Despite the death of his father Justin this week, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio will be on the sidelines when the Spartans open up the season against Youngstown State Friday night from Spartan Stadium.
Dantonio will be away from the team on Wednesday and Thursday when he attends heads to Ohio to attend the funeral. Dantonio also missed some time last week as he was by his father’s side during a medical procedure.
“Even on the day he passed (Sunday) he said, ‘What are you doing here? You need to get back to work,'” Dantonio said. “But that’s him. So by coming back last week when he was a little bit stable, I was honoring his wishes. By coming back after he passed, it’s very surreal, but I was back doing what he wanted me to do. I’m honoring his memory by doing that.”
“My father was a great man,” Dantonio said. “My father was a guy, you know, who always told me as he told me in the last few days you have to take the good with the bad. And he always told me to complete my circles. In other words finish what you started.
“He believed that if you had the right tool you could fix anything. He was a problem-solver, a long-time educator.”
From everyone here at The Majors East Lansing our thoughts go out to Mark Dantonio and his family during this very difficult time.
Source: Grand Rapids Press