Pat Fitzgerald has maneuvered through his first offseason as Michigan State head coach with precision, keeping old traditions in place and implementing new ones while also not rocking the boat. There aren’t many worse things than a new coach coming in and shaking everything up.
There has to get a good mix of old and new, and Fitzgerald has realized that. He’s brought back an older tradition for fall camp where players will stay in Case Hall dorms without access to their cars or scooters and he’s also started a new one with the No. 1.
Previously, the No. 1 jersey was worn by some Spartan legends and it took a 20-year hiatus after Charles Rogers seemingly retired it. Jayden Reed brought it back under Mel Tucker, but the coaching staff offered it to the wide receiver without the team having much of a say. Now, under Fitzgerald, the No. 1 is going to make a return and the team will get to vote on who wears it.
Sometimes when a coach tries to do too much early on, it’ll rock the boat, but the players appear to love the idea of voting for “The Spartan”.
Alessio Milivojevic: "The whole squad thinks it (the no. 1) is awesome. We are buying into it."
— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) August 6, 2026
It is awesome. The No. 1 jersey has a rich tradition at Michigan State that goes back decades. Andre Rison made it popular, Muhsin Muhammad carried it on, and Rogers became a superstar while representing that coveted number.
Reed was able to carry on the tradition as well during the Tucker era and like the previous wearers of the jersey, he was a fan favorite who ended up making it to the NFL.
It’s cool to see the team buying into the new tradition of voting for who will wear the No. 1 and I also respect the fact that whoever is chosen can decide if they want to keep their current number or make the switch. If they do keep their current number, that player will receive a helmet sticker with the No. 1 on it.
It felt like no one was buying in during the Jonathan Smith era, so this is a nice change.
The Pat Fitzgerald era already feels different
When Smith was in charge, the program just felt stale. There was very little excitement, the players never really seemed overly motivated by Smith, and outside of the head coach throwing on goalie pads and attempting to save shots from MSU hockey players, there wasn’t much in the way of team-building — at least not publicly.
The Fitzgerald era is already different in that regard.
Several videos have already been posted on the team’s social media page of Fitzgerald having fun with his guys and now there’s this voting for “The Spartan”. It may not seem like much, but student athletes love the idea of feeling like their opinion matters. It’s like voting for captains, this is a great team-building exercise.
Fitzgerald has brought back an energy that had been missing since that offseason following the 2021 season and it’s probably because he actually has a personality. That’s not supposed to be a knock on Smith, but he never connected with the fanbase and made his personality known.
Fans know what to expect from Fitzgerald already. He’s a no-nonsense, old-school type of coach who is all about tradition. What a nice change of pace.
Add us as a preferred source on Google