It’s been a busy day for J Batt and Michigan State. The new athletic director had to make a tough decision following a season-ending win over Maryland on Saturday, firing second-year head coach Jonathan Smith after a second straight bowl-less season.
Smith officially finishes his career at Michigan State 9-15, if you don’t count the vacated wins.
It wasn’t a memorable tenure, and Michigan State fans are thrilled for change, but there’s a huge decision looming for the new AD. He has to make sure not to botch the hire for Smith’s replacement, but the word on the street is that he has the donors’ support — and that’s huge.
It just never felt like Smith had a ton of backing from the donors, and it showed with a juice-less program and so-so recruiting. He had a decent recruiting class for the 2026 cycle until recruits began decommitting left and right. The team, however, backed Smith the entire time, and Jordan Hall even said that he would run through a wall for him.
That just wasn’t enough to mask the horrible on-field results.
Now, Batt will be responsible for looking for a replacement, and a major name has already popped up as the top candidate to replace Smith: Pat Fitzgerald.
Ex-Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald is expected to be a person of interest for the Michigan State head coaching opening, sources tell me, @C_Robinson247 and @JustinThind for @CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) November 30, 2025
Posted 110 wins at Northwestern and was the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year in 2020. pic.twitter.com/7QUDnzY6RL
Fitzgerald’s name comes with mixed reactions from Michigan State fans. While he did win 110 games at Northwestern in just over 15 years, he left on bad terms, getting fired amid controversy off the field and he had a horrendous final two seasons in Evanston — he went just 4-20.
Others are aware that he was once considered a top NFL head coaching candidate, and he turned down some prominent jobs. He was one of the most sought-after college coaches for years.
Not many coaches can have the same success that he did at Northwestern, and that’s why he has to be considered one of the top candidates on the market. If these rumors are true, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Batt move quickly to make a hire so the program can start investing in the future.
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to talk myself into a Pat Fitzgerald-coached MSU football program.