Scottie Hazelton left Kansas State for Michigan State and nearly doubled his salary in the process.

Hazelton, who was announced as Mel Tucker’s new defensive coordinator on Feb. 28, will make an annual base salary of $950,000, according to a contract obtained by MLive via a Freedom of Information Act request. He made $550,000 last year as Kansas State’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, according to USATODAY. Michigan State is also paying his buyout of $91,667 to Kansas State.

Mel Tucker was announced as Michigan State’s new coach on Feb. 12, replacing Mark Dantonio, who retired on Feb. 4 after 13 seasons leading the program. Tucker signed a six-year contract with an annual salary of $5.5 million and gets $6 million to spend on his 10 on-field assistants.

Hazelton’s salary is nearly $300,000 more than any Michigan State assistant made last year. Defensive coordinator Mike Tressel, who was retained by Tucker but doesn’t have an announced job title yet, was Dantonio’s highest-paid staff member in 2019 at $667,385. Former Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi had a base salary of $835,000 before leaving to become the head coach at Pittsburgh after the 2014 season.

In announcing Hazelton’s addition to the staff, his official job title is Secchia Family Defensive Coordinator. A university fundraising post from July 2019 referred to it as Michigan State’s first endowed coaching position and it was recently finalized, according to a program spokesman. Peter Secchia and his wife, Joan, are prominent Michigan State donors.

Hazelton’s contract is the third obtained by MLive for Tucker’s assistants. Offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Kapilovic will make $700,000 a year while wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins has an annual salary of $387,000.

The contract Hazelton signed on Feb. 28 is schedule to expire at the earlier of two dates – March 31, 2023 or one year after Tucker is no longer the head coach. Hazelton is also scheduled to receive an annual bonus equal to one month’s base salary.

If Michigan State fires Hazelton without cause, it will owe him the base salary left on the remainder of the contract. The university’s payments would be decreased by the amount he makes if he’s hired for another coaching job. If Hazelton departs Michigan State another job in college or the NFL, he would owe a buyout of $100,000 for leaving on or before the final game of the 2020 season, $75,000 for leaving after the final game of the 2020 season and before the first game of the 2021 season and $50,000 for leaving after the final game of the 2021 season and before the final game of the 2022 season. Hazelton won’t owe a buyout if he leaves to become a head coach at another school.

Hazelton, 46, played at Fort Lewis College and began his coaching career at his alma mater from 1996-99 working with defensive backs and was a graduate assistant at North Dakota State the next two years. After stops at St. Olaf, Missouri Southern and Michigan Tech, he spent five years at North Dakota State (2007-11), the last two as defensive coordinator, including on the 2011 FCS national championship team.

That success led Hazelton to taking his first Power Five job as USC’s linebackers coach in 2012. He spent the following season as Nevada’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach and was an assistant linebackers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2014-16. After three seasons in the NFL, Hazelton returned to college as Wyoming’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2017-18 before leaving for Kansas State.

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