Coleman Hutzler

STARKVILLE – As the defensive coordinator, Mississippi State’s Coleman Hutzler hasn’t been too surprised at the line of questioning he’s faced since deciding to put on the Maroon and White earlier this year as reporters and others try to get to know him. What has been a bit unique though has been the qualifier to one of the most popular queries.

“It’s funny how many interviews I’ve had since getting here in January where I’ve had people tell me I can’t use the word ‘multiple’ when describing our defense,” Hutzler said on Tuesday, just a couple of days before the start of MSU’s preseason camp.

Soon enough, folks won’t need any descriptors. They’ll see Hutzler’s group in action. And when Mississippi State kicks off the season on August 31 against Eastern Kentucky, here’s what Hutzler says folks will observe – without even using the word ‘multiple.’

“Aggressive,” Hutzler said. “We want to be aggressive. We want to dictate things as much as we can. We want to be violent in how we play. We want to be opportunistic in creating turnovers and getting the ball back. If we can do that and get the ball back to [quarterback Blake Shapen] and the boys, we’ve got a great chance of scoring points.”

Hutzler knows exactly what he wants out of his unit. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. How could he not?

This is a man who’s learned under the tutelage of some of the brightest defensive minds college football has ever seen. Most recently, coaching at Alabama under the legendary Nick Saban, Hutzler has picked up so much along the way that he brings with him into his first year in Starkville and wants to impart on his players.

“The three things we talk about are effort, technique and execution,” Hutzler said. “Those have been the core values since I got here from day one. Obviously, there are other things we build on like getting the ball out and creating turnovers and all that. But if we can play with great effort, have great technique and go execute, we have a great chance to play good defense.

“I’ve been blessed to work with some great head coaches and great defensive coordinators and defensive-minded coaches. To be able to pull from them and all the years [with them] has been fun.”

Of course Hutzler is having fun because in many ways, this is exactly what he was born to do. The Las Vegas native is living his dream.

“I love coaching,” Hutzler said. “I’ve grown up in it. Played for my dad. This is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and to be able to do it at Mississippi State is awesome.”

The road to MSU was a winding one. Hutzler played his college football as a linebacker at Middlebury College in Vermont from 2002 to 2005. He was a team captain as a senior and left the program second in career tackles, plus had a psychology degree in hand.

Perhaps that degree will help as Hutzler continues to go about his business uniting the Bulldog defense and trying to turn a group of great talent into a collective force.

“Everyone has a different background and different story,” Hutzler said. “But we’re all here for the same goal and the same purpose. That’s been fun to see, and that’s been fun to establish over the course of the offseason. We’ve had some fun as a defense doing different things to continue to band together and know who we’re going into battle with come fall.”

It’s not just his education that’s sure to help Hutzler’s cause as State’s defensive coordinator. For nearly two decades now, Hutzler has spent much of his coaching career prepping for this very moment as a special teams coordinator in big-time college football. He’s been over special teams units at Florida, South Carolina, Boston College, Ole Miss and Alabama among other places, not to even mention a year as the co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Texas.

All those stops have prepared Hutzler for overseeing a side of the football because in his past, he’s essentially been guiding whole teams.

“A great part about being special teams coordinator is you work with basically everybody but the quarterbacks,” Hutzler said. “Now to just being over the defense, in a way you could say it’s easier and you’re working with just your guys.”

Again, Hutzler’s goal with his young men: make sure they’re playing with aggression. Hutzler is certainly going to coach that way as he keeps opponents guessing. And maybe someday he can even use the word ‘multiple’ to talk about his style, though he’s gotten really good at describing things without it.

“I think you can’t be in one front and one coverage and play against today’s offenses,” Hutzler said. “You can’t do it, even if you have better players across the board. You’re going to get exposed. So you’ve got to be able to change your front. You’ve got to be able to play three-down and four-down [linemen], and you’ve got to be able to change coverages to change that picture for the quarterback.

“We talk about it all the time. If we can affect the quarterback, we got a great chance at having success on defense.”