Wisconsin Badgers: Top five coaches in the Big Ten
4. Mark Dantonio – Michigan State
Dantonio isn’t a personal favorite of mine. I won’t go dig up all of my thoughts on Michigan State, but it’s safe to say I have an irrational distaste for the program. This doesn’t change the fact that Dantonio is one of the best coaches in the country. He’s definitely deserving of a spot on this list.
Michigan State has won double-digit games six of the last eight years and is 5-1 in bowl games in that time. The Spartans have had some big-time players come through their doors, like Kirk Cousins and Le’Veon Bell, but have mostly gone under the radar due to the large shadows cast by Ohio State and Michigan.
Michigan State returns 21 starters from last year’s team that went 10-3 and beat Penn State and Michigan. Expectations for Michigan State are somewhere around the College Football Playoff with the combination of returning talent and head coaching experience. There’s no reason to think the Spartans can’t make it that far in 2018.
Dantonio stays on the lower end of this list because he also has been coming up short in recent years. His team went 3-9 in 2016 after starting the season ranked. That was the year following an appearance in the College Football Playoff where they lost to Alabama 38-0 in the semi-final. It feels like forever since Sparty was in the national spotlight.
Dantonio will have plenty of opportunities to prove he is one of the best coaches in the country. His team plays in the Big Ten East, perhaps the toughest division in football.