Michigan State adds defensive line coach from Stanford to staff

East Lansing — Mel Tucker rounded out his coaching staff on Wednesday, naming Diron Reynolds as the Spartans’ defensive line coach.

Reynolds, who has coached more than 25 years at both the NFL and Power Five level, replaces Marco Coleman, who left Michigan State after one season to take the defensive line coaching job at his alma mater, Georgia Tech.

“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.”

Reynolds, who coached in high school for two seasons before becoming a graduate assistant at Wake Forest in 1997, spent the last seven years as the defensive line coach at Stanford. Before that, Reynolds was at Stanford in 2014 as a defensive line assistant before heading to Oklahoma in 2015, helping the Sooners reach the College Football Playoffs. His stops in college also include two seasons as the outside linebackers coach at Wake Forest (1999-2000) and one as the defensive tackles coach at Indiana (2001).

From there, Reynolds headed to the NFL as a defensive quality control with the Indianapolis Colts (2002-06), defensive line coach for the Miami Dolphins (2007) and as assistant defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings (2009-13).

A native of Aiken, South Carolina, Reynolds played four seasons at Wake Forest from 1990-93 and earned a bachelor’s degree in communication. He also earned a master’s degree in liberal studies from Wake Forest in 1999.

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau