Michigan State football’s Darien Harris impressed with off-season staffing additions

Michigan State fans may fondly remember Darien Harris for his standout linebacker play under former head coach Mark Dantonio. As a team captain during his senior season in 2015, Harris played an instrumental role in leading the Spartans to a Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff appearance.

Harris joined the Michigan State football staff in 2020 and currently serves as the program’s director of player relations and program advancement. Given his background as a player, Harris naturally takes a close interest in anything development-related within the Michigan State program.

After a spring staff reshuffling that saw former defensive line coach Marco Coleman go to Georgia Tech and pass-rush coach Brandon ‘BT’ Jordan leave for the Seattle Seahawks, Harris – like many Spartan fans – wondered how Mel Tucker’s new assistant coaching hires would address staffing needs on defense.

Tucker hired Diron Reynolds and Jim Salgado this offseason and both have made a strong impression on Harris and other members of the Spartan football staff in their short time with the program. Reynolds, a defensive line coach, and Salgado, a cornerbacks coach, have also earned the respect of Michigan State players.

“I am incredibly excited about those additions,” Harris said. “They’ve hit the ground sprinting since they got here because it’s just natural for them. They’re both incredible coaches and have had a very, very strong impact on both of their rooms.”

Positive first impression for Reynolds, Salgado

Michigan State’s defensive line experienced a lot of change in the offseason. Beyond the losses of Coleman and Jordan, Tucker was also tasked with replacing defensive analyst Kevin Vickerson, who worked extensively with defensive tackles.

In Reynolds, Michigan State gained a proven assistant with a solid reputation for player development at both the college and NFL levels. During his time at Stanford, Reynolds coached fundamentally sound defensive lines that played well within the structure of their defensive scheme.

Given his resume as a football coach, it’s not surprising that Reynolds was given a warm welcome by Tucker and his assistant coaches. What surprised Harris, however, is how quickly Reynolds won over the players in his meeting room.

“Pretty much every coach in the room, from a d-line standpoint, was relocating to another opportunity,” Harris said. “So you’re coming into a room that had gotten obviously very comfortable with (Brandon) Jordan and the other coaches in that room. Now you have to find a way to kind of almost win that room over and show the the players in that room that you know what you’re talking about and that they can trust you. Diron did an unbelievable job with that.”

Coaching football is a relationships business, and Reynolds made quick work of engaging with players and earning their trust.

“He’s walking into a challenging situation because this is still a relationship business and student-athletes create a relationship with the coach,” Harris said. “When that coach leaves, it can be challenging. Diron (has) done a great job with that, and same with Jim (Salgado).”

With his background as an NFL defensive backs coach, Salgado brings a knowledge base to the Michigan State program that players crave. At the same time, Salgado – who spent the past five seasons with the Buffalo Bills – also has strong roots in the college game, including seven years as Princeton’s defensive coordinator.

“Jim Salgado has done an unbelievable job with the corners bringing in that NFL experience,” Harris said. “Jim being with the Bills and coaching Pro Bowl players like that goes a long way. You see his roster of not just corners but defensive backs that have been (in Buffalo), especially some of the young corners he had in Buffalo that he made an impact on. He’s been able to do that with our guys as well.”

Reynolds and Salgado have already shown themselves to be capable recruiters.

“(Reynolds and Salgado) have hit the recruiting trail hard,” Harris said. “You know, Jim has a lot of ties to the Northeast part of the country, so getting back out to that side of the country and making an impact in recruiting out there as well. We’ve seen that impact already. Just really excited about them, excited about them as men, as people, and just to learn from them and their experiences has been awesome.”

Diethorn brings fresh energy to Michigan State recruiting

When Tucker chose not to extend the contract of former general manager Saeed Khalif, the Spartans appeared to lack leadership in their recruiting department for a short period of time. That has since changed with the addition of former Virginia Tech director of player personnel Mark Diethorn, who serves as Michigan State’s executive director of player personnel and recruiting.

“Mark’s been amazing,” Harris said. “He’s hit the ground running. He’s revamping how we approach recruiting from a standpoint of being out on the road, a standpoint of official visits. I’m incredibly excited about what our official visits are going to look like this June. Just seeing his expertise shine through. He’s motivated, he’s hungry, he’s determined. He’s coming obviously with glowing recommendations.”

Prior to working at Virginia Tech, Diethorn served as the director of recruiting at Pittsburgh under Pat Narduzzi, who won two Big Ten championships in seven years as the defensive coordinator at Michigan State.

Diethorn and Harris share a mutual connection with Narduzzi. Harris played for Narduzzi until the latter left Michigan State for Pittsburgh in 2014.

“(Diethorn) worked with coach Narduzzi and just knowing what coach Narduzzi thinks of him has been incredibly impactful as well in our mindset of getting a superstar in this game, in the recruiting game,” Harris said. “We’re really excited about having Mark here and what he’s going to bring to the table as he fills out his staff. We got some more folks who we know that are coming in under him that are going to do a great job as well.”

Although Harris readily concedes that staff turnover presents challenges, he is firm in his belief that Michigan State has effectively addressed staffing needs with capable individuals who possess the potential to strengthen the Spartan program.

“It’s getting through the turmoil and lows,” Harris said. “The bittersweetness of staff members relocating to other opportunities, but then being able to come out from that with great people who you’re adding to your staff is always a good thing. So, similar again to the transfer portal.

“You see staff members that are leaving and going to other opportunities, like that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s actually a good thing, especially when they’re moving up, advancing and getting opportunities at places that they deem dream opportunities and things like that. And then you can always hire great people to replace them. So that’s what we’re seeing here with a lot of our staff members and I’m looking forward to being back at full strength from a staff standpoint here in the next couple weeks.”

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