EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Mark Dantonio and Jim Bollman took in Michigan State's basketball win over Wisconsin last week from Dantonio's two lower-level seats at the Breslin Center, the first of many public appearances the old friends are soon to make together.

When MSU begins spring football drills Tuesday, Dantonio and Bollman will be coaching together for the fourth time - after previous stints together at Youngstown State (1986-90), MSU (1995-97) and Ohio State (2001-03). Dantonio recently hired Bollman to serve as his co-offensive coordinator in tandem with Dave Warner.

"He's like a brother," Dantonio said of Bollman, "so you sit there and know a guy so well, you know when he's joking or not. It's nice to have a person like that back and he's loyal, not just to me but to Michigan State as well because he's been here."

Indeed, Bollman said, MSU was a lure along with the chance to work again with Dantonio.

"I've been very fortunate to have had that 11-year stay in Columbus," said Bollman, who was at OSU in 2001-11, "but as I said to (Dantonio) when I drove into town, going around town it felt like I was home."