Bullough, along with secondary coach Paul Haynes and assistant secondary/special teams/freshman coach Don Treadwell, were hired by head coach Mark Dantonio this offseason to fill three vacant defensive assistant coach sports after the departures of Harlon Barnett and Mark Snyder.

Bullough has been a coach in the NFL and college football for the past 22 years, most recently as the defensive line coach for Eastern Michigan University for the past two years.

But to come back to his alma mater, where he played from 1988-91 and was a graduate assistant with Dantonio from 1997-98, “is special.” 

“My dad had a stroke, so he’s had tough times, and didn’t quite understand that I was coaching here,” Bullough said. “So I took him up to the office. And now I think he realizes. So it was kind of a special moment for my mom, my dad and myself.” 

While Bullough is making his first stint as an assistant coach for MSU, Haynes and Treadwell are returning for a second and third stint.

Haynes comes back after he served as head coach of his alma mater, Kent State, for the previous five seasons.

Haynes also became the defensive backs coach at Ohio State University in 2005, which was two years after Dantonio was the defensive coordinator for the Buckeyes, something his wife took notice of.

“My wife said, ‘I hope you get a chance to work for him,’” Haynes said. “It’s been good.” 

Treadwell said even being in his third stint as an assistant coach, he still has to transition into his role, but more so with the players than anything else. He said this gives him more time to focus on the players because he’s familiar with everything else which goes into this program.

“That’s the fun part of it, of what we do,” Treadwell said. “It does give us more time to quickly get immersed into getting that relationship part with the players and getting to know them, and from that perspective and for them getting to know us.” 

Bullough said a lot has changed since he racked up his 391 career tackles, which ranks sixth all-time in MSU history, including the facilities that are now more “aesthetic” and not just concrete walls.

“They have pictures on the lockers. We used to have cages,” Bullough said, laughing. “So they’ve done a great job of the facilities here, and that’s just the way big time college football is now.” 

Haynes, who was MSU’s secondary coach from 2003-04, said he’s not trying to change what previous defensive backs coach Barnett and others have done. Instead, he’s trying to build off their success.

“I told those guys, ‘I’m not a big ego guy, that you say this is how it has to be done,’” Haynes said. “I talked to Khari (Willis), I talked to David (Dowell), I talked to all these guys and said, ‘Hey, how was it done here before?’ It hasn’t been broken. So I’m not coming in changing it.

“But I want to know how they did it before, and if there are ways I can do it better, or change even the wording of it to maybe explain it better, that’s all I’m doing.”

For Treadwell, the 2018 season will be the first time he takes the reins as a defensive assistant. He said, however, being a former wide receiver and offensive coach, can give his defensive players an offensive perspective.

“Especially in 1-on-1 type of things, I’ll explain to them maybe a little more indepth, what this what the offensive guy is trying to do to you,” Treadwell said. “And then as you absorb what coach Dantonio, coach Tressel, coach Haynes ... expects, then you can kind of just chime in as you move along to kind of assist them in various ways.” 

Bullough said the number one thing he wants to bring to this program is to get more “ball structure,” which means always getting hands up for tipped passes and stripping the ball when going for the quarterback or running back, instead of going for only a tackle. And to instill attitude, effort and enthusiasm in the team.

“I call it a brainwashing process,” Bullough said. “It doesn’t happen in ten practices. It happens over spring ball, in between spring ball and then training camp.” 

Bullough said this process is much easier to sell to players and recruits since he’s been in their shoes before.

Which, for Bullough, is a dream come true.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. No one ever leaves the staff. (Dantonio) is such a good guy and such a good coach,” Bullough said. “Finally it happened, and the stars aligned. And it’s been awesome.”