Dantonio: 'A dream come true'

EAST LANSING -- Mark Dantonio's career as Michigan State football coach begins now.

Dantonio will leave the University of Cincinnati -- and not coach the Bearcats in a bowl game -- and start immediately at MSU, it was announced Monday at a noon news conference.

"This is our coach," MSU President Lou Anna Simon said before a packed auditorium at the Smith Academic Center. "This is our person, a part of team MSU."

After addressing his new team and listening to several MSU officials discuss his credentials, Dantonio took the podium at 12:28 p.m. after being introduced by his wife, Becky, and met with loud applause.

"This is a dream come true for me and my family," said Dantonio, an MSU assistant from 1995-2000. "We still lay on our Spartan blankets at home. ... It's tremendous to be a Spartan."