Ron Burton named MSU defensive line coach

As broken by CoachingSearch.com (my employer), MSU has hired Air Force defensive line coach Ron Burton to replace Ted Gill at MSU.

The background info on Burton:

Burton just finished his 10th year at Air Force. He replaces veteran Ted Gill, whose contract was not renewed, the school announced two weeks ago.

Burton played defensive line at North Carolina from 1982-86 before four seasons in the NFL as a linebacker. After two seasons as a graduate assistant at UNC, he took the defensive backs job at Morehead State in 1994.

From there, he went to Eastern Michigan and spent two seasons as linebackers coach. He was the linebackers coach at Indiana from 1997-01, producing two Butkus Award nominees.

His ties to the state of Michigan continue at Grand Valley State, where he was the defensive line coach on the 2002 Division II national championship team.

As for what the hire means? I don't know. Mark Dantonio said in a statement that Burton was "dynamic" in the interview process, and Hondo Carpenter says he's a very high-energy guy who will work well with Pat Narduzzi.

Gill was the third Dantonio assistant to leave MSU (Dan Enos, Don Treadwell), but Gill is the first not leaving for a head coaching job. Dantonio has declined comment on why ties were cut with Gill, but former players were not too happy about it.

One of the downsides with Gill was that he didn't recruit much. Can Burton recruit? It's hard to tell with a coach from a service academy. But with the upcoming deregulations, recruiting is going to get a lot crazier.

I wouldn't read too much into Burton's 3-4 experience, finding multiple, skilled, DT-sized players at a military academy must be impossible.

— Heck Dorland (@HeckAtTOC) February 8, 2013