Michigan State Football Hires New Director of Recruiting
Mel Tucker has his new man to lead Michigan State football's recruiting department.
On Monday, Michigan State announced that it had hired Mark Diethorn to be the new Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting for Spartans football. Diethorn comes to East Lansing with 12 years of experience at the Power 5 collegiate level, with previous stops at Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Florida.
Introducing our new Executive Director of Player Personnel & Recruiting: Mark Diethorn.
— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) May 1, 2023
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Diethorn replaces Saeed Khalif, who spent two seasons as Michigan State's Director of Player Personnel before his contract wasn’t renewed. Another member of the Spartans' recruiting department and Khalif's right and man, Jensen Gebhardt, was also not retained by the university after his contract expired this year.
Michigan State's full press release regarding Diethorn's hire can be read below.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker has named Mark Diethorn the program’s executive director of player personnel and recruiting.
Diethorn (pronounced DEE-thorn), 37, has more than a decade of experience working at Power 5 schools in recruiting and player personnel, including Virginia Tech (2018-21), Pitt (2012-17) and Florida (2009-10).
“Mark has a vision and a passion for recruiting and understands what it takes to be successful at this level,” said Tucker. “He has also shown the ability to identify talent in the transfer portal. He’s very organized and has a thorough process for evaluating players and managing a roster. I’m excited for Mark to hit the ground running and make an impact on our program.”
Diethorn most recently spent four years as the director of player personnel at Virginia Tech (2018-21), overseeing the daily recruiting and personnel operations, including campus visits, prospect evaluations, roster management, coaches road travel, recruiting board and database organization, summer camps and prospect admissions. He was also responsible for monitoring the transfer portal, and helped the Hokies bring in several top transfers, including running back Khalil Herbert from Kansas in 2020, who led the ACC in all-purpose yards and was selected in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. In 2019, Diethorn helped the Hokies bring in a top-25 recruiting class according to Rivals.
The Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, native began his tenure at Pitt as a recruiting assistant in 2012. He took on additional responsibilities when Pat Narduzzi was named head coach in 2015 when he was promoted to director of recruiting. In that role he was responsible for planning and executing all aspects of Pitt’s recruiting and personnel strategy. Following his promotion by Narduzzi, the Panthers signed their best recruiting class in eight years according to Rivals and ESPN.
While at Pitt, Diethorn played a role in helping acquire 31 players who would go on to play in the National Football League, including NFL Draft draftees WR Tyler Boyd, RB James Conner, G Dorian Johnson, DB Avonte Maddox, QB Nathan Peterman, T Brian O’Neill and DB Jordan Whitehead.
Diethorn served as a scouting and player personnel intern with the Pittsburgh Steelers during their 2017 training camp. Under the direction of general manager Kevin Colbert, Diethorn evaluated college prospects for the Steelers’ player personnel department.
Prior to his stint at Pitt, Diethorn worked as a football recruiting assistant at Florida from 2009-10 under Urban Meyer. He assisted the Gators’ coaching staff during recruiting periods and handled campus visits, in addition to managing Florida’s recruiting database. He contributed to the signing of two top-12 recruiting classes, including the Gators’ 2010 class that was ranked No. 1 nationally by Scout and ESPN.
Diethorn holds a master’s degree in sport management from Florida and an MBA from Pitt. He earned his B.S. in business information technology from Virginia Tech in 2007 and also owns experience working in the private sector, including an appointment as a business analyst for PNC Financial Group.
