Former Michigan State University football DC Scottie Hazelton has found a new home

Scottie Hazelton had an interesting run as defensive coordinator for Michigan State football during the Mel Tucker era. Coming in from Kansas State, he was expected to turn the defense around quickly, but that just didn’t happen.

In his four years with the Spartans, the defense never seemed to improve much, and he finished his final season in East Lansing with the No. 84 defense that ranked 68th in the running game and 86th in the passing game. It was No. 76 in total defense in the country – once again in the bottom third of college football.

But Hazelton was a good defensive player, his strategy just never worked in East Lansing or the Big Ten.

Now that he’s moved on, he hopes the next team he joins will give him the opportunity to rebuild. But it’s clear that he’ll have to earn the defensive coordinator role going forward after his disastrous tenure at Michigan State.

Well, Texas is giving him a chance.

Jim Comparoni’s explanation of the situation above is accurate. It was puzzling to see Hazelton struggle so much at Michigan State after successful tenures at Wyoming, North Dakota State and Kansas State. But he will get more opportunities and being a “special assistant” at Texas can’t be a bad job considering it’s one of the top programs in the nation and it won’t be hard to get recommended for another defensive assistant job in the near future.

The players seemed to love Hazelton in East Lansing, so there’s not much bad to say about it. Everyone just wishes it had turned out differently.