Right about now, a recent snapshot of Dantonio and Sabin seems relevant. After all, Dantonio is the current head coach of the Michigan State football team, and Sabin held that same job from 1995-1999. So they have the Spartans in common -- present and past.
No doubt, Nick Saban is a household name amongst football fans. He's enjoyed phenomenal success during his tenure at Alabama, winning multiple national championships. Being the head football coach at Alabama is a very big deal, one of the premier college jobs in the country. Why? Consider the entire state of Alabama doesn't have any professional teams. No Major League baseball, no NFL presence, no NHL squad, nor an NBA team. So it should come as no surprise that college sports -- especially football -- is so wildly popular. They live and die by this stuff.
On the other hand, the state of Michigan enjoys the luxury of having a team from all 4 major professional sports leagues. While in-state college rivalries are certainly still a big deal themselves -- sports fans in Michigan are more diverse with their loyalties because they have many other options to choose from. How and why it all worked out that way is a very good question -- but that's just the way it is -- and has been for a long time.
So when a low-profile type guy like Michigan State head football coach Mark Dantonio comes along that not-so-slowly, but quite surely takes a program from historically mediocre to amongst the country's elite in a few short years -- he probably won't get the same kudos and media hype as other coaches around the country from higher profile schools. But he should, because he's done it the old-fashioned way. He's earned it.
And look back at what happened at the end of just this last college football season. Nick Saban's then #1 ranked mighty Crimson Tide got rolled by their cross-state rival Auburn in the final regular season game. Earlier tonight in the Sugar Bowl, the #10 ranked Oklahoma Sooners rolled the #3 ranked Tide back out to sea, dominating them the whole game.
In the meantime, Mark Dantonio and his Spartans had handily knocked off the then #2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big 10 championship game. They would go on to dispatch #4 Stanford in the Rose Bowl. And let's not kid ourselves. When a Big 10 team goes to Pasadena to face a Pac 10 team -- this is as road warriorish as it gets. Guess who the majority of those in attendance will likely be rooting for? Not an easy task.
So let's see. One former MSU coach has taken the mercenary route over the years and enjoyed big time fame and the bazillions of dollars that go with it. But in his last two games against pretty good competition, his team got smoked.
The current MSU coach has come up through the ranks and in his last two games, his team looks like they could beat anybody. Too bad the 4-team playoff format doesn't start until next year. Right now, it would be very interesting if MSU was still in the mix against the likes of Florida State and Auburn.
Between the two of them -- one is trending up. The other down.
Guess who's who?
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