ESPN Writer Lists Dantonio Among Top 10 Overpaid College Football Coaches
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - An ESPN article lists Michigan State's Mark Dantonio as one of the most overpaid head coaches in college football.
The writer of the article, Travis Haney, provided the following rationale for ranking Dantonio eighth on his list.
"Dantonio has done a terrific job making Michigan State perennially competitive and relevant," Haney writes. "However, thanks to a $2 million bonus for staying put which brought his 2014 compensation to more than $5 million -- money second only to Nick Saban but, as opposed to Saban, he has just one outright conference title to show for it."
No coach has the track record of Alabama's Nick Saban; that is why Saban makes so much more per season than any other coach. Over the last five years, however, few programs have done what Michigan State has done under the leadership of Dantonio.
For most of 2014, the Spartans were in contention for inclusion in the college football playoffs.
Had the playoff system existed in the 2013 season, the Spartans - who knocked off the Stanford Cardinal in the Rose Bowl - would have been included, since they finished the year ranked third in the nation.
Michigan State has won at least 11 games in four of the last five seasons, and the team has ended each of the last four seasons with bowl game wins.
While the program does not normally get the most highly touted recruits, the four-stars and five-stars, it sends a considerable number of players to the NFL. Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday at the owners meetings that he makes a point to attend Michigan State's pro day because "I go where the players are."
The rest of Haney's list can be viewed here by ESPN Insider subscribers.