Pat Fitzgerald is getting set to be introduced as Michigan State’s next head coach on Tuesday afternoon in East Lansing, and there seems to be palpable excitement about his hiring.
Fans have been cautiously optimistic even though Fitzgerald hasn’t coached a game since 2022, but when he was in his glory days at Northwestern, he was leading the program to new heights. He helped lead Northwestern to big things as a player in the 1990s, but also as a head coach, winning double-digit games multiple times and even making it to the Big Ten title game.
At Northwestern, that’s unheard of.
Fitzgerald was so good in his pre-COVID Northwestern days that NFL teams came calling multiple times, and he was even a candidate for the Michigan job before turning it down in 2011.
Speaking of Michigan, Fitzgerald has been garnering praise from just about everyone in the college football landscape, including some hated rivals. One of those hated rivals is former Michigan assistant turned controversial center of an alleged cheating scandal, Connor Stalions.
Following Michigan State’s hiring of Fitzgerald on Sunday afternoon, Stalions couldn’t help but rave about it, stating that the Spartans made the best hire in the cycle — unfortunately.
People need to understand coaching is just one piece of the pie. More times than not, it’s a huge factor because talent & resources are usually close. But at Northwestern, it’s not even in the same ballpark as the rest of the conference. The academic standards make recruiting…
— Connor Stalions (@cpstalions) December 1, 2025
Stalions, who knows a thing or two about football, went on to say that there’s a large talent gap at a program like Northwestern with some of the big dogs like Ohio State. He was able to close that gap and have Northwestern competing for division titles. At Michigan State, there’s not as much of a gap, and he’s the most likely option to close it.
These are the types of people who didn’t exactly rave about Michigan State’s hire of Jonathan Smith or Mel Tucker, but they’re outspoken about Fitzgerald being a really good coach.
I tend to trust the opinions of people who were around when Fitzgerald was still coaching at Northwestern, and hearing former Michigan State players say that they love the hire and would’ve played for him if it wasn’t for Mark Dantonio has really won me over.
You know it’s a darn good hire when someone who hates Michigan State to his core is raving about J Batt’s decision to bring in Fitzgerald.