Pat Fitzgerald is now the center of attention in East Lansing with the hoops season coming to an end in the Sweet 16 a couple of weeks ago. The first-year Michigan State head coach is being tasked with turning the program around and returning that blue-collar attitude to the Tom Izzo Football Building.
It’s been about five years since Michigan State was truly fun to watch and didn’t just suck the life out of the fanbase, and after watching Michigan win both football and basketball national titles over the past few years, the Spartans deserve some good luck — fans are desperate for some signs of life within the football program.
Fitzgerald is returning those signs of life. He’s resuscitated the football program from its apparent death after the Mel Tucker and Johnathan Smith eras. The energy is back.
But will that energy and cohesiveness lead to bowl games and Big Ten titles? The first-year head coach went on 97.1 The Ticket this morning to talk about expectations, and he basically said that if your goal isn’t to win the Big Ten and go to the playoff, why the heck are you even here?
Pat Fitzgerald on what fans should expect from Michigan State pic.twitter.com/c7OfDWgeyL
— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) April 13, 2026
You know what? I agree. Michigan State hired an energetic and passionate head coach whose energy and passion is contagious and it’s visible when you listen to players after practice or just watch the highlights from practices or the handful of scrimmages the team gets. That’s only half the battle. Getting a confident coach who expects to win no matter what is also important.
Fitzgerald fits the bill.
All he has to do now is make sure to recruit at a high level so he can build on the 2026 season which could result in the program’s first bowl berth since 2021.
The Curt Cignetti bar isn’t quite fair for Pat Fitzgerald
During the 97.1 interview above, Rico Beard brought up Curt Cignetti and said that the Indiana head coach has kind of sped up the process for new coaches because he showed that a national title can be won in a couple of years. He took over one of the worst programs in the Power Five and turned the Hoosiers into national champions — in football. Crazy.
However, he did have the luxury of bringing over a bunch of his players from James Madison and they worked out nicely. Fitzgerald doesn’t have that luxury seeing as he’s been out of coaching for a few years.
Fitzgerald is also pretty new to the NIL and transfer portal era. He left Northwestern after the 2022 season and things have only gotten crazier since. The new head coach is embracing the portal and NIL and has added some solid transfer talent, but he knows he has to do more when he can prove that he can lead a winning program in East Lansing.
Spartan fans shouldn’t expect a College Football Playoff berth in year one like Cignetti, but Fitzgerald is always going to make that his own expectation for the program.
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