Michigan State Football assistant coach departs for NFL job

Michigan State football, once again, has a hole on its coaching staff as quarterback coach Mike Bajakian will join Todd Monken and his new staff with the Cleveland Browns.

During his time with the Spartans, Bajakian worked hard forming new relationships between the Spartans staff and existing high school prospects. Bajakian was seen in many pictures while on the road recruiting some of the top quarterbacks in the 2027 class.

In early December, Bajakian was hired by the green and white. This was after a brief stint with UMass as their offensive coordinator where the Minutemen averaged 11.1 points per game, 165.1 passing yards per game, and 82.4 rushing yards per game under Bajakian’s leadership — 11.1 points per game was actually the worst in all of FBS football this past season.

At Northwestern, Pat Fitzgerald hired Bajakian as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator. For four seasons, Bajakian led Northwestern’s offense and in 2023, Northwestern averaged 22.1 points and 303.9 yards per game.

Bajakian worked with Monken in Tampa Bay during the 2016-18 seasons. Now, Monken is the head coach of the Browns and hires Bajakian for the same role he had in Tampa Bay 10 years ago.

With the Buccaneers, Bajakian took over an explosive offense with Jameis Winston as his quarterback.  Each year from 2016-18, Winston’s numbers decreased. In 2016 under Bajakian, Winston threw for over 4,000 passing yards, and 28 passing touchdowns. Those numbers only decreased as the seasons went on however, until Bajakian was fired after the 2018 season.

Michigan State has another hole to fill now with Bajakian’s departure. It is considered a good and a bad thing by the fanbase alike, as many Spartan fans are questioning Bajakian’s involvement in the first place, while others are celebrating Bajakian’s abrupt announcement due to his underwhelming resume.

Bajakian’s two-year, $775,000 deal will not be paid out by Michigan State, as Bajakian is taking a “primary on-field assistant position” with an NFL team.