Michigan State to Honor Legendary Coach Saturday Against OSU
Michigan State has a long, rich football history that has included countless memorable players and its share of notable coaches. However, in Michigan State Football's history, no coach has won more games than Mark Dantonio.
While at Michigan State, Dantonio was voted the Big Ten Coach of the Year twice and guided the Spartans to three Big Ten titles. He led the Spartans to the 2015 College Football Playoff and ended his career with the 11th-most overall wins and Big Ten wins in conference history.
There are still a few players on Michigan State’s roster who Dantonio recruited before he retired. Linebacker Cal Haladay is one of those seven players. He shared his thoughts on Dantonio’s induction into Michigan State’s Ring of Honor.
“It’s really cool," Haladay said. "Coach Dantonio, his name’s up in the stadium already, I think. It’s just cool because I was part of the last class he recruited, and I was actually here for a couple of weeks before he ended up retiring.”
Halday noted that he has seen Dantonio numerous times on campus since he left coaching. He recently saw him at Michigan State’s road game against Maryland and still values his relationship with his former coach.
“Like, even in other years, I’ve seen him,” Haladay said. “He comes to a lot of the games, so it’s cool to talk to him. I still say what’s up to him and talk to him. Like I saw him at Maryland and just talked to him, and he said what’s up to my parents and everything. So, it’s a close relationship. I’m really happy for him and everything he’s accomplished.”
“For him to come back, it was kind of full-circle,” Haladay said. “He came back and was helping out with the team. So that was really cool because I still got to -- not play for him, but he was around. It was cool.”
Dantonio will be inducted into Michigan State’s Ring of Honor on Saturday when the Spartans play Ohio State in East Lansing Haladay. Michigan State looks to bounce back from its narrow loss to Boston College last weekend on the road.
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EZEKIEL TREZEVANT
Ezekiel is a former Sports Editor from the Western Herald and former Atlanta Falcons beat writer.