Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio apparently grew tired of the questions he was being asked during a radio interview because he hung up less than three minutes into the discussion.
Dantonio appeared on Fox Sports Daybreak with Mike North and Andy Furman on Wednesday morning, and shortly after answering a few of the hosts’ questions he hangs up.
Why you ask? Let’s take a look at the whole conversation, as transcribed by Matt Charboneau of The Detroit News:
North: “You’ve done a tremendous job out there, Coach. You had the odds stacked against you like our buddy Tom Izzo and you’ve done nothing but build a program. But I’ve got to ask you this, because even in the radio business, whenever there’s a new kid in town or a new talk show host in town, you start taking a look at him. I want to know if, at all, has Jim Harbaugh gotten into your head a little bit with some of his antics and some of the things he’s doing in the neighboring school?”
Dantonio: “Well you know from day one when we came here we’ve always competed with the school down the road. So that’s something natural that we have to deal with, and so far so good. We focus on what we do. That’s what I’ve tried to do around here and that’s what our players do as well, just like this morning.”
Furman: “Coach, Connor Cook leaves your program with a record of 34-5. He was a team leader. I was somewhat shocked when I read last year that he was not named captain by his teammates. Was there any reason why? I thought that was somewhat unusual that as a quarterback not voted captain by his teammates.”
Dantonio: “That’s 2016. We’re passed that.”
North: “Hey coach, you eat pasta with Izzo? You get together and eat pasta? You guys hang out?
Dantonio: “Yeah I live right down the street, about five houses. Very good friends. He’s a great guy and he’s very much involved in our program as well. They set the tone for our program. They’ve won championships and things of that nature. We try and emulate a lot of the things, the competitive attitude during practice, the communication they have during practice. There’s things we try and emulate as well so it’s one of those deals.”
Furman: “Michigan State is now one of six Power Five schools with a winning percentage of .800 or more since the year 2010. Do you feel, Coach, that maybe you don’t get the respect nationally because of those statistics? I don’t see it.
Dantonio: “Well, you know, we’ve been in the Top 10 the last three years. I don’t know. You do what you do. I mean you guys are the guys talking out there and you ask questions that sometimes don’t really make a lot of sense. At this point in time we just focus on the future and we’re primed to do great things here in 2016. So we’ll be ready.”
North: “When Coach says ‘You ask questions that don’t make any sense,’ that hits close to home with me, Coach, I’ve got to be honest with you. But I understand perfectly what you’re talking about. I’ve got to ask you about the state of your ball club now. Any injuries? And who is the new kid in town behind center?
North: “Coach?… Coach is gone… He hung up! You got him all hot!”
Furman later tweeted his thoughts on Dantonio abruptly ending the interview.
Can we please stop the Mark Dantonio ballwashing – maybe you hated the questions- BUT HE WAS RUDE….HE HUNG UP..
— Andy Furman (@AndyFurmanFSR) August 3, 2016
@willcamp84 hack coach hangs up and I’m a hack lkl@
— Andy Furman (@AndyFurmanFSR) August 3, 2016
Per Charboneau, a team spokesman said Dantonio had a short window available for the interview and needed to address his players before they underwent conditioning tests. Right.
Future interviewers beware.
