MADISON, Wis. — The Grand Valley State football spring practices look a bit different this spring.
Matt Mitchell is no longer in charge of Lakers spring ball. He left GVSU to become the special teams coordinator at Wisconsin in January, and he has already made a big difference in Madison.
Mitchell certainly has the experience to get the opportunity to coach at the Division 1 level.
He was on the staff at GVSU for 19 years, the head coach in Allendale for 13 years, and Mitchell certainly knows how to win football games.
Mitchell was one victory shy of tying Brian Kelly's record for the most wins in Grand Valley State football history.
His new head coach, Luke Fickell, already is impressed by Mitchell and believes it is a huge advantage to have a former head coach on his staff at Wisconsin.
"To be able to have another ear, another voice of someone you can sit down with, obviously, run a program," Fickell said. "He's done a lot of those things. It does not matter what kind of program. Doesn't matter if you are a high school head coach. There are some things that are different and ways you have to handle things. I look forward to having that opportunity to have a little bit of a different insight from somebody I haven't had in my career. If you don't have some of those guys that you can bounce some ideas off of, and had been in those situations, I think it would be really difficult."
It's been three months since Mitchell left GVSU to join Fickell's staff.
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