Michigan State Football: Ted Gilmore is more than qualified at TE coach

Michigan State football added yet another assistant coach to its staff in former Wisconsin receivers coach Ted Gilmore to take charge of tight ends.

I could sit here and write another article about how great Mel Tucker’s hire of another assistant was great, but I’d be beating a dead horse because he’s been hitting home run after home run, especially given the timing of everything, so I’ll just focus on specifics.

Tucker hired Wisconsin receivers coach Ted Gilmore on Friday afternoon to coach the Spartans’ tight ends. Yes, this is a fantastic hire, but that’s a lazy take.

No, I’ll go much further into why this hire makes sense, and then some. The former receivers coach of Wyoming, Houston, Purdue, Colorado, Nebraska, USC, the Oakland Raiders and Wisconsin has coached tight ends before and has even been an associate head coach with the Cornhuskers and brings a wealth of experience with him to East Lansing.

Gilmore coached Biletnikoff Award winner Marcus Harris at Wyoming, all-time Purdue greats Taylor Stubblefield and John Standeford, D.J. Hackett at Colorado, led some all-time great Nebraska receivers and top-10 passing offenses and then in 2011, he was named the Wide Receivers Coach of the Year at USC.

All of this success at the collegiate level landed him a job as the Raiders’ receiving coach from 2012-14 and then made his way back to college with Wisconsin.

Now Michigan State’s tight ends coach, and one heck of a recruiter, he will only add positives and experience to the job. He’s one of those coaches (much like Harlon Barnett) who is more than qualified for his position.

Michigan State now has another top recruiter on the staff and it’s starting to really take shape. He will help in the Midwest while likely assisting first-year collegiate assistant Courtney Hawkins with receivers (just a hunch).