So, today MSU finally announced Jim Bollman as offensive coordinator.

There's a few interesting details about it. First, he's going to be co-offensive coordinator with Dave Warner, and Warner will be the main playcaller with Bollman focusing on more on the planning and executing aspect of the job. Warner also will be runningbacks coach now and Brad Salem will move over to quarterbacks coach. Also Dantonio made Narduzzi assistant head coach and will officially be the guy to handle things if Dantonio ever has to miss anything, similar to Narduzzi in 2010.

First, let's talk Bollman. I know some people were less than thrilled with this hire, but I personally love it and have been hoping for him since October (you TOC'ers who frequent OTE know this pretty well). First, he won't be calling the plays, which was his biggest criticism at OSU. He has familiarity with many on the staff, including Dantonio, Mannie, Salem, Warner, and Staten and I see that as a huge plus. He bolsters our recruiting in Ohio given his history at Youngstown State and OSU, which is an improvement over Gill and Roushar, despite OSU people saying he's a lazy recruiter. He also brought in some good recruits to MSU in the mid-90s and helped coach up great lineman like Flozell Adams. Also, being a disciple of Jim Tressel, we know he will build an offense around being committed to running the ball and clock control which is what we need, instead of having Maxwell throw the ball a ton of times last year in obvious passing downs.

Next is Warner. I really like adding him as co-coordinator, as it minimizes the risks of Bollman while helping to maintain some continuity with who's running our offense. He helped develop Hoyer and Cousins into good quarterbacks. He was a passing game coordinator at multiple places, among them being Houston and the expectation is he'll be working more with the passing game while Bollman focuses on the running game. He has experience as an OC at UConn under Randy Edsall. Unlike Roushar who's offenses at Illinois made me skeptical of his ability when promoted here, if you look at UConn's offensive performances in 1999 and 2000, you'll notice that UConn's offense generally wasn't the problem and in 1999 when UConn's talent level was on a level playing field they scored at least 20 points in 8 of their games and that defense was the main problem they lost their games. 2000 was their first FBS year and they still scored a good amount of points. Also he's working more with his area of expertise, whereas Roushar had to handle the entire offense. Bollman will be a good guide as Warner learns more about being an OC at a Big Ten school. I am a bit worried about runningbacks because Salem did such a good job with Baker and Bell, but at this point I'm more than willing to give Salem a chance.

Salem at quarterbacks coach is a great move if you're going to shuffle things up. He was quarterback and has more experience as quarterbacks coach than anywhere else on offense. He's also done a great job with the running backs and recruits well enough that I think he'll handle the job pretty well.

Narduzzi's move is interesting. It was already assumed he was the #2 guy on staff but now it's official. It seems like Coach Dantonio wants to groom him into taking over the MSU job someday. It also kind of affirms his loyalty to the program and the mutual commitment between him and MSU. I think this move will help us keep him longer and don't have anything negative to say about it.

In summation, I'm thrilled with this. I was a bit skeptical of Coach Dantonio after last year but he's really impressed me with these moves. He picked a guy he knows well and has won on a national level with, while adjusting the situation so that Bollman and Warner compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses. He also has got MSU in a position to keep Narduzzi for the foreseeable future.

What does TOC think about all of this: good, bad, meh? Would love to hear the community's opinions on the moves now that everything is final. Also thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and respond to it.