Max Bullough is coming home.
The former Michigan State football All-American linebacker and captain reportedly is returning to the program as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, according to multiple recruiting websites. A source familiar with the negotiations confirmed to the Free Press that talks remained ongoing as of Wednesday night.
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New MSU coach Pat Fitzgerald also is retaining Joe Rossi for a third season. Rossi, who is due $1.7 million over each of the next two seasons, was hired away from Minnesota by Jonathan Smith in 2024 and signed a contract extension in August that runs through 2027.
Notre Dame linebackers coach Max Bullough screams in a drill during a practice Friday, August 2, 2024, at the Irish Athletics Center in South Bend.
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Bullough, a 33-year-old rising star in the coaching ranks, has been coaching linebackers at Notre Dame the past two seasons after serving as a graduate assistant for Irish coach Marcus Freeman in 2023.
Bullough and the Irish lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game after the 2024 season, finishing 14-2. They went 10-2 this season but declined to play in a bowl game after being left out of the 12-team playoff.
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Prior to his three years at Notre Dame, Bullough held a graduate assistant position under Nick Saban at Alabama (2020-22) and Luke Fickell at Cincinnati (2019) following three seasons playing for the Houston Texans (2014-16).
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The Bullough name is football royalty at MSU.
His paternal grandfather, Henry “Hank” Bullough, played for Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty from 1951-54 then returned to join Daugherty’s staff from 1959-69. Hank Bullough would move into the NFL ranks from 1970-93, as well as a one-year stint as head coach of the USFL’s Pittsburgh Maulers in 1984 and two years as the Buffalo Bills’ head coach from 1985-86, and finished his coaching career as an assistant on George Perles’ final staff in 1994.
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In the interim, Hank’s two sons Shane (1983-86) and Chuck (1988-91) played under Perles, as did Max’s uncle Bobby Morse (1983-86). Shane married Morse’s sister, Lee Ann, and all four of their children became Spartan athletes.
A Traverse City native, Bullough played for Mark Dantonio at MSU from 2010-13 and was a two-time captain, a two-time Big Ten champion and a two-time All-Big Ten and All-America selection. However, Bullough was suspended for his final game for still unspecified “violation of team rules” and did not play in the Spartans’ Rose Bowl win over Stanford on Jan. 1, 2014. He finished his MSU career with 30½ tackles for a loss (15th all-time) and 299 total tackles (19th).
Bullough, who before the 2014 NFL draft declined to elaborate on why he was suspended for the Rose Bowl, also hit with a four-game suspension from the NFL in May 2017 for violation of the league’s performance enhancing drugs policy. He was released by the Texans before training camp that season.
Two of Max’s younger brothers, Riley (2013-16) and Byron (2014-18), both played for Dantonio. Their younger sister, Holly, also ran cross country and track at MSU (2016-20).
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Bullough’s maternal grandfather, Jim Morse, played for Notre Dame from 1954-56.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Report: Michigan State football alum Max Bullough back as assistant
