Michigan State set to hire Wisconsin's Devon Spalding as running backs coach
Spalding is a Michigan native. More on his background here.
Michigan State is expected to hire Devon Spalding as running backs coach, sources tell Spartans Illustrated. He will join head coach Pat Fitzgerald's inaugural staff in East Lansing in 2026.
John Brice of FootballScoop was the first to report that MSU was targeting Spalding.
Spalding most recently worked at Wisconsin for the past three seasons (2023 through 2025) under head coach Luke Fickell.
With Wisconsin, Spalding is listed as the lead recruiter for four running backs, according to 247Sports: four-star Dilin Jones (class of 2024), four-star Darrion Dupree (class of 2024), three-star Qwantavius Wiggins (class of 2026) and three-star Gideon Ituka (class of 2024).
In 2025, Dupree, Jones and Ituka all recorded at least 60 carries and 255 rushing yards, with Dupree and Jones each scoring two rushing touchdowns. Dupree led the Badgers with 363 rushing yards.
In 2024, Spalding's second year with Wisconsin, he helped guide running back Tawee Walker to 864 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. That year, he also mentored Dupree, who recorded 79 carries for 317 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman.
In his first season with the Badgers in 2023, Spalding coached Braelon Allen to All-Big Ten second-team honors. Allen amassed 984 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. Allen finished his career at UW with 3,494 career rushing yards, which ranks ninth in Wisconsin program history. Allen went on to become a fourth-round draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, as he was selected by the New York Jets with the 134th overall pick.
Additionally in 2023, Spalding mentored Chez Mellusi, who recorded 306 rushing yards and four touchdowns in four games that year before a season-ending injury cut his season short. Running backs Jackson Acker (322 rushing yards and two touchdowns) and Cade Yacamelli (169 rushing yards) were contributors for the Badgers that season as well.
Before Wisconsin, Spalding spent the 2020 through 2022 seasons at Youngstown State under head coach Doug Phillips. While with the Penguins, Spalding coached running back Jaleel McLaughlin to Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2022 after he rushed for 1,588 yards that season. Additionally, McLaughlin earned first-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference accolades in 2021, as he tallied 1,139 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.
McLaughlin also set the NCAA all-division career rushing yardage record with 8,166 yards during his career, which included two years at Notre Dame College and two years Youngstown State. McLaughlin currently plays in the NFL for the Denver Broncos.
In 2019, Spalding served as a graduate assistant for Cincinnati under Fickell. The Bearcats went 11-3 that season, and won the Birmingham Bowl.
Spalding is a Canton, Michigan native. He played high school ball at John Glenn High School in Westland, Michigan and played collegially at Central Michigan. Throughout his college career at CMU from 2014 through 2018, Spalding played running back and wide receiver, and recorded 1,457 rushing yards on 307 carries (4.75 yards per carry) and scored 13 touchdowns. He also amassed 80 receptions for 609 receiving yards and one touchdown for the Chippewas. Spalding earned CMUs Dustin Preston Leadership Award in 2018.
