Mel Tucker Continues To Add To His Michigan State Football Staff
As Mel Tucker now closes in on putting the finishing touches on his coaching staff at Michigan State, the Spartans have added two more Colorado assistants, who Tucker had on staff in 2019 as well as former Wisconsin wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore.
Gilmore, who spent the past five seasons with the Badgers, has coached between the college and NFL ranks over the past 25 years and served as the wide receivers coach for the Oakland Raiders from 2012-2014.
"Coach Gilmore is a great teacher and excellent motivator who brings high energy," Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker said in a press release announcing the hiring of Gilmore. "He's a proven developer of players and a very effective recruiter. He's a true difference-maker."
In his time coaching wide receivers, Gilmore has coached several Biletnikoff finalists, including Robert Woods (USC, 2011), Taylor Stubblefield (Purdue, 2004) and Marcus Harris, who won the award in 1996 at Wyoming.
In addition to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson and offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic, who came over from Colorado, Tucker has also added William Peagler and Ross Els, two more former Buffaloes’ assistants to join him in East Lansing.
Els, who will take over as the special teams coach for the Spartans, was Colorado’s inside linebackers and special teams coach from 2017-19 and was also the special teams' coordinator at Nebraska from 2012-14.
"Ross has been a Power 5 defensive coordinator and does an excellent job with special teams," Tucker said in a press release on Monday evening. "His attention to detail is outstanding and he's a great teacher. He also develops great relationships with his players, which makes him a great recruiter as well. His experience will definitely help our staff."
In addition to his time as a special teams coach with Colorado and Nebraska, Els was also the recruiting coordinator during his time with the Cornhuskers and served as defensive coordinator at New Mexico State (2003-04) and at Purdue (2016).
After spending the 2019 season as the director of quality control on offense under Tucker at Colorado, Peagler will join the Michigan State coaching staff as the program’s new running backs coach.
"William has an excellent understanding of offensive concepts," Tucker said of Peagler. "He really gets it. He also has experience working with (offensive coordinator) Jay Johnson and has been at some high-level programs, including Clemson and Georgia. He's a multi-talented coach and I think he is a rising star."
This will be the fourth time in Peagler’s 10 years in coaching where he has been on the same coaching staff as Johnson, coaching alongside him at Colorado, Minnesota, and Louisiana.
A graduate of Clemson and a former student assistant for the Tigers, Peagler was on Georgia’s coaching staff when the Bulldogs fell to Alabama in the National Championship Game during the 2017 season, working as a graduate assistant with the offensive line. Peagler spent the 2016 season as a quality control coach at Minnesota.
The defensive coordinator position is the lone unfilled spot on Tucker’s coaching staff, but at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Tucker indicated that the process of building his staff was nearing completion.
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