Michigan State to Hire Alabama Assistant as Offensive Coordinator

Michigan State football and Pat Fitzgerald are making another splash addition to their staff.

The Spartans are set to hire current Alabama co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan to become MSU's next OC. a source has confirmed to Spartan Nation. Sheridan likely will not officially join the team in East Lansing for a bit, as the Crimson Tide are still alive in the College Football Playoff and will face Indiana in the quarterfinal on New Year's Day.

Sheridan is not Alabama's playcaller right now, but he was in last season. The Tide finished 42nd in the country for total offense (410.2 yards/game) and were 22nd in scoring (33.8 points/game).

For additional reference, Michigan State's offense really struggled this past season. The Spartans are ranked 97th in total offense (345.5 yards/game) and were at 89th for points per game (24.6). MSU went through a six-game stretch during the Big Ten schedule where it scored no more than 20 points in every game.

More on Sheridan

Sheridan will now walk away from Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, whom he has worked with for a while now. They both started working together in 2019, when Sheridan was Indiana's tight ends coach, and DeBoer was the offensive coordinator and QBs coach. They separated for a few years after DeBoer took the Fresno State job, but were reunited in 2022, when DeBoer became Washington's head coach and gave Sheridan the tight ends job as well.

In between those years, Sheridan received a shot as the offensive coordinator in Bloomington. He ran the Hoosiers' offense in 2020 and 2021. Things were successful during the COVID season, as Indiana went 6-2 and scored 28.9 points per game, but things fell off the next year. IU scored just 17.2 points per contest during a 2-10 campaign in '21, and Sheridan was subsequently fired.

After those two successful seasons at Washington that culminated in a national championship game appearance, DeBoer left for Alabama following the retirement of Nick Saban. DeBoer brought Sheridan with him and named him the offensive coordinator.

Sheridan, of course, had a playing career at MSU's archrival, Michigan. He grew up just outside Ann Arbor and appeared in 12 total games for the Wolverines with four starts after beginning as a walk-on.

Now, he's set to officially flip to the green and white. Sheridan is going to replace Brian Lindgren, who called plays during both years of the Jonathan Smith era at Michigan State.

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