Tomorrow is Senior Day and 21 Seniors will celebrate their final game in Spartan Stadium, and thereafter, those players will forever be enshrined as Spartan Football Alumni!

When they signed up to play for the Spartans, they were signing up for one of the best football programs in the country. You know the story: between 2010 and 2015 the Spartans earned 3 Big Ten titles, 4 consecutive Bowl Victories including a Rose Bowl…and a trip the hallowed College Football Playoffs. It was a remarkable achievement considering the dysfunctional program Mark Dantonio inherited.

Yet, the Spartans have inexplicably plummeted from the summit. Since the start of 2016, the Spartans have a cumulative record of 25-24, and a dismal Big Ten record of just 16-19.

If the Spartans beat Maryland tomorrow, the Spartans will finish with a record of just 6 wins and 6 losses to eke out Bowl eligibility. Yet the Spartans Big Ten record will be just 4 wins and 5 losses, including victories vs Northwestern, Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland, which at this writing, have a cumulative Big Ten record of 5-27, while both Northwestern and Rutgers are winless in Big Ten competition.

Reorganization?

There was much ado about Mark Dantonio reorganizing his Offensive staff after 2018, after which the Spartans ranked #116 in Total Offense and #125 in Scoring when measured against 129 Division 1 Schools. Yet, the reorganization has largely been a non-starter inasmuch as the Spartans currently rank #104 in Total Offense and #106 in Scoring.

Taking a micro look, when measured in Big Ten competition, the Spartans Offense ranks #10 in Total Offense and #10 in Scoring amongst 14 teams, so the decline in football efficiency since the end of the 2015 season could nearly be described as cataclysmic.

Action is needed…

After the conclusion of the season I intend to write extensively regarding necessary organizational changes and rest assured there is a lot to fix.

With respect to loyalty as it relates to administration and staff, the greatest loyalty for Michigan State University should be to 50,000 students and 500,000 alumni around the world who are vested in the University and expect for their alma mater to compete consistently for Big Ten Championships.

Mark Dantonio has accountability as Head Coach of course, but the finger can’t get pointed at Mark Dantonio alone, because the Board, the President and the AD sit in chairs of responsibility and accountability and they need to fulfill their roles. There needs to be a full review of football operations with an eye on resetting the compass. Collectively, they need to ask themselves, “…have we given the football department the necessary resources to compete at the highest level?”.

Something has gone wrong, and it needs to get fixed, but it won’t get fixed if denial is the first line of accountability.

By all measures, sitting, waiting and hoping for a good result, is not a plan…and so at the conclusion of the season we will look at what is expected from the Board, the President, the AD and the Head Coach and they all have a tall task ahead.

Hank Bullough, a Spartan legend hangs up his cleats for the last time!

Hank Bullough was a son, a husband, a father and grandfather, but he was also a player, a coach, a football father, a football grandfather and a Spartan Legend. Hank was born in Scranton, Pa and raised in Canton, Ohio. Hank passed away on Sunday, November 24. He was 85.

On a personal note, one day, for some inexplicable reason, Hank recounted his hard scrabble boyhood to my friend Nick Garyet and me at a Spartans summer practice during Max Bullough freshman season. I won’t recount the details yet to this day, I have no idea “why” Hank shared his boyhood experiences in such great detail with Nick and me, but he did, and when I think about his humble boyhood…tough in every way…and I think about the toughness of Hank’s Defenses, it was a logical fit.

It was clear to me that Hank applied the tough lessons he learned as a boy to the football field. Hank was recruited to Michigan State by legendary Clarence “Biggie” Munn and played both ways for the Spartans from 1952 to 1954 including Munn’s 1952 National Championship team. Hank was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1955, and returned to Michigan State where he became a Spartan Assistant Coach for “Duffy” Daugherty from 1959 to 1969.

Hank then spent two decades in the NFL as Assistant Coach and Head Coach: he was respectfully called Dr. Defense and together he and Chuck Fairbanks, another Spartan Legend, conceived the 3-4 Defense. Hank helped win a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts, and was an Assistant Coach with the Cincinnati Bengals under Forrest Gregg when Cincinnati made a Super Bowl appearance as well.

But it was Hank’s defensive genius that helped the Spartans earn “back to back” National Titles in 1965 & 1966, yet “statistically”, the 1965 team stood out as one of the best collegiate Defenses of all time.

In an era whereby the basic Offensive philosophy was run first, run second and run third, there was virtually no mystery that opponents would run, and yet Hank’s Defensive Line stopped every opponent dead in their tracks and posted stats that reflected their domination. Here are a few of the Defensive highlights of the 1965 season:

• Yielded a total of just 456 Yards Rushing throughout 11 games, or an average of just 41 Yards Rushing per game
• Yielded a total of just 154 Yards per game (run & pass)
• Yielded an average of just 6.9 Points per game while holding Penn State and Iowa scoreless

Yet arguably the most impressive stat of Hank’s 1965 Defense was holding Michigan (preseason #4), Notre Dame (preseason #3) and Ohio State (preseason #10) to negative Rushing Yardage. That feat was never achieved before and will likely never be achieved again.

Hank was as tough as his Defenses, and Don Weatherspoon who “walked on” and earned starting time as a Defensive Tackle on the 1965 National Championship team said he feared Hank more than any player or any opponent. I think that sentiment is shared by every single player who was mentored or coached by Hank, yet even as adults, former players are humble in their respect for Hank.

Hank was an original…a Spartan in every way…and his presence will be missed.

There will be a Memorial Gathering on December 8, at the Huntington Club in Spartan Stadium, 535 Chestnut, East Lansing. The gathering will be from 1 pm to 4pm with a service at 2:30 pm.

Thank you for reading: I always welcome your comments and opinions. And please visit my Blog site https://Will2Win.Blog for more facts and information. If you know anyone who would like to subscribe to this Blog, please have them go to my Blog site  https://Will2Win.Blog and click “subscribe”. There is no subscription fee.