It’s been a busy day for Pat Fitzgerald. He probably never expected to spend his 51st birthday addressing the Michigan State media, meeting with his new team, calling recruits right before signing day, and attending a Spartan basketball game courtside against Iowa, but that was on Tuesday’s docket for the new head coach.
As Fitzgerald took the podium in front of the local media on Tuesday afternoon in East Lansing, you could tell he was fired up. He spoke with a clear mindset and made sure fans knew that he was fully invested — he even mentioned the Michigan rivalry as being of top importance.
Everything that hesitant fans wanted to hear from Fitzgerald was said at his intro presser, and he answered all the questions exactly how you’d want your head coach to answer.
Fitzgerald won the fanbase over, and if you aren’t bought in yet, you probably didn’t watch.
The new head coach talked about everything from adjusting to the new era of college football to developing players at a high level to ensuring that his guys are successful both on and off the field.
A major gripe with Jonathan Smith was that he didn’t really immerse himself in the Michigan rivalry. I don’t think that’s going to be much of an issue for Fitzgerald. He made sure to ease fans’ minds with a quick message pertaining to that team down the road.
Pat Fitzgerald: “There’s just one game that means a little bit more (at Michigan State).”
— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) December 2, 2025
Having a coach who cares and who will live and breathe the rivalry like Mark Dantonio did will be a breath of fresh air, and it makes sense that he has the same mindset as the Michigan State legend seeing as both are good friends.
That’s another thing that won me over: Fitzgerald said that he plans to bring Dantonio around the team when he’s back in Michigan. He also said that he plans on getting the former players more involved with the program again and he looks forward to meeting them.
There wasn’t much that I didn’t like about the presser from the way he spoke about how he spent a lot of time researching how to handle this new age of college football to stating that he can’t wait to wrap up the 2026 recruiting class, attack the portal, and assemble a competitive roster for next season. He did something in his 30-minute presser that Smith failed to do in two years: he showed emotion.
Michigan State fans should be thrilled that Pat Fitzgerald is the program’s next head coach.