Athletics receives $100k donation

By Yousof Hamza

Former Youngstown State University defensive coordinator Mark Dantonio donated $100,000 to the athletic department for use in its graduate assistant program.

The donation will be used to help cover the tuition and stipends of graduate assistant football coaches.

As a part of the donation, the football grad assistant positions will be known as The Mark and Becky Dantonio Graduate Assistant. The home coaches booth in the Don Constantini Multimedia Center will be renamed to The Mark and Becky Dantonio Coaches Booth.

Dantonio was Youngstown State’s defensive coordinator from 1986-1990 under current university President Jim Tressel. Dantonio was also the defensive coordinator at The Ohio State University under Tressel before becoming the head coach at the University of Cincinnati and Michigan State University. He retired from coaching at Michigan State in 2019.