Sharp: MSU's Dantonio wants success, not recognition

EAST LANSING – Truth be told, shouldn’t two-time NBA coaching failure Mike D’Antoni be ecstatic if he was misidentified as Mark Dantonio?

At least he would be confused with a coach who has won.

“Maybe somebody could ask him what he thinks about his playoff chances … in college football,” Dantonio said with a wink and a playful smirk.

Dantonio insisted Monday that it didn’t bother him that ESPN botched his name last week during a visit to its Bristol, Conn., studios. It happened at the Cotton Bowl last year as well. During a pregame function before approximately 2,000 guests, one of the bowl’s top officials introduced him as the former Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers coach.

But poor recognition also happens in his own backyard. Dantonio shared an anecdote about a recent encounter with a woman who stopped him near Lansing.

“She looks at me as though she recognizes me,” Dantonio said. “She asks ‘What’s your first name?’ and I tell her Mark. And then she asks “What’s your last name?” and I figure that she’ll figure it out now. I tell her Dantonio. And then you prepare yourself for being recognized.”

Except the woman answered: “No, I thought you were somebody else.”

And then she walked away.

“How can you not stay humble after something like that?” Dantonio said with a hearty laugh.

The chronic misidentification is funny to him. It’s fuming to Michigan State fans, further fueling their conspiratorial insecurities. They think Dantonio uses the slights as part of his motivational master plan, keeping a chip on his players’ shoulders, inspiring them in their pursuit for greater heights.

But the impetus for this season’s Reach Higher theme is less about proving the outside influencers wrong, but rather validating the internal faith Dantonio has preached from Day 1 eight seasons ago that the Spartans could erect a championship foundation. There’s no need for loud indignation over trivialities when there’s a quiet confidence within the program that the biggest climb yet up the mountain — a college football playoff berth — is well within reach thanks to increasing talent and strong veteran leadership.

The lack of hyperbole and social-media nonsense suggests somehow that Michigan State “lost” the summer when compared to other programs left with no other alternative but trumpeting the audacity of hope — big dreams offsetting a disappointing truth.

“Recap the summer?” Dantonio deadpanned. “Well, I had a great summer.”

He has 14 fifth-year seniors on the roster, experience that set the standard for the informal off-season workouts that often cast the mold for any success later in the season. Coaches can make a difference. No question about it. But the biggest difference only can come from the players’ willingness to push themselves as hard as possible when coaches aren’t around.

“I think we’re in a good place,” he said. “I think the leadership has been very good early in this camp from our senior group. And that’s always extremely important. I think there’s great direction within our program at the ground level. And that’s the player level. When you have that at the player level, I think that gives you an added advantage. It’s the players that lead on the field. They have to. They have to get it done on the field.”

Sophomore defensive tackle Malik McDowell chortled when asked if it upset the players that people can’t get their coach’s name right or if the Spartans’ program still happily played the disrespect card when seeking additional motivation.

“Our motivation was that we came very close a year ago from getting into the playoffs,” he said. “That’s all that matters. We’re not pushing ourselves even harder because you got people who still don’t respect us. We’re pushing ourselves harder because we know that we’re a good team, but that’s not enough. We’ve got to be able to make those plays that will help us win the games that we lost a year ago.”

It sounds boring, but the Spartans aren’t mad. They don’t feel neglected or disrespected. Their motivation isn’t that others might not take them seriously. It’s that they take themselves and the possibilities before them this season very seriously.

Contact Drew Sharp: dsharp@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @drewsharp.

MSU key dates

Sept. 4: Season opener at Western Michigan,

7 p.m.

Sept. 12: Home

opener vs. Oregon,

8 p.m.

Oct. 3: Big Ten opener vs. Purdue, noon.

Oct. 17: at Michigan, time TBA.

Nov. 21: at Ohio State, time TBA.

Dec. 5: Big Ten title game at Indianapolis,

8:17 p.m.