How Joe Rossi is helping Michigan State football even before practice has started
EAST LANSING – Joe Rossi quickly became a font of information for Jonathan Smith and the rest of his colleagues.
Even though Rossi also was getting to know to his new home with Michigan State football.
But after spending the past 11 years at two Big Ten schools, Rossi — beyond bringing his acumen as defensive coordinator — has been a conduit to Smith and other coaches who are living and recruiting in the Midwest for the first time in many of their careers.
“I think the first thing is just getting boots on the ground and getting coaches in the schools,” Rossi said Monday. “We made it a huge point of emphasis to be in the Midwest this last recruiting cycle. And I know coach wants that to continue — and it will continue.”
Smith, an offensive-minded head coach who was hired away from Oregon State in November to replace Mel Tucker, pulled Rossi away from Minnesota to run his new defense and coach MSU’s linebackers. It was a decision Rossi called “really tough.”
The 44-year-old Pittsburgh native went to Central Catholic High there, a Western Pennsylvania football factory that has produced Dan Marino, Damar Hamlin and former MSU assistant coach Sal Sunseri, among others. After spending the first six years of his coaching career at tiny Division III Thiel College northeast of Pittsburgh, Rossi moved to Maine of the Football Championship Subdivision for the next five.
He has been in the Big Ten since, with a four-year stop at Rutgers and since with the Gophers under former Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck, serving the past five seasons as defensive coordinator after moving from quality control in 2017 to coaching the defensive line in 2018.
Rossi said MSU’s historical success defensively is one reason he left Minneapolis.
“No. 1, I think it can be special,” Rossi said. “They’ve been in the College Football Playoff, and it’s been recent, and won conference championships. So I think that’s the first thing.”
The other? What he felt in getting to know Smith.
“Coach Smith and I hadn’t worked together before,” Rossi said. “But everything I heard about him — from other college coaches, from NFL scouts, from people in the profession — was that you couldn’t work for a better guy. And then getting to know him through the process, I felt that. That was kind of what my gut said.
“And then being here for 21⁄2 months, it’s held true. I don’t know that you’ll find a better guy in the profession. He’s awesome to work
for. He’s going to represent the program the right way. He’s going to be a great leader for our players and our staff. So those two things were huge for me.”
Rossi’s regional ties paid quick dividends as MSU was able to flip four-star linebacker Brady Pretzlaff, an early-enrolled freshman from Gaylord, from his previous pledge to Minnesota. Co-special teams coordinator Chad Wilt, who spent the past two seasons at Indiana after coaching Rossi’s defensive line at Minnesota from 2020-21, also brings a wealth of Midwest recruiting ties. Retaining wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins also helps the transition for Smith, who brought six assistants with him from Oregon State and hired former MSU cornerback Demetrice Martin away from Oregon.
Offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, who followed Smith from Oregon State, owns a Western pedigree much like his head coach. Lindgren grew up in Walla Walla, Washington; played collegiately at Idaho; then embarked on a coaching career that did not move eastward past the Mountain Time Zone until coming to MSU.
Lindgren said he, Smith and the other coaches from the West Coast have been “leaning heavily” on any intel Rossi and others who have had Big Ten and Midwest experience can provide them.
“Huge,” Lindgren said of Rossi’s influence. “As much as asking him questions all the time about what he’s (experienced) in the conference and the way things run here, and then also recruiting. Just not having spent a lot of time recruiting (the Midwest), ‘Here’s where
the schools are we need to hit, these guys usually produce players.’ Travel questions, all that kind of stuff, leaning heavily. And it’s good for a big chunk of our staff to have that Midwest, Big Ten experience, which will be good.”
Rossi’s defense squelched the Spartans last season in a 27-12 Minnesota home win. The Gophers finished 58th in total defense, allowing 373.8 yards per game. He was a Broyles Award nominee in 2021 as Minnesota third nationally in total defense (278.8 yards per game) and tied for sixth in scoring defense (17.31 points per game).
Rossi flashed back to his time at Rutgers, where he ran the defense for head coach Kyle Flood and veteran coach Ralph Friedgen was the offensive coordinator. He said a conversation with Friedgen, a former Maryland head coach who was about to retire from coaching, helped shape the perspective Rossi is taking in the early months at MSU.
“I said, ‘Coach, what are you going to run?’” Rossi recalled. “And he goes, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, coach?’ He goes, ‘Joe, I’ve run a lot of plays over the years. The ones we’ll run here are the ones that our players can do well.’
“And I said, you know what? That’s pretty damn smart.”
“So whereas you don’t necessarily pick plays on defense, but you do pick schemes and you do tailor things to the strengths and weaknesses of the people that you have. That’s going to be a constant evaluation this spring. What are we good at, what are we not? Let’s lean towards the things we’re good at, let’s kind of shy away from the things we’re not.”