Michigan State hires former Bills assistant as new cornerbacks coach
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker said earlier this week that he anticipated hiring a new defensive backs assistant coach “fairly quickly.”
He held true to those words on Thursday when he announced that Jim Salgado, formerly with the Buffalo Bills, is joining Michigan State as the cornerbacks coach.
Salgado will assist Harlon Barnett, who oversees the secondary and will continue to focus on safeties. Salgado was not on the sidelines for Thursday’s practice at Michigan State, which was the second of 15 practices for the spring. Michigan State’s next practice will be on Saturday.
Salgado fills a vacancy on the staff created by Brandon Jordan’s departure for the Seattle Seahawks on March 4. Jordan served as the team’s pass rush coach for one year.
During that year, Tucker served double-duty as head coach and cornerbacks coach. With Tucker hiring Salgado, Tucker will relinquish his role as cornerbacks coach but told SpartanMag.com on Monday that he will still be highly involved in working with cornerbacks.
Salgado will be Michigan State’s fourth cornerbacks coach in four years. Barnett served as cornerbacks coach in 2020, Tucker’s first year as the Spartans’ head man. Barnett moved to safeties coach when Mike Tressel left to become defensive coordinator at Cincinnati. To fill that vacancy, Michigan State hired Travares Tilllman for the 2021 season to be cornerbacks coach. Tillman left Michigan State to become cornerbacks coach at Georgia Tech last year. To fill that vacancy, Tucker hired Jordan as pass rush coach and took on the coaching of cornerbacks himself for one year.
As for Salgado, he spent the past six years with the Buffalo Bills (2017-22). He was fired by the Bills on Jan. 26.
Salgado worked three years as a defensive assistant and was promoted to nickelbacks coach in 2022 and was the Bills’ safeties coach in 2022.
“Jim Salgado is an excellent, experienced football coach,” Tucker said in a statement released at 7:20 p.m. “I’m really impressed with his football knowledge. He comes highly recommended from one of my mentors, Leslie Frazier, and together they coached some of the top defenses in the NFL at Buffalo.”
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Major College Football Playoff implications
The Bills had the No. 1 defense in the NFL in 2021.
Prior to coaching for the Bills, Salgado spent 23 seasons coaching at the college level, including stops at Princeton and Syracuse.
“Jim also has coordinator experience at the collegiate level, and really made a difference at Princeton, helping that program to two league titles,” Tucker said. “He has really good connections and can recruit nationally. He also has a great relationship with Harlon Barnett, so I’m excited to see them work together in the secondary.”
Salgado coached at Princeton for seven seasons, including four as defensive coordinator from 2013-16.
He served as defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator from 2010 to 2013.
He helped Princeton win Ivy League championships in 2013 and ’16.
At the major college level, Salgado worked as defensive backs coach at Syracuse from 2005-08 under former head coach Greg Robinson. Robinson’s Syracuse teams went 10-37 in four years before he and his staff were let go in 2008.
Salgado coached linebackers at Cornell in 2009.
He also worked as an assistant coach from 1994 to 2003 at Northeastern, Hofstra, Millersville, Boston University and Western Connecticut.
He played cornerback at Hofstra from 1990-93, where he was a three-year starter and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
