Did Michigan State Make Illegal Contact With Dantonio During Game?

Bret Bielema shrugs off the possibility that Michigan State coaches made illegal contact.

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema will not take any action, despite the possibility Michigan State assistant coaches violated an NCAA rule by being in contact with coach Mark Dantonio from his hospital bed during the Spartans’ 34-24 victory over the Badgers on Saturday.

Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi admitted after the game he was on the phone in the press box with Dantonio, who missed the game after being re-admitted to the hospital when a blood clot was discovered in a leg on Thursday. Dantonio suffered a mild heart attack following the Notre Dame game two weeks ago.

Narduzzi was talking to Dantonio prior to the fourth-and-goal pass late in the fourth quarter for the Spartans’ final touchdown and told the Detroit News afterward they were in touch throughout the game.

“Coach ‘D’ was with me the entire game,” Narduzzi said. “I won’t show you the texts, but we did texting or calling the entire game in the press box. I have never been on the phone so much during a game. He was with us the entire time.”

Rule 1-4, Article 9, Section b states: “Only voice communication between the press box and team area is permitted. Where press-box space is not adequate, only voice communication may originate from any area in the stands between the 25-yard lines extended to the top of the stadium. No other communication for coaching purposes is permitted anywhere else.”

However, Article 10 states, “Coaches’ phones and headsets are not subject to the rules.”

But that seems contradictory to information Bielema said he once received regarding the rule.

“When they changed the policy in regard to instant replay, I actually wanted to know if we could get feedback from people outside the stadium, whether or not to review a play,” Bielema said. “I inquired at the time. That’s how I knew that you could not receive or give phone calls or text messages.”

Scott Chipman, the Big Ten Conference’s Assistant Commissioner for Communications, told the Detroit News that Michigan State did not violate any NCAA rules or Big Ten policy.

Bielema chose not to make an issue out of the incident when asked about it, leading off his Monday news conference.

“That’s not being pursued from our angle,” Bielema said. “I know Mark very well. That’s your body of work, as coaches. It’s not just a profession, that’s your life. That’s what he’s going through.

“He should be very proud of the way his kids played and the way they executed. Ultimately, that coaching staff, too, as a head coach you sit back and admire the way those guys handle their business.”