While Pat Narduzzi mulled over a decision to head to College Station, the panic among Michigan State fans was close to the level it was a year and a half earlier, when basketball coach Tom Izzo looked at a jump to the NBA.
There wasn’t as much fanfare with this finish – a press release sent out Friday night, compared to a national press conference for Izzo – but by coming up with the means to keep its defensive coordinator, it appears MSU is finally willing to do what it takes to get its football program to the same level as Izzo’s basketball program.
Narduzzi isn’t going to be as MSU forever. He might even be gone after next season. But MSU showed that it finally will put in the effort it takes to have a top-level football program. Reports had Texas A&M offering at least $600,000. The numbers MSU will spend have not been released, but they were enough that MSU wants to make sure Narduzzi only leaves East Lansing for a head-coaching job.
“With the success we’ve had as a football program, especially the last two years, people around the country have taken notice,” Narduzzi said in a statement provided by MSU. “So when provided a professional opportunity like Texas A&M, I owed it to my family to investigate it because my first obligation is to take care of my wife and children. The bottom line remains; however, that I’m very comfortable working for Mark Dantonio and Michigan State. The upport from the top down is tremendous. Coach Dantonio, Athletics Director Mark Hollis, President (Lou Anna) Simon and our Board of Trustees have been very supportive and understanding as I’ve gone through this decision-making process, and I’m thankful for their patience.”
Hollis later tweeted that Narduzzi’s next step would be a head-coaching job at a “big time program.”
Assistant coaching salaries can be a sticky issue. They were partly the reason Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan. Mark Richt got in trouble recently for paying his assistants out of his pocket.
And MSU has been through this before. The last time they finished in the top-10, Nick Saban left East Lansing for LSU before the bowl game because MSU wouldn’t do what it took to sustain that success. After that 1999 season, MSU made two bowl games in the following seven years.
Now with back-to-back 11-win seasons, steps are being made. The school’s Board of Trustees have approved the planning process for new scoreboards at Spartan Stadium. But Hollis remains one of the lowest-paid athletic directors among BCS schools, and Dantonio has a middle-of-the-pack salary among his Big Ten head-coaching peers.
But you can’t pay for everything. MSU doesn’t have the revenue that schools like Ohio State and Texas do. After turning down the NBA to stay at MSU, Izzo became one of the highest paid men’s basketball coaches. Izzo has had numerous assistants take head coaching jobs elsewhere; it’s the sign of a strong program.
Former Dantonio assistants Dan Enos and Don Treadwell are now head coaches at Central Michigan and Miami (Ohio), respectively. All signs point to Narduzzi’s becoming the third to go down that path soon. MSU’s defense finished fifth in the nation in total defense and is set to return nine of 11 starters from the Outback Bowl. It would have been 10 starters, but Narduzzi helped turn defensive tackle Jerel Worthy from a three-star recruit into an All-American and early entrant into the NFL draft. MSU has had a defensive All-American for three straight seasons.
While keeping Narduzzi around likely means good things for MSU in the next few years, the decision by MSU to properly compensate him should mean long-term success for the Spartan program – something that hasn’t happened since the 1960s.