EAST LANSING - Michigan State announced that it has reworked the contract of head coach Mark Dantonio for his success in piloting the Spartans to back-to-back bowl games in his first two seasons.
Dantonio, who took over a MSU team that had not appeared in a bowl game in four years (the 2003 Alamo Bowl), will receive an increase totaling $700,000 per season and in addition, if he reamins at MSU through 2016, he will receive a $2 million dollar bonus.
That figure works out to an addition $285,000 per season for Dantonio over the seven year period boosting his average compensation to over $2 million per season, putting him on or near the top salaries in the conference.
The announcement was made yesterday by MSU Athletic Director Mark Hollis and President Lou Anna K. Simon yesterday in a media briefing.
GoSpartans.net had recommended last month that Michigan State rework Dantonio's contract after he became the winningest second-year football coach in the team's history. Only the legendary Hugh "Duffy" Daugherty, who piloted his team to the National Championship in his second season has been more successful in his second season than Dantonio.
In his first year, MSU went 7-5 and earned a bid to the 2007 Champs Sports Bowl. This year, Michigan State finished just as GoSpartans.net predicted in the preseason, at 9-3 just one game out of a share of the conference championship and MSU earned an appearance in its first New Year's Day bowl since Bobby Williams first season when the Spartans appeared in the Citrus Bowl.
MSU will face Georgia (9-3) in the Capital One (formerly the Citrus Bowl) on January 1, 2009.