Michigan State’s Mike Garland moves to new role, Mark Montgomery named assistant coach

EAST LANSING -- After making three offseason hires in his program’s biggest staff shakeup in years, Tom Izzo is tweaking his staff once again less than a month before the start of the season.

Mark Montgomery will transition from recruiting coordinator to be one of the program’s three full-time assistant coaches, Izzo announced on Wednesday.

He will take the place of Mike Garland, a longtime Michigan State assistant coach who will now transition to a role as special assistant to the head coach.

Izzo said Garland’s role will involve breaking down film, helping players on an individual level, plus day-to-day running of the program and some on-campus recruiting.

The role will allow him more flexibility, without the responsibility of recruiting travel, and allow him to spend time with his son, who had heart surgery last season.

Garland has spent 22 total seasons as a Michigan State assistant, first serving from 1996-03 and then returning in 2007 following a stint as head coach at Cleveland State.

Garland was a college teammate of Izzo at Northern Michigan.

Montgomery is also starting his second stint with Michigan State. The former Spartans player spent the last 10 seasons as the head coach at Northern Illinois.

Former players Matt McQuaid and Austin Thornton also joined the staff during the offseason, following the departures of assistant coach Dane Fife and video coordinator Drew Denisco.