Inside the deal

Here are some details about Mark Dantonio's contract:

• He'll receive a base salary of $600,000 and annual supplemental income of $500,000, which includes money for radio and TV shows, shoe and apparel deals and personal appearances.

• Several incentives are built in. If MSU wins a national title, Dantonio will receive a $375,000 bonus. It's $300,000 to reach the BCS title game; $250,000 for a BCS bowl; $125,000 for the Big Ten's non-BCS, New Year's Day bowls (Alamo and Capital One); and $75,000 for any bowl game.

He'd also receive $100,000 for winning the Big Ten, and there are other incentives for team academic progress.

• If Dantonio leaves for another job, he'll owe the following damages: $1 million if it's after the 2007 or 2008 seasons; $750,000 if it's after the 2009 season; $500,000 after 2010; and $250,000 after the 2011 season and beyond.

• One of the key differences between this deal and Smith's is the protection MSU gave itself in case it fires Dantonio. Smith's contract stated that he would get everything owed in case of termination, which is why he's walking away with $4.3 million for the next two years.

Dantonio's deal is a five-year "rolling" contract, which means it renews each year. But the cost of firing him will decrease with each year.

If he is fired after the 2007 season, MSU would owe him $2.4 million. After 2008, it would drop to $1.8 million. After 2009 or 2010, it would be $1.2 million.

And after the 2011 season and beyond, MSU would owe Dantonio just $600,000, his base salary, for terminating him. The same sort of deal for Smith would have saved the athletic department a lot of money.

Staff speculation

Dantonio refused to get into his possible staff moves - whom he might keep from MSU's current coaching staff, and who might follow him from Cincinnati.

The most likely current staffer to be retained is quarterbacks coach Dan Enos - who left Dantonio's staff prior to the 2006 season to come to MSU. Enos is a former MSU quarterback.

Cincinnati defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi will be the Bearcats' interim head coach for their upcoming bowl game, which has yet to be determined. That does not mean Dantonio won't bring him along afterward.

Cincinnati's offensive coordinator is Don Treadwell, a former MSU receivers coach.

Dantonio's staff at Cincinnati also includes former MSU All-America defensive back Harlon Barnett, who coaches defensive backs. Fomer MSU safety Lorenzo Guess is a staff assistant for the Bearcats.

Another current MSU staffer who could be retained is offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who is one of MSU's top recruiters.

New schemes

Offense

Dantonio will scrap the spread offense MSU employed in four seasons under John L. Smith, in favor of a more traditional, pro-style offense.

"I believe in having the ability to run the football and be two-dimensional on offense," Dantonio said. "You have to be able to run the football to some extent, because that speaks to toughness."

So "fullback" will be a position at MSU once again. RB Jehuu Caulcrick, a senior in 2007, was asked if he expects to be shifted to fullback and combine with Javon Ringer in the backfield.

"My goal is to try to be a tailback instead of a fullback," Caulcrick said, "but, you know, whatever it takes to help my team win."

Defense

The "bandit" position - a hybrid of safety and linebacker - will disappear in favor of three traditional linebackers.

Dantonio's experience on that side of the ball - particularly as defensive coordinator at Ohio State - gives MSU hope that its porous, mistake-ridden ways under Smith are finished.

"This is the person that's going to take us back to where we need to be," Alan Haller, a former MSU player who helped with the search, said of Dantonio. "He's going to bring back the intensity, the toughness, the grit."

- Joe Rexrode