Things are looking up for the Michigan State football program these days. Not only did the Spartans hire their guy (Pat Fitzgerald), but they’re also in the process of hiring a staff that will complement him nicely. Max Bullough has been, by far, the biggest splash hire of the offseason outside of Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald has also decided to retain a couple of defensive coaches in safeties coach James Adams and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi. Bullough is coming in to be Rossi’s co-defensive coordinator.
The defensive staff positions are starting to fill up as the only things left would be a cornerbacks coach and a defensive line coach since Bullough is coaching linebackers, too.
With Fitzgerald retaining two defensive assistants from the Jonathan Smith era, could he opt to retain a third in someone like Blue Adams? Fortunately for Michigan State, the answer to that one is “no”.
On Thursday morning, Matt Zenits of CBS Sports reported that Adams is finalizing a deal to become Florida State’s next cornerbacks coach following his two years in East Lansing.
Florida State is in the process of finalizing a deal to hire Blue Adams as its new cornerbacks coach, sources tell @CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 18, 2025
Adams, whom @LaserreMatt first linked to the job, spent the last two seasons at Michigan State. pic.twitter.com/bc67RSmaSS
This should come as good news to Spartan fans who don’t want to see the exact same defensive coaches in 2026 as they saw over the past two years under Smith.
Plus, the secondary only got worse in 2025, going from 54th against the pass (2024) to 78th.
It’s time for change under Pat Fitzgerald
Everyone is ready for change, and while Fitzgerald is retaining a few assistants from the Smith regime, not bringing back the coaches responsible for the worst aspects of the team during that 9-15 stretch would be nice. Bringing Rossi back was a questionable move, but at least fans loved the emotion he showed near the end of the year when he coached from the sidelines.
Adams, however, hadn’t improved the secondary in two years in East Lansing. Was it a personnel issue? Probably, but there was still no sign or improvement — actually only regression.
It’s good to see that he’s landing on his feet at another prominent Power Four program, but he had worn out his welcome in East Lansing and there was no way Fitzgerald was retaining him.
Now all fans want to see is some offensive staff hires. Change on that side of the ball is much-needed.