For the past few weeks, Michigan State football coach Pat Fitzgerald has been piecing together his coaching staff, and he got started on the defensive side of the ball first.
Fitzgerald, a defensive mind, retained Jonathan Smith’s defensive coordinator Joe Rossi and also his safeties coach James Adams. He also hired Max Bullough to be Rossi’s co-defensive coordinator which made fans very happy. On top of hiring most of his defensive staff (minus the defensive line and cornerbacks coaches), Fitzgerald poached one of the best special teams coaches in the country, LeVar Woods, from Iowa.
On Saturday afternoon, he reportedly addressed the biggest hire on the staff, per most fans: the offensive coordinator position.
According to reports, Fitzgerald has landed on Alabama co-offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan.
Michigan State is expected to hire Alabama co-offensive coordinator and QB coach Nick Sheridan as its new offensive coordinator, sources tell me, @C_Robinson247 and @JustinThind.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 20, 2025
The ex-Michigan QB has worked under Kalen DeBoer the last four seasons at Alabama and Washington. pic.twitter.com/hJAvHE4dJx
Fans are just hoping he’s a step up from Jay Johnson and Brian Lindgren.
Nick Sheridan has had an interesting path
Sheridan worked at Washington under Kalen DeBoer in 2022 as his tight ends coach and then spent the next year at the same position before following his head coach to Alabama to be his offensive coordinator in 2024. The Tide’s offense ranked 45th in the country in 2024, but DeBoer felt like it needed a shot in the arm and made JaMarcus Shephard his co-offensive coordinator and Ryan Grubb has been calling plays this year, too.\
Unfortunately, the offense took a step back this season with the co-coordinators, ranking 81st nationally in total yards per game.
Sheridan did play a key role as quarterbacks coach in helping Alabama beat Oklahoma on Friday night to advance to the Rose Bowl. He’s still with the team through their playoff run, it seems, but this move means that both co-coordinators (Sheridan and Shephard) have bolted for other jobs — Shephard took the Oregon State head coaching job.
There’s also a rivalry aspect here with this hire as Sheridan played quarterback for Michigan from 2006-09, so he’s seen some really good Mark Dantonio-coached Michigan State teams up close.
This hire is interesting, but learning from DeBoer in his time at Indiana, Washington, and now Alabama had to help him as an offensive coordinator. At least that’s the hope.