MSU football hires Mark Diethorn as director of player personnel and recruiting

East Lansing – Michigan State filled a key staff position Monday when it was announced that Mark Diethorn was named the program’s executive director of player personnel and recruiting.

Diethorn, 37, was most recently director of player personnel at Virginia Tech from 2018-21 and has spent more than a decade with Power Five programs.

“Mark has a vision and a passion for recruiting and understands what it takes to be successful at this level,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said in a statement.

“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 replaces Saeed Khalif, who parted ways with the program earlier this spring.

Before his time at Virginia Tech, Diethorn was at Pittsburgh from 2012-17, beginning as a recruiting assistant before being promoted to director of recruiting in 2015 under coach Pat Narduzzi. He also spent two years (2009-10) as a recruiting assistant at Florida.

matt.charboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mcharboneau