Michigan State Football: Who can replace Harlon Barnett?
Michigan State football lost a big piece to its puzzle on Friday morning as news broke that co-defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett took another job.
It’s been an eventful offseason thus far. Michigan State has only been done with football for about a week now, but the Spartans have already suffered some attrition with likely more to come.
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The first was redshirt freshman quarterback Messiah deWeaver who decided to move on after sitting behind Brian Lewerke on the depth chart and likely not being able to surpass him nor even make any moves until he graduated — which will be two more years.
Next has been co-defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett, a former Michigan State defensive back. He had been on Mark Dantonio’s staff for 14 seasons, following him from Cincinnati to Michigan State back in 2007. He started off as defensive backs coach, but earned the co-defensive coordinator role after Pat Narduzzi’s departure.
SOURCE: #MichiganState Co-DC Harlon Barnett will become the new defensive coordinator at #FSU. Big hire for Taggart. Barnett is highly thought of by the players there and by his staff. Very impressive dude.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 5, 2018
Taking the same job at Florida State may not seem like much of an upgrade seeing as the Seminoles aren’t currently leaps and bounds ahead of the Spartans, but the pay has been a major factor in this decision, it seems.
You can’t fault Barnett for wanting to better himself and his family at 51 years old, taking a job that is reportedly a three-year deal worth close to $1 million per year.
With Barnett’s departure, the question has to be raised: who will replace him?
The Detroit Free Press’ Chris Solari offered up some opinions, which included two former Michigan State cornerbacks.
Two names to keep an eye on for MSU's two open assistant jobs: Demetrice Martin, who was not retained by Chip Kelly as UCLA's defensive backs coach, and Pitt secondary coach Renaldo Hill. Both are former Spartan cornerbacks.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 5, 2018
Martin, just 44 years of age, coached Washington’s secondary under Steve Sarkisian for a few years before taking the job coaching UCLA’s defensive backs. He wasn’t retained by Chip Kelly when he took over for Jim Mora this offseason, and he makes sense as a former Michigan State defensive back.
Hill, 39, played high school football in Detroit and then went on to star at Michigan State before being drafted. He played 10 seasons in the NFL and has since been Narduzzi’s cornerbacks coach at Pittsburgh. He could be upgraded to defensive backs coach at Michigan State and return to his alma mater.
Another name to keep an eye on is former Michigan State defensive back Archie Collins who is currently the defensive backs coach at Central Michigan. He’s another young guy who could help build something special in the secondary. He worked under Barnett from 2010-12, so he could make his way back to East Lansing.
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Mike Tressel will likely be promoted to sole defensive coordinator and Michigan State now has a void at defensive backs coach and must find a 10th assistant. Don’t be surprised if Coach D goes after two of these guys.