MSU women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick drawing early national coach of the year hype

Two months into the 2025-26 season, Michigan State women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick has the Spartans cooking.

Fresh off her biggest win of the season against No. 15 Ole Miss, Michigan State is about to return to Big Ten play on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans are 0-1 in conference play so far with their lone loss on the season coming against a tough Wisconsin team.

Michigan State is off to an 11-1 start this season and it’s on track to finish with its best record under Fralick who has seemingly improved the team each year.

In Fralick’s first season, Michigan State went 22-9 and made the NCAA Tournament after going 12-6 in Big Ten play. The Spartans lost in the first round of the tournament after finishing fourth in the conference. In 2024-25, Fralick led the Spartans to a 22-10 season and they finished fifth in the Big Ten, losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Now, the Spartans are already halfway to their win total from each of the previous two seasons, and there are still three months to play.

Fralick is gaining some serious national player of the year traction.

Robyn Fralick is a legitimate national COY candidate

While Michigan State is ranked just 24th in the country, Fralick is earning some serious recognition because this program was dead in the water about four short years ago before she took over. She’s led Michigan State to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments and now it looks like the Spartans are on track for a third straight.

Before Fralick, Suzy Merchant never had a losing season, and she made several NCAA Tournaments, but there was a staleness in the program for years.

Now Michigan State is heading into Big Ten play as one of the conference favorites.

Fralick deserves all the recognition that she’s getting, and more.

Michigan State is averaging over 90 points per game, about 14 steals per game, it’s shooting about 52 percent from the floor, and 41 percent from 3-point range. This team is playing some really good basketball with six different players averaging double figures.

National Coach of the Year would fit Fralick perfectly.