Before the snow had melted, Bollman had a decision to make once he received word from MSU head coach Mark Dantonio – another longtime co-worker and close personal friend – gauging his interest for the vacancy left by former offensive coordinator Dan Roushar’s departure to the NFL.

Forty-five days later, Bollman’s hiring to the MSU staff as the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach was made official.

“If I had time to stop and think about it I guess there would be some unusual feelings,” Bollman said. “Because honestly, I have not thought about it much.”

What could easily have resulted in an awkward situation hasn’t produced any hard feelings, according to Hazell, whose 1-5 Boilermakers travel to Spartan Stadium for a noon contest on Saturday.

Hazell said he understood the dynamic of Bollman being able to return to MSU for his second coaching stint at the school and noted the two have “a great relationship.”

“He’s a great man, a great man of faith and a good person and a good football coach,” Hazell said of Bollman.

“When he made the decision to leave our staff and to go to Michigan State, I was in very much support because him and Dantonio’s wives are best friends and those guys have a great relationship. They’ve worked at three jobs together. I have no malice for Jim Bollman, I love the guy.”

Bollman was just beginning to get to know some of the offensive players in his brief stint with the Boilermakers before leaving, he said. Due to the timing of the moves, he barely dove into the football side of things with most of his attention focused on winter conditioning and recruiting.

It was the special opportunity to return to East Lansing and work with Dantonio again that swayed Bollman to make the jump, he said. However, Bollman acknowledged the difficulty of leaving Purdue’s staff that includes coaches Bollman considers lifelong friends.

“This is a very unique situation to have gone this far back as mark and I have gone and the relationship that we’ve had and (to) be able to come here and work for him,” Bollman said. “This has been a very unique and very nice thing for myself and my family.”

Play-calling duties this season were assigned to co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Dave Warner, but Dantonio has credited Bollman this season with helping improve the offensive line play alongside position coach Mark Staten as well as the running game.

MSU currently ranks 10th in the Big Ten in total offense and scoring offense.

Dantonio, who was “thrilled” when Bollman decided to ditch Purdue for the Spartans, previously worked with him at MSU under former coach Nick Saban, Youngstown State and Ohio State.

“He knows the traditions here, so I think there was a feeling of comfort when he decided to come back here,” Dantonio said. “He knew what he was going to be working for. He knew a lot of coaches on our staff. Mark Staten was his graduate assistant at Ohio State when he was there. It was just a process of being comfortable.”