Michigan State football hires Diron Reynolds as new defensive line coach
Michigan State football has a new defensive line coach for the second straight year.
Mel Tucker on Wednesday announced the hire of Diron Reynolds, who spent the past seven seasons coaching the defensive line at Stanford. The 51-year-old Reynolds replaces Marco Coleman, who returned to his alma mater, Georgia Tech, after one season with the Spartans.
“I've known Diron Reynolds for more than 15 years — he's one of the best coaches in the business,” Tucker said in a statement. “He has an impressive pedigree having worked for some of the top coaches in all of football, including Tony Dungy, Leslie Frazier, David Shaw and Jim Caldwell, and has coached in both the Super Bowl and College Football Playoff. He also has developed players at the highest level, from mentoring future NFL Draft picks to working daily with Pro Bowlers in the NFL. Diron is a family man with great character who will be relentless in leading and motivating our players on and off the field. I'm thrilled about this hire and can't wait to start working with him.”
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Stanford's defense ranked 127th out of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in rush defense last season, with the Cardinal's 224.4 yards given up per game the sixth-highest average allowed in program history, and 90th nationally at 1.92 sacks per game. The Cardinal also had the 114th-rated overall defense, allowing 434.1 yards per game. Shaw resigned as head coach after the season — the Cardinal went 42-40 the past seven seasons, including 3-9 in both 2021 and 2022 — and new Stanford coach Troy Taylor did not retain Reynolds.
Coleman left earlier this month for Georgia Tech, where he coached from 2019-21 after a 14-year NFL playing career. In his one season in East Lansing, the Spartans battled injuries and attrition across the defensive line —particularly at defensive end — and allowed opposing running backs to eclipse 100 yards in each of the final nine games. MSU’s run defense ranked 102nd in the FBS at 178.6 yards per game, the most allowed by the Spartans since 2002 (213.8 yards). They ranked 44th in both team sacks (2.42 per game) and tackles for loss (6.3 per game).
Enter Reynolds, who coached defensive line at Stanford from 2016-22 and also spent 2014 there as a defensive assistant. He coached four NFL draft picks with the Cardinal: 2017 first-rounder Solomon Thomas (the No. 3 overall pick), 2018 third-rounder Harrison Phillips, 2020 seventh-rounder Casey Toohill and 2022 fifth-rounder Thomas Booker.
Reynolds, a 1994 Wake Forest alum and native of Aiken, South Carolina, also spent 2015 as Oklahoma’s defensive line coach. Prior to that, he was in the NFL for 11 seasons. That included working in quality control for the Colts from 2002-06, including their Super Bowl 41 victory under Dungy. Reynolds spent one year with the Dolphins in 2007 as defensive line coach, then moved on to the Vikings from 2009-13 as assistant defensive line coach.
Reynolds’ previous college stops included Indiana (2001, defensive tackles) and Wake Forest (1999-2000, outside linebackers; 1997-98, graduate assistant).
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football hires Diron Reynolds as defensive line coach
