Posted by: Chris Vannini on February 13, 2013

Football coaches often use home basketball games as a showcase to recruits during winter and spring visits.

But when it was confirmed that Brady Hoke and Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison would be attending Tuesday night's Michigan-Michigan State game in East Lansing with their wives, it raised some eyebrows. You don't see many coaches attend road games.

MSU had a number of big football recruits at the game, and NCAA rules prevented the Michigan coaches from speaking to them. The Michigan coaches didn't sit in a luxury box, either. They went behind the U-M bench - right in the middle of the MSU student section.

The MSU fans threw a lot of verbal jabs at their rival's coach, which resulted in this hilarious photo when Hoke went to his seat:

How did Mark Dantonio handle Hoke wandering into his territory? He walked down the arena stairs to a standing ovation from MSU fans, went right over to Hoke, gave him a handshake and the two said a few words to each other. Nothing awkward here.

The MSU students had the last laugh, as the Spartans won the basketball game 75-52.

(Photo via @HondoCarpenter)

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Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com