Michigan State's Anelu Lafaele, right, knocks the ball loose while rushing Western Michigan's quarterback Brady Jones during the first quarter on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in East Lansing. Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan State Promotes Assistant to Rush Ends Coach

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Jacob Cotsonika | Last updated Jan 11, 2026 7:00 AM ET

Michigan State's coaching staff is mostly filled in, but there are still some minor, but important, moves to be made.

The latest decision from Pat Fitzgerald's staff is the promotion of Andrew Bindelglass to rush ends coach, according to a report from Ryan O'Bleness of Spartans Illustrated. His bio on Twitter/X also reflects the move. Bindelglass is a holdover from the previous coaching staff and was MSU's assistant linebackers coach last season.

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Having a specific coach for rush ends is one of those unique positions that not every team utilizes. It's designed to be a hybrid between an EDGE defender and a linebacker. Michigan State's best player for the position at the moment is probably Anelu Lafaele, who had two sacks early in 2025 before suffering a season-ending injury.

Bindelglass will be taking over the role from Chad Wilt, who was also the co-special teams coordinator for the Spartans. Wilt accepted a new job as the linebackers coach at Kentucky in late December.

More on Bindelglass

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Even though there is a new staff, that does not mean Bindelglass does not have some strong ties to it. The retention of defensive coordinator Joe Rossi certainly helps.

Bindelglass worked under Rossi at Minnesota, serving as a graduate assistant on the Golden Gophers' staff from 2019-21 before becoming a quality control guy from 2022-23.

Rossi brought Bindelglass with him when he joined Michigan State's staff. Per Bindelglass' MSU bio, he was named a defensive analyst in January 2024 and then promoted to assistant linebackers coach in January 2025. This means Bindelglass has earned a promotion after each of his two years on the job in East Lansing.

Bindelglass also worked with new defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere III in Minnesota. The two overlapped when DeLattiboudere was a fifth-year senior on the Gophers in 2019, and then again in 2023 when DeLattiboudere became the defensive line coach.

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There are also some shorter stints at smaller schools for Bindelglass. He had a brief stint as the outside linebackers coach at Bryant, was a defensive quality control coach at Holy Cross in 2018, and was an assistant secondary coach and video coordinator at Division III Tufts. Bindelglass also used to play cornerback at Tufts and was a student assistant there as well.

Other names to know on Fitzgerald's defensive staff are Max Bullough as linebackers coach, James Adams as safeties coach, and Hank Poteat as cornerbacks coach.