Sparty Goes Sparty Again

Michigan State could be on a special run.  They beat both Michigan and Wisconsin already, they don't have the Buckeyes on the schedule and play Iowa for a very realistic shot at a Big Ten Championship and even a shot at the BCS Championship on Saturday. 

Then Sparty decides it can't get out of it's way.   The situation is Chris L. Rucker who was in jail 24 hours ago due to violating his probation for a misdemeanor assault and battery charge by getting arrested for driving while intoxicated the night after the Michigan victory. 

When Michigan State hired Mark Dantonio from Cincinnati, I thought it was a good hire.  A tough coach that would take the un-disciplined Spartans and turn them around into a competitive Big Ten Football Team.   Or just the opposite of the person they fired, John L. Smith that was more known for being a clown then a leader of young men.    

Then we started to see a few clinks in the armour of Mr. Dantonio after State struggled against Michigan.  The first sign was a verbal comeback against Mike Hart's "little brother" comment.  Dantonio didn't just dismiss it, he decided to get into a childish classless "war of the words".

Then came the disaster before the Alamo Bowl game last year where it seemed his entire team was in a dorm fight.  Some players got to come back to the team, others didn't.  After that event, he declared a ""zero tolerance" policy.   Then Chris goes out and has a couple of drinks, gets behind the wheel and gets arrested again.   Spends 8 days in jail and as soon as he gets out he walks right into practice.  Dantonio then says it will be up to Chris if he makes the trip to Iowa. 

I was sorry to hear about Dantonio's heart condition early this year and he certainly surprised me by his new found "river boat" gambler profile by faking field goals and punts to win games.  (BTW:  Those were very high risk decisions that came out positive that could have easily gone the other way.)

What head coaches are missing is they are responsible for everything.  They are the CEO of the Football Program.   Rich Rodriguez has learned that hard lesson over the past 3 years.  Brian Kelly is learning it right now with the tragedy at Notre Dame.   He was responsible for that young man being in the tower under those conditions and he needs to realize that.  Dantonio needs to understand that as well, which he clearly doesn't.  He thinks he is a football coach trying to win a game.  It's not that simple and he has enough experience to understand that, "this isn't his first rodeo".

Let me ask you this:

Doesn't Chris have a few classes to catch up on while he was in jail for 8 days?

Does winning at all costs mean you go from jail to field?    

What happened to the "zero tolerance" policy?

I don't know Mark Dantonio personally and it's very hard to judge someones integrity when you don't know them but, Mark is the wrong person to lead the Michigan State Football Program.   The above examples are enough proof for me.  He is not Tom Izzo.  IMO,  Dantonio is soft of discipline and took a potential magical journey this year and just turned it into a car crash.  If you think about it, John L. Smith is much less dangerous to MSU then Mr. Dantonio.   Isn't it funny how one decision can get you fired when your team is 8-0?  Go ask Mike Leach or Jim Leavitt? 

Detroit News Bob Wojnowski takes Dantonio to the woodshed. 

So does ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.

Wolverine Wednesday has a Spartan Flavor

• Another former Spartan heading to the "not so nice" Big House: Hubert "Boo Boo" Thompson, a former Proviso West High School star athlete, was ruled mentally fit Tuesday to stand trial for the 2007 slaying of a 66-year-old neighbor in Lombard. Thompson was a standout football player and a state champion wrestler at Proviso West. He had a one-year football career at Michigan State before making an unsuccessful attempt to play professionally. This is another example of a Spartan having serious trouble with life outside of football.

• Nick Hill will be a Spartan: Chelsea running back Nick Hill will be a MSU Spartan next year. MSU fans will say this is another example of MSU wrapping up the state with Michigan getting the cold shoulder from a recruit. The problem with that is, Nick was always considered a strong Michigan lean and camped at Michigan with the hopes of getting an offer. He wasn't successful, so he took his next best option which was MSU. One last memo to the Spartan faithful, I hope you remember this comment. Because, Nick Hill is very similar to Mike Hart in size and stature.

• Is Michigan close to it's first 2011 commitment? Per ESPN's Bill Kurleic: Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez has commitments from five rising seniors from the state of Ohio. He seems close to adding a commitment from his first rising junior from the Buckeye State.
  Defensive back Greg Brown (Fremont, Ohio/Ross) is one of the most recruited juniors-to-be in the state of Ohio. He worked out at the Ohio State Advanced Camp on Friday. Before that he worked out at camps at Michigan and Michigan State.
  Brown's first scholarship offer came from Central Michigan. While he was camping in the state of Michigan, Brown came away with two new scholarship offers.
  "Michigan State and Michigan, they both offered after camp," Brown said. "Michigan is my favorite. I'm probably going to decide pretty soon."
  The 5-foot-10 and 184-pound Brown made 30 tackles and intercepted five passes during his sophomore season. He is from the same high school as former Michigan great Charles Woodson.