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Michigan State hires chief of staff Jacob Schmidt

On3 imageby: Jason Killop3 hours agoKillopOn3

Michigan State hired Jacob Schmidt as its new chief of staff, sources told SpartanMag.

Schmidt will join Pat Fitzgerald’s off-field staff and serve as a key piece of the Spartans’ recruiting operation. Schmidt formerly served as Northwestern’s executive director of recruiting. He began his career as a director of player development for the Wildcats in 2012, and was later promoted to director of football operations.

A Rhinelander, Wisc., native, Schmidt played five seasons at Northwestern before joining its staff. He walked-on as a running back with Wildcats in 2007.

In 2022, Schmidt left his role on staff to launch a university-backed collective called TrueNU. Under Schmidt’s leadership, TrueNU raised roughly $25 million that went to athletes across all 21 varsity sports, according to Wildcat Report.

Schmidt and Northwestern shut down TrueNU after the new revenue sharing rules came into effect on July 1.

“I can’t speak to anybody else’s collective, but our collective had been maxed out,” Northwestern athletic director Mark Jackson told The Inside Zone in August.

Schmidt will bring to Michigan State years of experience in NIL and the business aspect of recruiting. The move marks Fitzgerald’s first off-field hire of his tenure. Michigan State general manager Cole Moore and director of recruiting communications Malik Gill, among others, continue to work inside the football building.

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