EAST LANSING — Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Jim Michalczyk heard all about Michigan State from his mother, Maxine.
She graduated as a medical technician and was a proud Spartan who moved west from her hometown of Milwaukee to Seattle after getting married in 1965. Her husband Joe got a job there as an engineer for Boeing.
Their only son, Jim, was born in May of the following year. Her beloved alma mater won its last national football championship in the fall of 1966. He has heard her “Go Green” song from her all her life.
“I grew up hearing about the Spartans,” Michalczyk said Tuesday. “I’m a West Coast kid, I’ve lived my whole life on the West Coast, and she was always talking about the Spartans and the Big Ten.”
Maxine passed away in 2012, just before Mark Dantonio was resurrected and brought MSU back to the national stage. Now, Michalczyk is following new head coach Jonathan Smith to his mother's old college campus to help revive the long-sluggish run game that was once the pride of the Spartans across the country.
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MSU's 89.5 rushing yards per game last season ranked 125th out of 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision and was the worst ground output in school history. The Spartans' 81.3 rushing yards per game through nine league games ranked last in the Big Ten and their worst ground output in conference competition since 2006, when they allowed just 66.0 yards per game. Three of Mel Tucker's four seasons.
Things reached a nadir in MSU's last game in November, a 42-0 loss to Penn State, the second shutout loss in a 4-8 season. The Spartans had 53 yards of total offense, the worst for a single-game program. His minus-35 rushing yards were the second-fewest in school history, and his five first downs were the fourth-fewest.
With Michalczyk as the new run game coordinator, Oregon State's offense finished the season ranked 57th in the nation in average rushing yards of 167.1.
“It's a completely different offense, a completely different scheme, just doing most of our blocking differently,” MSU returning junior right guard Geno Vandemark said of the differences under coach Michalczyk. “And of course, this is football, so there will be some overlap with certain concepts and so on. But it's almost completely different. …
“I think it's more running-based, I would say. Running through people rather than the traditional blocks, which is probably what most people think of when they see this. .”
Michalczyk, 57, was nominated for the Broyles Award last season as the nation's top assistant coach, and his Beavers were one of 12 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, given annually to college football's top offensive line. It was two. He had four of his linemen earn All-Pac-12 honors.
The group Michalczyk inherited at MSU is relatively young. Vandemark is one of two starters returning up front, along with senior left tackle Brandon Baldwin. Right tackle Ethan Boyd also started three games late last season, and senior Dallas Fincher also started one game at center. Starting center Nick Sammack and left guard JD Duplain have graduated, and second-year starting right tackle Spencer Brown has transferred to Oklahoma. Another experienced reserve, guard Kevin Widgenton, also left the program for Illinois State.
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This creates an opportunity for younger players to increase their minutes and starts. In addition to Boyd and Fincher, third-year linemen (Christian “Big Dooley” Phillips, Gavin Brosius and Ashton Repo are among them) and high-profile players who redshirted last fall. It's a big group with two freshmen (Stanton Ramil and Cole Dellinger).
“Jim has a good mix of guys in different spots on the O-line,” Smith said of Michalczyk on Tuesday. “So they're learning and growing there. … It's a whole new scheme. We're asking them to do some different things, but they're definitely working on it. is.”
Michalczyk will follow Smith to MSU along with four other offensive coaches, including offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, running backs/assistant head coach Keith Bonafa, and tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator Brian Wozniak. did. Along with them, second-team All-Pac-12 right guard Tanner Miller, a veteran of Smith's offense, tight end Jack Belling and quarterback Aidan Chiles also transferred.
Miller, who played guard for the Beavers last season and played center on MSU's first unit against the Chiles, insisted that the offensive style Smith and Michalczyk are looking for up front is “smash mouth” football.
“We're going to do it. There's no question about that,” said Miller, who won by default. We do not intend to simply allow victory; we will actively pursue victory. I love that part. ”
What's the biggest lesson Michalczyk has taught MSU veterans on the front lines so far?
“Let's focus on where we need to be and get people moving,” Vandemark said. “That's his No. 1 objective and we have to move them. That's our job.”
Michalczyk played offensive guard at Washington State from 1984 to 1988 and spent two seasons with the Oakland Raiders from 2009 to 2010. Most of his career was spent coaching offensive lines at Oregon State (twice), Montana State, California (twice) and Arizona State.
During his first stint with the Beavers from 1999 to 2001, Smith blossomed into a record-breaking starting quarterback in front of the linemen. The two have since developed a strong enough bond that Smith's alma mater was hired in 2018 before Michalczyk was brought back to coach the run game.
“He wasn't the tallest quarterback. Very calm, but very competitive,” Michazulchik said of Smith as a player. “I think some people don't realize his competitive nature. And for me, we've never worked together. I mean, when I was the coach, he was the player. At the time, I was still a young coach and had more hair. Not much more. But he was who he was and was competitive. And then when he got the top job at Oregon State and joined me When I asked for it, it made sense to me.
“I just want to be with good guys and have a chance to win. And I think being with him and being here (MSU) are both.”
Entering his sixth season under Michalczyk, Miller said he hopes to pass on his experience on the coaching staff to his new teammates and help re-establish MSU as one of the best teams in the Big Ten. And some of that starts at the ground level during spring practice and offseason workouts.
“For me, the success of the team is what I want most,” he said. “So, in the long run, we're building a culture here that in five years we can come back and have the same atmosphere that we had when we left. …Obviously, it's all about wins and losses. But… The process of getting here today, how was it today? Have we gotten better? If not, how do we fix it on Thursday? How do we conquer this lift tomorrow? So For me, success is the process of improving every day.”
Michalczyk said the opportunity to come to East Lansing and honor her mother's memory “was a bonus for me.”
“She's smiling somewhere,” he said with a warm smile.
Contact Chris Solari:csolari@freepress.com.follow him @chrysolari.
