Culture is an important aspect of a Pat Fitzgerald-coached football program and that’s why he’s been leaning into Michigan State’s already-present traditions while also creating some new ones.
Fitzgerald wants Michigan State football to feel like a family again which is something that we haven’t really seen since the prime Mark Dantonio days and maybe that special 2021 season. The program’s elite culture that was present during the Dantonio years has been missing since 2020.
Changing that won’t happen overnight, as one former player recently pointed out.
Mark Dell, a key figure in the turnaround under Dantonio, challenged Fitzgerald to do more in the culture building category. Sure, we all think he’s doing great — and he is — because he’s been bringing some former players and coaches back to hang around the team, but Dell believes that he’s missing a key component in the Spartans’ turnaround push.
Dell reposted a video of Tom Izzo and the basketball team welcoming former players during Grind Week and said that Fitzgerald needs to follow the Hall of Famer’s blueprint.
This what our football program missing. Izzo get it, tradition shapes your future https://t.co/TbVehn6s9d
— Mark Dell (@_MarkDell) September 11, 2026
A former player saying this should open some eyes because he clearly feels like the football program has turned its back on “family” in recent years and someone needs to welcome all Spartans back, regardless of whether they made it in the NFL or not.
His next tweet seemed to allude to a shot at the previous coaching staffs who really propped up Spartans in the NFL and ignored an important group of guys who turned the program around.
You can’t just bring back the players that made it to the league and keep using that for recruiting. You gotta reach back and bring all the alum back bc it took everybody to turn it around in 2007
— Mark Dell (@_MarkDell) September 11, 2026
Dell absolutely has a point and this is something that fans have wanted to see for years. There’s an annual meetup with former players every offseason, but one instance like that where only a select group is invited just isn’t going to cut it. Fitzgerald needs to lean more into what made Michigan State elite, starting with the first group of Spartans that Dantonio coached. Having them around the program can only help build culture.
Michigan State’s culture needs to stand out in this new era
During an era when money dictates pretty much everything in college athletics, Michigan State needs to stand out somehow to recruits and Dell is correct: it needs a family feel.
These days, there aren’t many programs that truly feel like a family or brotherhood and because that’s so rare, if Michigan State can lean into it, that’s going to win the Spartans some key recruiting battles. There are still recruits out there who value relationships. Michigan State still needs a competitive NIL package, but having a family-like atmosphere would get a lot of recruits interested.
Fitzgerald needs to reach out to some guys from the early Dantonio days who helped get the program trending back in the right direction. Greg Jones, Javon Ringer, and Jehuu Caulcrick have already been around, but like Dell said, it can’t just be guys who made it in the league.
It sounds like Fitzgerald needs to make a call to some Dantonio era players.
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