By Joe Rexrode, Detroit Free Press –
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Mark Dantonio and Urban Meyer are saying kind of nice things about each other this week, now that they must meet in person after months of recruiting-trail jousting.
They aren’t likely to become best buddies any time soon, though. And that makes Saturday’s Michigan State-Ohio State game much different for Dantonio after years of facing mentor Jim Tressel.
“It does make it easier,” said Dantonio, who coached against another close friend, OSU interim coach Luke Fickell, last season. “I know Urban and everything. Good guy, all that kind of stuff. It makes it easier when you don’t have a real personal attachment because it’s tough when you play against your good friends.”
Shortly after Meyer took over a program that was rocked by Tressel’s dismissal amid NCAA violations, he started ticking off Big Ten coaches. MSU and Wisconsin, in particular, spoke out after Meyer got prized verbal commitments from each to switch to OSU — MSU commit and defensive end Se’Von Pittman, and Wisconsin commit and offensive lineman Kyle Dodson.
Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema referenced SEC recruiting tactics, and MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi told the Canton Repository: “Jim Tressel and Mark Dantonio would never call or talk to each other’s commitments. People Coach Dantonio knows well don’t come in and take players away. When you do, you lose friendships over that.”
Dantonio later referred to “unethical” recruiting but said he was not specifically referencing OSU.
And Meyer responded at an Ohio coaches clinic, saying: “You’re pissed because we went after a committed guy? Guess what, we’ve got (assistant coaches) who better go do it again. Do it a little harder next time.”
This week, Meyer praised Dantonio’s defensive coaching and called him a “quality guy.”
Dantonio called Meyer a “great coach” — but didn’t buy into the suggestion that the arrival of a two-time national title winner might bolster the Big Ten.
“The one who left two years ago won a national championship,” Dantonio said, referring to the 2002 national title under Tressel with Dantonio as his defensive coordinator. “So the Big Ten Conference has always had great coaching.”
