Ben Pirmann Position: Assistant Coach Experience: First Season

Former Spartan midfielder Ben Pirmann joined the MSU coaching staff in the fall of 2011. Pirmann replaced his former collegiate coach Joe Baum, who announced his retirement after nearly four decades on the Spartan sideline.

Pirmann spent the last two seasons (2009-10) as an assistant coach at Western Michigan and was involved in all facets of the Bronco program, with his primary responsibilities including the areas of compliance, recruiting, travel, video analysis, camps and scouting. Pirmann was a large part of the rebuilding process at Western Michigan in those two years, which saw the Broncos return to the upper echelon of the Mid-American Conference. In 2009, WMU doubled its win total from the previous year with a 6-10-1 record and took third in the MAC, going 3-2-1 in league play. Additionally, the Brown & Gold advanced to the conference tournament semifinals for the first time in the last four years.

Western Michigan had one of the most successful seasons in school history in 2010, reaching the conference tournament championship for just the third time ever and finishing as runners-up in the regular season, only behind national champion Akron. The Broncos posted an overall record of 10-8-2, going 4-2-0 in MAC play, and finished the year ranked No. 10 in the Great Lakes Region.

A four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at Michigan State, Pirmann concluded his career with the Spartans in the fall of 2008, helping lead MSU to a Big Ten Championship. Pirmann was also part of the Spartan squad that won the Big Ten title in 2004. He was part of NCAA Tournament teams in 2004, 2007, and 2008.

Pirmann earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Michigan State in May 2008 and also earned a master's degree in kinesiology with a concentration in coaching the following year. During his playing career, Pirmann was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and also earned the team's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award in 2008. The former Spartan midfielder had one career goal and 13 career assists. He took a medical redshirt year in 2007, so he is the only player to play on both of MSU's two Big Ten Championship teams (2004 and 2008). In his career, the Spartans went 4-0 against Michigan and made three NCAA Tournament appearances. "Ben has been a part of some of the most important games and most successful seasons in recent history here at MSU," added Rensing. "Hopefully the current players use Ben's experience as a student-athlete as well as his proficiency as a coach as a great resource. Ben will help us continue to strive for the type of seasons that he enjoyed as an undergrad, and help us build upon our recent successes."

Pirmann, who also played for the West Michigan Edge (2007-08) and Indiana Invaders (2005-06), has been a USSF licensed coach since 2006, and currently holds a National B license. He helped the team as a student assistant coach at Michigan State in his medical redshirt season, and continued his duties following his final playing season while working on his graduate degree. In addition, he has worked a variety of high school and youth camps across the nation, including those at Michigan State and Notre Dame.