Update: Michigan State hires Hank Poteat as cornerbacks coach
More on MSU's hiring of the former Iowa State coach and successful NFL player.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on Dec. 20, 2025 and updated on Dec. 27, 2025.
Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald continues to piece together his 2026 staff, which will be in his first in East Lansing, and he has hired Hank Poteat as cornerbacks coach, sources tell Spartans Illustrated.
Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports was the first to report that MSU was targeting Poteat on Dec. 20, 2025.
While it is was unclear initially what Poteat's role would be at Michigan State following Zenitz's original report, Spartans Illustrated confirmed on Dec. 27, 2025 that Poteat will coach cornerbacks for the Spartans.
Poteat most recently worked as Iowa State's cornerbacks coach and punt and kick returners coach under head coach Matt Campbell. Poteat joined the Cyclones in 2023 and stay in Ames through the 2025 season. Campbell recently took the head coaching job at Penn State.
The Cyclones finished the 2025 regular season with an 8-5 record, but declined to play in the postseason after Campbell's departure. Iowa State allowed 218.5 passing yards per game, which ranks 10th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 Conference, and 64th nationally. The Cyclones also recorded 11 interceptions, which tied for eighth in the Big 12 and in the top-50 in the country.
In 2024, Poteat helped coach Iowa State to an 11-3 record, which was the first double-digit win season in program history. ISU reached the school's second Big 12 Championship game, but lost to Arizona State, and went on to defeat No. 15 Miami (FL.) in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The ISU defense ranked first nationally in passing defense (165.6 yards allowed per game) and ranked 22nd nationally in interceptions (15). The Cyclones allowed 22.9 points per game that season. Additionally, . cornerback Jontez Williams earned second-team All-Big 12 honors in his first season as a starter under Poteat's tutelage.
In Poteat's first season at Iowa State, the defense ranked 10th in the country and second in the Big 12 with 16 interceptions. Poteat mentored cornerback T.J. Tampa, who was a first-team All-Big 12 selection and earned All-America honors. Tampa was also a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award and Bednarik Award, and was later drafted in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.
Prior to his arrival at Iowa State, Poteat coached cornerbacks at Wisconsin in 2021 and 2022 under head coach Paul Chryst. In his first year with the Badgers in 2021, both of Wisconsin's full-time starters at cornerback, Faion Hicks and Caesar Dancy-Williams, earned All-Big Ten honors. Both Hicks (a seventh-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos) and Dancy-Williams (signed as an undrafted free agent deal with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022) went on to play in the NFL.
In 2022, Wisconsin finished 10th nationally in total defense (303.5 yards per game) and seventh in the country with 17 interceptions.
Before Wisconsin, Poteat spent several years coaching in the Mid-American Conference, including at Toledo from 2017 through 2020 and at Kent State in 2015 and 2016. In his first season at Toledo in 2017, working under head coach Jason Candle, Poteat helped the Rockets earn the MAC championship, as the defense ranked No. 22 nationally in passing efficiency defense. While at Toledo, Poteat coached Samuel Womack and Ka’dar Hollman — both players went on to be NFL Draft picks.
He served under head coach Paul Haynes at Kent State and coached three All-MAC cornerbacks in two seasons (Najee Murray, Jerrell Foster and Demetrius Monday).
In 2013 and 2014, Poteat worked as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Pittsburgh, under Chryst. Poteat graduated from Pittsburgh in 2011 and earned a bachelor’s degree in social sciences.
Poteat began his coaching career as a cornerbacks coach at Kentucky Christian (NAIA) in 2011 and 2012.
As a player, Poteat played collegiately for Pittsburgh as a cornerback and kick returner from 1996 through 1999. He received first-team All-Big East accolades as a junior and senior, and broke multiple program records as a kick returner.
He was drafted in the third round (77th overall) of the NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2000. He earned a Super Bowl ring as a member of the 2004 New England Patriots. Additionally, Poteat played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets and Cleveland Browns throughout his professional career.
Poteat's son, Tre Poteat, currently is a freshman defensive back at Tennessee in 2025.
