When the call came from Mel Tucker, there wasn’t much hesitation from Scottie Hazelton.
Tucker, who had just become Michigan State’s head coach after taking over for Mark Dantonio, was looking for a defensive coordinator and wanted to know if Hazelton, who served in the same role at Kansas State in 2019, was interested.
“Of course I was,” Hazelton recalled this week while speaking with reporters on a conference call.
To Hazelton, it was an easy answer. He knew Tucker to be an outstanding defensive coach in his own right, and the fact Michigan State had developed into one of the best defensive teams in the country under Dantonio also meant a stockpile of players that understood how to play defense.