Update February 17, 2020: In a last minute change of heart, Burton has elected to remain at Michigan State. Indiana will instead find another candidate for as their DL Coach.
Per sources, Ron Burton will be joining Indiana as the new DL coach and provide a familiar look to the new look Hoosier Football coaching staff. It was announced one week ago that previous DL coach Mark Hagen will be leaving Bloomington to join the football staff at University of Texas.
Burton’s coaching history
Burton has been part of the coaching staff for Indiana previously between 1997-2001 as the linebackers coach. He has an extensive coaching history starting back in 1992-1993 as a graduate assistant for University of North Carolina, then joining Morehead State in 1994, Eastern Michigan in 1995-1996 before joining Indiana the first time during the Cam Cameron era where the Hoosiers did not have a winning season during both’s time in Bloomington.
He then became the DL coach for Grand Valley State University, helping them to their first Division II National Championship in school history in 2002. Afterwards, he joined the Air Force Academy for 10 years, and has been with Michigan State since 2013.
What to Expect with Burton
Overall, Burton will be a great addition to the coaching staff that head coach Tom Allen is hiring. Burton has had previous success in Bloomington despite having a program that was not very competitive during that era. He was responsible for the development of two Butkus Award nominees, Justin Smith and Jabar Robinson.
At Michigan State he developed one of the strongest defensive lines in the nation and won the 2018 FootballScoop Defensive Line Coaches of the Year Award presented by AstroTurf. Despite a rough year overall for the team, they averaged 81.33 yards per game average which was the lowest of the nation over a two year span and they only allowed eight rushing touchdowns over these years which was one of four teams nationwide.
An example of how strong MSU’s DL was during this time should be when Indiana played MSU September 22, 2018. Stevie Scott III was held to 18 yards total on 11 carries, which was the majority of the Hoosiers’ 29 rushing yards on the day. This was by far the lowest yards per carry Scott had on the season which had more than 1,100 yards on the year.
Burton has had success on the field as a college athlete being a four year letterman at University of North Carolina between 1982-1986 before becoming an undrafted free agent for the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys in 1987-1989, and then joining the Phoenix Cardinals, and Los Angeles Raiders.
