The last time Matt Allen was in East Lansing, he was helping Michigan State to an 11-2 season, paving the way for Kenneth Walker III to win the Doak Walker Award.
Allen was the starting center that season, appearing in all 13 games, and he was named an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection to end his collegiate career on a high note.
Now, he’s back in a different role.
Allen has joined the coaching staff as a volunteer on offense, and Pat Fitzgerald is loving what he’s been seeing so far. He spoke to the media earlier this week about adding Allen to his coaching staff and he called it a “huge addition”. Nick Tabacca has the perfect assistant helping him out.
Pat Fitzgerald: "Matt Allen was a huge addition," to the staff
— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) August 24, 2026
Allen is the third former Spartan player on the coaching staff (Courtney Hawkins and Max Bullough are the other two), and the second who spent some time playing during the Mark Dantonio era. What makes him so unique, however, is the fact that his first start during his All-Big Ten season in 2021 came against Fitzgerald and the Northwestern Wildcats as he helped pave the way for 264 rushing yards and four touchdowns from K9.
Now the youngest of three Allen brothers who played for Dantonio — Jack and Brian were the others — is back in East Lansing to help out the program where he spent his entire college career.
And he’s been a “huge addition” per Fitzgerald. Love to see the former players having an impact.
Pat Fitzgerald knows how to win fans over
We’ve seen Fitzgerald embrace the Spartan culture this offseason and he knows that by bringing back guys who were around during one of the most successful eras of Michigan State football to speak to the team and be around regularly, he’s going to create a winning culture.
Rebuilding a program from the ground up isn’t easy — just ask Dantonio — but Fitzgerald has done it at Northwestern and now he has exponentially more resources at Michigan State.
Bringing guys like Dantonio and Ken Mannie back to speak to the team and be around for practices is a great start to the culture built, and employing Allen, Hawkins, and Bullough is a huge boost.
Right when you think Fitzgerald is done reaching into his bag of tricks to win fans over, he pulls out another one. Adding Allen as a volunteer assistant who’s helping out the offensive line is yet another reason that Fitzgerald is the right guy for the job.
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