If you are MSU, I think you want to keep Dantonio if your priority is program health but you want Dantonio to retire ASAP if your priority is not blemishing the legacy of MSU's best ever coach. And when it comes to picking between a program or a guy, I think you pick the program; MSU needs to keep Dantonio. I'm not sure it'll be up to MSU, though. What are the odds Dantonio is just staying long enough to take the MSU wins record and earn his $4+ million bonus in January? That's not a sure thing, but those odds also aren't small.
Long term, Michigan State DOES NOT need to keep Dantonio. My argument is NOT to fire Dantonio but rather begin laying the groundwork and taking the slow steps to be fully shed of Dantonio within about three years or else face a lost decade like Tennessee with Fulmer and Florida State with Bowden.
The uphill battle faces two internal realities:
- Dantonio’s current contract runs through 2023, which is fine as long as the AD has the guts to (deservedly) refuse anymore contract extensions which is the single biggest leverage the AD has.
- The AD doesn’t have the guts to do this because in hiring Beekman, MSU hired a nice guy and a company man who won’t rock the boat or challenge the establishment.
For all the success with the defense, once over half the starters are gone next year (7 Seniors on D + QB and half the OL) then where is MSU at? On paper, one of the worst teams in the B10 next year.
What I can’t predict is whether Dantonio is stubborn enough to charge on despite the high risk of another 3-9 season, or whether Dantonio is introspective enough to do all of East Lansing the favor of recognizing his expired shelf life come season’s end.
I don’t blame Dantonio for taking 2019 head on given the stacked defense, senior QB, and schedule. But now losing to an Arizona State that scared nobody, everything is on life support. For the sake of moving on from Dantonio, I think Harbaugh taking the Spartans to the woodshed would make MSU’s circumstances a lot easier to address.