
"It's a rivalry game," said Michigan defensive end Taco Charlton ahead of this weekend's clash in East Lansing. "They don't like us, we don't like them."
But in regard to the coaches at both schools, the relationship is much more fraternal.
On Monday afternoon, Jim Harbaugh showered praise on Mark Dantonio, declaring Michigan State's head coach "one of the best."
"He's done a great job," Harbaugh said. "One of the best college football coaching jobs in the history of the game. It's been at the highest level."
Dantonio reciprocated the love on Tuesday, pointing to Harbaugh's resume as proof of his excellence.
"I mean all you have to do is look at his background as a coach. The guy's a ball coach, there's no question about that," Dantonio said. "He's got his handprint on so many aspects of that football program. You can see he has a great attention to detail.
"I think he's a very good person and that rings true every time I see him being interviewed. I don't know him that well but my interactions with him have always been positive. I think he's doing a great job, obviously, and this week will be a challenge as well as the years after.
"He's got things going down there."
No. 2 Michigan enters Saturday's matchup with a perfect 7-0 record and its highest national ranking in ten years. Michigan State, on the other hand, is mired in a five-game losing streak and has yet to win a conference game this season.
But both coaches are expecting a close game.
"Can we win? Yeah, we can win. I firmly believe that," Dantonio told reporters on Tuesday. "I know none of you do, but that's why I'm coaching."
"They're a very good football team," Harbaugh said on Monday. "We know we'll be tough to beat and we know they'll be tough to beat."
Both Dantonio and Harbaugh have turned their respective programs around.
Michigan State was 14-21 in the three season's prior to Dantonio's arrival in 2007; the Spartans have gone 89-38 in the ten seasons since. Harbaugh, meanwhile, took over a Michigan team that had gone 5-7 in 2014 and led them to a 10-3 season in 2015.
Dantonio was the defensive backs coach at Michigan State from 1995-2000, before moving on to Ohio State and then Cincinnati. When he returned to East Lansing in 2007, the Wolverines were at the forefront of his mind.
"I knew that we had to measure up in this state," Dantonio said. "To be a factor in this state, to be a proven winner in this state, the first thing you were going to have to do was measure up against U of M. So we went to work doing that."
And they quickly succeeded. After losing a close game to Michigan in Dantonio's first season, the Spartans won four straight games against their in-state rivals. They have won seven of the last eight in the head-to-head series.