We all know how Michigan State landed Mel Tucker. Tucker turned the Spartans down the first time around, beat his chest about his commitment to Colorado, and then Michigan State came back with a Godfather offer and he was gone hours later. Though he was justifiably raked over the proverbial coals for the way he left, no one blamed Tucker for leaving, especially not when we saw the details of that contract.
Such is life in major college football in 2020. FBS is not split between the haves and the have-nots, it's the haves, the have-lesses and the have-even-lesses. Basically, it's the SEC and the Big Ten, then it's the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the ACC (though you can bump Clemson, Texas and OU into that first group) and then it's everyone else.
And now, to fill his defensive coordinator spot, Tucker gets to do to someone else what he Michigan State did to him.
According to GoPowercat, Kansas State expects defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton to leave for the same job at Michigan State for an offer the Wildcats "can't match."
Hazelton made $550,000 to coordinate K-State's defense in 2019, which, as we've shown this month, is positioncoachmoney for the richest programs -- which now includes Michigan State. Tucker has $6 million to spend on his assistant salary pool, a whopping $2.5 million more than Klieman has to fill the same 10 spots at Kansas State.
In his one season on staff in Manahattan, Hazelton helped K-State rank second in the Big 12 in scoring defense (21.4 points per game, four points less than 2018), second in passing defense and third in pass efficiency defense. (K-State did finish ninth in yards per play.)
Prior to that, Hazleton coordinated defenses for North Dakota State, Nevada and Wyoming over the past decade. He spent the first decade and a half of his career at the lower levels, playing and coaching in the mid-90s at Division II Fort Lewis College before coaching at North Dakota State, St. Olaf College, Missouri Southern State and Michigan Tech.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.