Not on my watch.
That was the lasting memory of 13 specific encounters I had with Mark Dantonio throughout a 2016 campaign that Spartan fans had not experienced in 40 years, and hope to never experience again.
What compounds that feeling for those fans, is that the last ten had been so magical. Three Big Ten Championships, a Rose Bowl win, followed by back-to-back Cotton Bowls and a trip to the College Football Playoff.
And then, 3-9.
When MSU allowed me to get this kind of access with Dantonio before the season, I felt it would be a cakewalk.
The Spartans were a popular preseason pick to repeat as Big Ten Champs, and vy for another shot at the College Football Playoff.
I had my doubts, but not to the tune of how things transpired.
I felt that these weekly opportunities would be almost a formality. Crack a few jokes, reminisce on old plays and give the fans an inside look at the spoils that the Spartans were enjoying, through their head coach, as the wins continued to pile up.
Certainly after a commanding, yet to-close-for-comfort win over Notre Dame, entering the Big Ten season was as to script as I expected.
Then, in the third quarter against Wisconsin, LJ Scott fumbled the ball, and the Badgers picked it up for a scoop and score that Dantonio mentioned twice on the closing day of the 2016 campaign.
That loss was the start of something absolutely no one saw coming.
As the losses started to pile up, my demeanor started to change.
As a journalist, you often try to figure out the mindset of your subject before you begin to roll, simply so you make them feel comfortable.
As one loss became two, and three became four, I showed up every Tuesday, wondering when the day would come Dantonio 'was too busy,' or 'had something come up,' as to escape from a more personal conversation on the state of a team that no one, at times not even Dantonio, could figure out.
The easy thing to do was shut it down.
Yet every week went to plan, and every interview took place as scheduled.
The walk of Dantonio never sulked. His voice, never wavered.
I often explain to people that Dantonio is akin to a straight line. He's never too high, he's never too low.
A smile on his face, accompanied with a quick whit, I could tell from early on why his players are so loyal to him.
I cannot tell you exactly what will happen to the Michigan State football program next year, the year after, or even beyond that as far as wins and losses go.
What I can tell you, that without a shadow of a doubt, the program is in the right hands with Dantonio.
He'll still be criticized, judged and watched by fans and media alike, and it's my job to ask him the tough questions, which I will continue to do.
Were there issues that happened behind closed doors that aren't public? Absolutely.
Was the 2016 campaign a perfect storm of negativity for a program that was rebuild from the ashes of mediocrity? Absolutely.
But Dantonio never pointed the finger anywhere but himself, and that's a sign of a true leader.
One that I do believe, won't allow another 2016 happen.
Not on his watch.
