Pat Fitzgerald: Joe Rossi is ‘one of the best defensive minds in the game’

Pat Fitzgerald knows a thing or two about defense. The former two-time All-American linebacker at Northwestern has prided himself on defense over the years, and he made sure to address that side of the ball first after being hired to lead Michigan State.

Fitzgerald’s first move was finding his defensive coordinator.

This was a big decision following the lackluster defenses from the Jonathan Smith era, but Fitzgerald opted to retain the former coach’s defensive coordinator, Joe Rossi, at the same position. He also hired Max Bullough to join him as the team’s co-defensive coordinator.

Some fans were skeptical about the Rossi retainment, especially since the defenses under his control just never lived up to expectations. It may have been more of a personnel issue than a coaching issue, but the hire still left a lot of fans confused.

Fitzgerald, on the other hand, is not worried in the slightest about Rossi returning as his co-defensive coordinator. When Michigan State officially announced the hire on Thursday, Fitzgerald chimed in.

The new head coach called Rossi “one of the best defensive minds in the game” which is incredibly high praise from a guy who has lived defense since his Northwestern playing days.

Michigan State fans shouldn‘t be worried about the defense

Although the defense didn’t exactly improve from 2024 to 2025 under Rossi, he still finished with two top-70 defenses when the personnel was questionable and injuries ravaged that side of the ball.

In 2024, Michigan State was 39th nationally in total yards allowed per game, per TeamRankings, and it dropped 30 spots to 69th overall in 2025. That’s not exactly the type of regression you want to see, but I’m of the belief that it was a recruiting and personnel issue, and it stemmed from the top. The head coach wasn’t providing good enough players to run a competitive Big Ten defense.

That should change under Fitzgerald.

If there’s one thing Fitzgerald knows, it’s hard-nosed defense. He’s bringing back that toughness and fire that made Michigan State so good defensive under Mark Dantonio, and he also hired a couple of coaches (James Adams and Max Bullough) who share that mentality.

And as we saw near the end of the season when Rossi made his way back down to the sidelines, he has plenty of fire and emotion, so there’s no reason the defense won’t feed off the coaches.

There’s no need to worry about this side of the ball. Fitzgerald knows what he’s doing.