PJ Fleck said Michigan State football DC Joe Rossi was best coach on his staff

Michigan State football just got done attending Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday, and there were so many great and interesting moments that came from it. It gets especially interesting when one of Michigan State’s coaches just left another Big Ten school to follow Jonathan Smith to MSU.

That’s exactly what happened with Joe Rossi, who was the defensive coordinator at Minnesota before taking the same job in Smith’s staff.

Rossi joined the Gopher staff in 2017 as a quality control assistant before becoming the defensive line coach in January 2018. From there he became the defensive coordinator in December of 2018 which is the position he held until he made the move to Michigan State.

Minnesota’s head coach PJ Fleck was naturally asked about Rossi, and Fleck had nothing but good things to say about him. In fact, Fleck said that Rossi is “the best” coordinator he’s ever had.

The praise for Rossi from Fleck didn’t stop there. Fleck also went on to say that he “100 percent” supported Rossi taking the job at Michigan State.

I found this quote interesting because he left Minnesota for the same position at Michigan State. It would be normal in my mind for a head coach to be happy when one of their assistants becomes a head coach elsewhere, but when they take the same job somewhere else I don’t know.

Fleck then went on to talk about what he specifically likes about Rossi as a coach.

"He’s very meticulous, he’s very detailed. He knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it done."

- PJ Fleck

Now when I first read these quotes from Fleck I thought it was just coach speak. Of course he wouldn’t say anything bad about his former coach publically. Nobody would be dumb enough to do that. But then I thought about it further and realized Fleck went above and beyond what he probably needed to say.

Instead of just saying one nice thing and moving on, Fleck spoke highly of Rossi three separate times. This is what makes me think that he’s actually being 100 percent genuine with these comments. And if that’s the case, then I’m even more excited that Rossi is in East Lansing now.

Fleck has had a long career as a head coach, so he’s had many different coaches and coordinators work on his staff. So for Rossi to be the best he’s ever had is saying something.

Now more than ever I’m convinced that Smith got someone special to come to East Lansing, and thankfully he did. We all know the struggles the defense has faced in recent years, so hopefully Rossi will be able to come in and turn the tides quickly and make the defense strong once again.

And if I had to guess, I think Fleck would think he’s going to do just that.