As a special assistant to head coach Steve Sarkisian, add former Michigan State Spartans defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton to the defensive braintust on the Texas Longhorns’ staff, according to several reports on Thursday, including one from Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.
Hazelton, a native of Colorado who was a linebacker for Fort Lewis in the 1990s, has nearly thirty years of coaching experience. He began his coaching career at his alma mater for four seasons before joining Bob Babich’s staff at North Dakota State as a graduate assistant in 2000–2001. Hazelton returned to Fargo in 2007 after serving as the defensive line coach for three seasons during his previous three stops at small universities, where he had served as the defensive coordinator twice (at Fort Lewis and Missouri Southern State). By then, Babich was coaching in the NFL, so Craig Bohl, a three-time NDSU champion, took over as head coach of the Bison. After taking over as defensive coordinator for Bohl in 2010, Hazelton won an FCS national championship the next year.
Hazelton was hired by Lane Kiffin in 2012 after leaving NDSU, but he didn’t stay for long because Nevada hired him to be their defensive coordinator in less than a year. After that, Hazelton stayed in the NFL for three years and worked with Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Babich once again.
Bohl brought Hazelton back to the collegiate ranks, appointing him as defensive coordinator at Wyoming for a two-year stint. When Hazelton joined Kansas State’s staff under Chris Klieman in 2019, he became the team’s Power Five defensive coordinator. Under Hazelton, the Wildcats led the Big 12 in scoring defense thanks to a potent defense on third downs.
Hazelton joined Mel Tucker and the Spartans as defensive coordinator following a year in Manhattan. Linebacker Cal Haladay of Hazelton led the Big Ten in tackles per game in 2022;
with 120 total stops, he became the highest-scoring Michigan State player since 2009.
On the other side of Hazelton’s defense, New Mexico State transfer Jacoby Windmon caused havoc at defensive end and linebacker, leading the FBS with six forced fumbles while recording 10.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.
Graduate transfer cornerback Ameer Speed also turned into a sixth-round draft pick. When Michigan State went 11-2, defeated No.
12 Pitt in the Peach Bowl, and concluded the season with a top-10 national ranking the year before, the defense played a major role in the greatest turnaround in school history.
The addition of a special assistant like Hazelton can have more of an impact on teaching fundamentals and technique in practice and acting as a de facto third defensive coordinator and secondary linebackers coach on gameday, since the Division I Council voted earlier this week “to permit any staff member to provide technical and tactical instruction to student-athletes” during practice and competition, eliminating the cap of 11 on-field coaches.
Texas now has three defensive coordinators with 35 years of combined experience under Sarkisian: Pete Kwiatkowski, Hazelton, and co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Johnny Nansen.
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