Scott Gregory Hazelton (born December 19, 1973) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He is the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

s coach for

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

, positions he has held since 2025. He also coached for

Fort Lewis Fort Lewis may refer to: * Fort Lewis (Colorado), a former United States Army post (1878–1891) in the U.S. State of Colorado ** Fort Lewis College, a college in the Durango, Colorado, United States ** Fort Lewis Skyhawks, athletic teams of Fort L ...

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...

, St. Olaf,

Missouri Southern Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,087 students in Fall 2023. History Missouri Souther ...

Michigan Tech Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Uppe ...

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played college football for Fort Lewis as a

Playing career and education

Hazelton prepped at Horizon High School in

Thornton, Colorado Thornton is a home rule municipality located in Adams and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 141,867, all in Adams County, at the 2020 United States census, an increase of 19.44% since the 2010 United States cen ...

, from 1989 to 1991. After high school, Hazelton played

Fort Lewis College Fort Lewis College (FLC) is a public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado, and the only four-year and graduate studies institution in the Four Corners region. FLC's historical evolution spans its origins as a U.S. military fort, an Indian ...

where he lettered from 1992 to 1994. He earned a degree in exercise science.

Coaching career

Hazelton began his coaching career with his alma mater,

, as the team's

defensive backs In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

coach. In 1999, he was promoted to interim defensive coordinator. In 2000, he became a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

for

under defensive coordinator

Gus Bradley Paul Casey "Gus" Bradley (born July 5, 1966) is an American football coach who is the current assistant head coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Indian ...

. After finishing his graduate program, Hazelton was hired by St. Olaf as the defensive backs coach, a position he held for two years. He left St. Olaf in 2004 to become the defensive coordinator for Missouri Southern under head coach John Ware. After Ware died and interim head coach Keeth Matheny was not retained he was hired as the

linebackers Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

coach for Michigan Tech in 2006.

North Dakota State (second stint)

In 2007, Hazelton returned to North Dakota State as the defensive line coach. In his first year back with the Bison he helped the defense rank 18th nationally in third down efficiency (33.3%) and 22nd nationally in rushing defense (126.5 ypg). This was all highlighted with wins over FBS opponents

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

44–14 and

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

27–21. A year later the defense led the FCS in pass defense (116.82 ypg), 5th in total defense (254 ypg) and 19th in scoring defense (19.18 ppg). In regards to his position his players ranked 3rd nationally in sacks (3.36 sacks per game) and 5th in tackles for a loss (8.55 TFL per game). 2009 was not a good year for the Bison and Hazelton. The defense forced just three interceptions while ranking 90th in scoring defense and finished 3–8 (2–6). In 2010, Hazelton was promoted to defensive coordinator. His defensive unit greatly improved from 2009 as the Bison ranked 7th nationally in scoring defense (18.21 ppg) and turnover margin (+1.07 avg). As well the defense ranked 15th in pass efficiency and 19th in sacks. The Bison advanced to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs in 2010 for the first time in school history during Hazelton's inaugural season as defensive coordinator which included a win over Big 12 member

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

6–3. In their game against the Jayhawks Hazelton's defense forced 3 turnovers and held them to under 300 yards. 2011 was a banner year for Hazelton and the Bison as they went on to win the FCS National Championship 17–6 over Sam Houston along with finishing the year with a 14–1 (7–1) record. During the playoffs the Bison rode their defense as they gave up just 27 points in four games. The Bison ranked in the top 20 in six different categories including 1st nationally in points allowed (12.73 ppg) and tied for seventh in takeaways with 31 in 15 games. For the second time in four years Hazelton and the Bison beat Big 10 member Minnesota 37–24.

Post-North Dakota State

On February 12, 2012, Hazelton was hired as the linebackers coach for

under head coach

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is the head coach at Ole Miss Rebels football, Ole Miss. Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at USC Trojans football, USC from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the National Foo ...

. Hazelton replaced

Joe Barry Joe Barry (born July 5, 1970) is an American football coach who is the linebackers coach and run game coordinator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). His career includes having served as the assistant head coach and li ...

who left for the NFL. On January 18, 2013, after just one season with USC, Hazelton was hired by

to be the defensive coordinator under head coach Brian Polian. On February 10, 2014, Hazelton was hired as the assistant linebackers coach for the

of the

(NFL); reuniting with head coach

. On January 10, 2017, Hazelton was reunited with another former colleague this time being

Craig Bohl Craig Philip Bohl (born July 27, 1958) is an American retired college football coach and former player. Prior to announcing his retirement from coaching at the conclusion of the 2023 football season, he was the head football coach at the Universi ...

, as Hazelton was hired as the defensive coordinator for

. In his first season, the Wyoming defense was first in the nation in takeaways, ninth in the nation in scoring defense, and first in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

(MW) in sacks. In 2019, the Cowboys again finished in the top-30 in the nation in scoring defense and total defense. 13 defenders earned all-conference honors while Hazelton was coordinator. Hazelton was hired by

under head coach

Chris Klieman Christopher Paul Klieman ( ; born September 27, 1967) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach at Kansas State University, a position he has held since the 2019 season. Klieman served as the head football coach at Nort ...

to be the defensive coordinator. In his one season at Kansas State, his defense ranked second in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

in scoring defense and fourth in the

, a marked improvement for the Wildcat defense over 2019. On February 28, 2020, Hazelton was announced as Michigan State's defensive coordinator in the team's first season under head coach

Mel Tucker Melvin Gene Tucker II (born January 4, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at Michigan State University from 2020 to 2023. Tucker was the interim head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the Na ...

. On June 27, 2024, Hazelton was hired by

as a special assistant to the head coach. In December 2024, Hazelton was hired as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach by Wake Forest under first-year head coach

Jake Dickert Jacob Dickert (born August 23, 1983) is an American college football coach, who is the current head coach at Wake Forest. He was the head coach at Washington State University from 2021–2024. Dickert attended school and played football at the U ...

Personal life

Hazelton is married with four children.

Playing career and education

Coaching career

North Dakota State (second stint)

Post-North Dakota State

Personal life

References

External links