With each passing day, it feels like Pat Fitzgerald’s coaching staff puzzle finds another key piece. The new Michigan State football coach has hired a solid staff thus far, identifying his offensive and defensive coordinators, and a couple other key position coaches.
Fitzgerald has reportedly hired Nick Sheridan as the team’s offensive coordinator, poaching him from Alabama on the same weekend he helped beat Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff. He also re-hired Joe Rossi to be co-defensive coordinator with Max Bullough who was poached from Notre Dame to return home.
James Adams is the safeties coach again after Fitzgerald retained him from Jonathan Smith’s staff along with Rossi, and he also poached LeVar Woods from Iowa as his new special teams coordinator.
There are a few position coaches left to hire, including another defensive backs coach, a defensive line coach, an offensive line coach, receivers coach, tight ends coach, and running backs coach — assuming Sheridan will also coach the quarterbacks.
It looks like Fitzgerald is close to addressing one of those jobs.
According to a report from Matt Zenitz, Michigan State is targeting another key piece to the puzzle in Iowa State cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat who spent a decade in the NFL as a player.
Michigan State is targeting Iowa State’s Hank Poteat for a defensive backs coach job, sources tell @CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 20, 2025
Poteat, who played 10 years in the NFL as a defensive back, worked at Iowa State under Matt Campbell the last three years. Before that, worked at Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/F4j1WzGTVr
This would be an incredible hire for Fitzgerald as Poteat would join Adams in the secondary and they would have an incredibly high coaching ceiling. Could this spark the return of the ‘No Fly Zone’?
Hank Poteat has an impressive track record
Poteat has had an impressive rise to where he is today. The veteran cornerbacks coach has been holding the same position at multiple programs for years. The former All-American from Pitt and Super Bowl champion got his start as a grad assistant before being hired as Kent State’s cornerbacks coach.
After that, he was hired by Toledo and then Wisconsin poached him before Matt Campbell hired him as Iowa State’s cornerbacks coach in 2023.
In 2024, Poteat helped Iowa State finish with the nation’s third-best pass defense, allowing under 170 yards per game through the air. The 2025 season wasn’t as successful for the defensive backfield, but he helped improve the pass defense drastically from 2023 to 2024, and it’s a big reason why he’s been getting looks from other Power Four programs.
Overall, this feels like a really good hire by Fitzgerald, if he gets it done.