Mel Tucker Rounds Out Staff With High Profile DC Scottie Hazelton
Mel Tucker has put the finishing touches on his coaching staff as Michigan State has identified and hired a new defensive coordinator.
Kansas State defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton, a highly regarded assistant, who spent just one season in Manhattan, Kansas after a two-year stint at Wyoming, is the Spartans’ new defensive coordinator.
Tucker spoke highly of Hazelton’s abilities as a coach and as a teacher and cited his experience at the college pro levels and as a coordinator as important factors for his hiring at Michigan State.
"Scottie definitely has the mentality you're looking for in a defensive coordinator," said Tucker. "He's a leader with an infectious personality and he's an excellent teacher. He's learned from some of the great defensive minds in the game throughout his career. Scottie has been a defensive coordinator multiple times, including at the Power 5 level, he's coached in the NFL, and he's been on a staff that won a national championship. I couldn't be more excited about hiring Scottie as our defensive coordinator to lead our outstanding defensive staff."
Hazelton, 46, took over a Kansas State defense that ranked No. 48 in scoring defense in 2018 and jumped up to No. 27 in the 2019 season in a Big 12 Conference that is known for having prolific offensive teams. Kansas State was the second-best in the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing just 21.4 points per game.
Before arriving at Kansas State, Hazelton spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Wyoming, where he inherited a defense that finished 102nd in the nation in scoring defense in 2016 and immediately turned the Wyoming defense around. Under Hazelton, the Wyoming defense had the No. 11 scoring defense in 2017 (19.0 ppg allowed) and No. 29 in 2018 (22.9 ppg allowed). Wyoming also finished in the Top 20 in the country in total defense in 2017 and 2018.
Prior to his stops as defensive coordinator at Kansas State and Wyoming, Hazelton served as the linebackers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from (2014-2016). Hazelton was also the defensive coordinator at North Dakota State in 2010 and 2011 when the Bison won the FCS National Championship behind their No. 1 ranked scoring defense.
A linebacker at Fort Lewis College from 1992-1994, Hazelton was the linebackers coach at USC in 2012 and also spent one season as the defensive coordinator at Nevada in 2013 before his three years with the Jaguars.
Hazelton also spent time in the state of Michigan during his 24-year coaching career, spending the 2006 season as the linebackers coach at Michigan Tech.
Michigan State also made two additions to the coaching staff earlier this week, adding a pair of former Colorado assistants to the staff.
In addition to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson and offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic, who came over from Colorado, Tucker has also added William Peagler and Ross Els, two more former Buffaloes’ assistants to join him in East Lansing.
Els, who will take over as the special teams' coach for the Spartans, was Colorado’s inside linebackers and special teams coach from 2017-19 and was also the special teams' coordinator at Nebraska from 2012-14.
"Ross has been a Power 5 defensive coordinator and does an excellent job with special teams," Tucker said in a press release on Monday evening. "His attention to detail is outstanding and he's a great teacher. He also develops great relationships with his players, which makes him a great recruiter as well. His experience will definitely help our staff."
In addition to his time as a special teams coach with Colorado and Nebraska, Els was also the recruiting coordinator during his time with the Cornhuskers and served as defensive coordinator at New Mexico State (2003-04) and at Purdue (2016).
After spending the 2019 season as the director of quality control on offense under Tucker at Colorado, Peagler will join the Michigan State coaching staff as the program’s new running backs coach.
"William has an excellent understanding of offensive concepts," Tucker said of Peagler. "He really gets it. He also has experience working with (offensive coordinator) Jay Johnson and has been at some high-level programs, including Clemson and Georgia. He's a multi-talented coach and I think he is a rising star."
This will be the fourth time in Peagler’s 10 years in coaching where he has been on the same coaching staff as Johnson, coaching alongside him at Colorado, Minnesota, and Louisiana.
A graduate of Clemson and a former student assistant for the Tigers, Peagler was on Georgia’s coaching staff when the Bulldogs fell to Alabama in the National Championship Game during the 2017 season, working as a graduate assistant with the offensive line. Peagler spent the 2016 season as a quality control coach at Minnesota.
Stay tuned to Spartan Nation for all of the latest news on the Michigan State football program! The Spartans host the season opener on September 5, 2020, hosting Northwestern.
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