
Wings stifle Fudd-Bueckers relationship questions
Wings shut down questions about Fudd and Bueckers' relationship
Max Bullough returns to Michigan State as a linebackers coach, bringing a rich family legacy in the program. At 34, he is eager to lead his group and instill lessons from his own playing days.
East Lansing ā Itās 6:30 a.m. but the energy is high inside Michigan State footballās practice facility as Max Bullough barks out orders to his group of linebackers who watch him with rapt attention. At 34 years old, the Traverse City native looks as though he could go through these drills himself. He probably wants to.
Now, the former two-time MSU captain Bullough returns to East Lansing. To the same stomping grounds where his grandfather Hank once plodded the sidelines for Duffy Daugherty. Where his father Shane once captained a team for George Perles. Where he and his brothers Riley and Byron each played for Mark Dantonio, including Maxās captaincy of the 2013 team that won a Big Ten championship and earned a ticket to the Rose Bowl.
Max Bullough is entering his first season on the Michigan State coaching staff.
A Rose Bowl he never got to play in.
With Bullough, it felt like a matter of when, and not if, a homecoming would occur on the sidelines. And with that reunion would come the inevitable question: Why did his career end a game early, suspended from the Rose Bowl his senior season?
āYeah, youāve been dying to ask that one,ā Bullough said. āHereās my answer to that one:
āThat was 13 years ago, right. So my focus and my energy and my attention is on the 2026 Spartans, and my beautiful wife, Bailey, and my four boys Rocky, Teddy, Banks and Murphy. Weāll leave the past where the past is. It has nothing to do with what weāre doing moving forward, and so letās talk about the 2026 Spartans.ā
Now that thatās out of the way.
As much as Bullough doesnāt want to talk about the past, itās what his very hire harkens back to. Heās here to help revive a storied program that means so much to him that he has āSpartansā tattooed across both arms. He gets to raise a family where his family has played and coached, and where his grandmother, Lou Ann Bullough, still gets to every Michigan State basketball game she can. What would it mean for his grandfather to know he came back to join the coaching ranks?
āI donāt know how much he would tell me or not. You never got that much out of him that way,ā Bullough said. āBut I think at the end of the day, I think it would mean a lot.ā
The first thing you notice about Bullough is his intensity, especially for Michigan State football. At least that was the case for new head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who had Bullough wrap up the first team meeting of the year for a new group trying to rise above 4-8 mediocrity a year ago.
āI gave him 90 seconds, I think he went 15 minutes,ā Fitzgerald said Feb. 4. āGetting to know Max through the evaluation process when I was putting the staff together, you could sense very quickly his pride ā beyond the double bicep ā for the Spartan football program, the state of Michigan, his time here, and what he wanted to bring back, and that was toughness.ā
Bulloughās part in an illustrious past for this program ā in four years he went 40-12 and captained the Spartans his junior and senior years, an honor that means a great deal to him ā is a major cultural building block for a staff trying to reestablish principles of the era of Dantonio, who is around more often since Fitzgerald got the job. Thankfully it all worked out, Fitzgerald says.
āHeās got a bright future ahead of himself in his career, and we wanted to make sure,ā Fitzgerald said, ācoming here is obviously easy to say of course, heād want to come home. But it also had to fit looking at his three-, five-, 10-year plan for his career.ā
Bullough was brought in for the next two seasons on a contract paying him $750,000 per year. When he stepped on campus as an assistant coach was only the second time heād stepped food on campus since he graduated. The other time was when he was an honorary captain in 2015.
āThereās a lot of new buildings, this whole place,ā Bullough said. āThatās the question yāall should ask. This place looks completely different.ā
In Bullough, though, thereās a connection to history that feels further and further following four straight losing seasons.
āHeās brought energy, brought enthusiasm. He brings a lineage,ā defensive coordinator Joe Rossi said April 7. āHe understands what it means to be a Spartan, not only him but his family. So itās been awesome.ā
As an understudy to Rossi, Bullough is listed as a co-defensive coordinator in addition to his role as linebackers coach. Not only does that free up Rossi to āroamā around practices and observe his entire defense (last season, Rossi filled that linebackers coach role), Bullough also gains experience for later in his coaching career that has been impressive through stops at Notre Dame and Alabama. Heās a riser, of whom coaches and players speak highly.
Playing for Mike Vrabel while with the Houston Texans watered the genetic coaching seed in Bullough. It was at Notre Dame that Bullough really fell in love with being a college coach.
āOnce I was able to get to Notre Dame and have my own room,ā Bullough said, āwhich is where the magic comes for me, like when youāre able to coach your own room and have your own guys. Like the connection that youāre able to build with guys that are this 18 to 22 years old, especially when weāre able to bring (our) own guys in. Watch them come in, watch them develop, and see what they turn into in terms of football players and in terms of men.ā'
Men who make mistakes, like he did with whatever incident caused him to be suspended for the biggest game of his career, as perhaps the most important player to that team. Thatās not an incident he uses as an example for his players who face trying times, he says, but he does use his life experience as a model for the young men following him, including linebacker Jordan Hall, who likely will be a two-year captain just like his coach this upcoming fall.
āThe message to Jordan is, people are drawn to you, brother, what energy are you giving back?ā Bullough said. āBecause you gotta be on it all the time. There isnāt any time where you can where itās like you can be down. You have to be on it all the time.ā
Bullough said there was one incident early in spring ball that Hall was frustrated he got pulled for a teammate to play. He got frustrated, didnāt handle it well. The next time it happened, Bullough says Hall became an asset on the sidelines.
āI think thatās a testament to the kind of guy he is and the teammate heās striving to be,ā Bullough said. ā... He made a mistake the one day, and he got better from it. He's helped me a lot. And, I mean, I can admit that. I know he and Coach Rossi are very close and that he knows Coach Rossiās defense like the back of his hand. I have no problem asking āJordan, how do yāall see this? How did we do this last year?āā
āIf you guys notice, any of the drills heās like right behind us, almost mirroring everything that we do,ā Hall said March 17. āVery passionate. I mean, just a great ball-knower.ā
@ConnorEaregood
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Max Bullough brings lineage, lessons for Michigan State defense
Max Bullough is serving as a linebackers coach for the Michigan State football team.
Max Bullough has a deep family legacy at Michigan State, with his grandfather, father, and brothers all having played or coached for the program.
Max Bullough was a two-time captain and led the team to a Big Ten championship and a Rose Bowl appearance in 2013.
Max Bullough is 34 years old and is a Traverse City native with a strong football lineage in his family.

Wings shut down questions about Fudd and Bueckers' relationship
Bernardo Silva will leave Manchester City after a legendary career.
See every story in Sports ā including breaking news and analysis.