If Pat Fitzgerald wants to be a successful head coach at Michigan State, he need to do a few things.
One, he has to bring energy. No one likes a stale program led by a head coach without a personality. One way or another, he has to bring the juice and fans can’t fault you for caring at that point, even if the wins don’t come immediately. He’s bringing that so far.
Two, he has to recruit well and identify top talent in the Midwest before teams like Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Penn State — and now Indiana — get involved. Win key recruiting battles over rivals and focus heavily on in-state recruiting because those are the guys that are going to help carry the program’s culture by teaching it to out-of-state players.
And lastly, Fitzgerald has to beat Michigan. We’ve seen coaches fizzle out because they just couldn’t win that game and the coaches who did have success against the Wolverines (Mark Dantonio) stuck around as long as they wanted. Fitzgerald is taking a page out of Dantonio’s book by taking the rivalry seriously, even stating the exact days until the game following the Spring Showcase.
Tie all of that together, and he’ll have a recipe for success that will find him in the good graces of Spartan fans for life. When you can knock out two birds with one stone by recruiting well and beating Michigan in the process, fans will be quick to buy in.
Fitzgerald did knock out two birds with one stone on Friday evening, landing four-star defensive lineman Ohimai Ozolua over the Wolverines as well as Ohio State, Penn State, Miami, and Tennessee.
The Wolverines made Ozolua a priority in the 2027 class as recently as the end of March. Kyle Whittingham sent coaches out to check on him and he scheduled a March visit to Ann Arbor, but that ultimately wasn’t enough to beat out Fitzgerald and Winston DeLattiboudere II who got their first big recruiting win over the Wolverines.
Usually you have to wait a little longer for a four-star recruiting win over Michigan when you first take the Michigan State job, but Fitzgerald has wasted little time.
Pat Fitzgerald is winning fans over every day
The deeper into the Fitzgerald era that we get, the more fans we see buying in to his vision every day.
When Michigan State announced the hire essentially hours after the regular season ended, fans were not quick to buy in. They felt like it was kind of a reach because Fitzgerald had been out of coaching at the collegiate level since 2022 and he was let go from his alma mater after hazing allegations.
After hearing him talk during his intro presser, more fans bought in. They saw the vision and his energy was palpable. He gave Dantonio vibes in the way he carried himself.
Then he started recruiting well in the transfer portal and getting guys that may not be superstars but are fits for what he’s trying to do. He’s building the team slowly, but he’s saying all the right things and now he’s winning recruiting battles with Michigan for coveted Midwest four-stars just five months into his tenure.
If you’re not on the Fitzgerald bandwagon yet, it’s time to change that.
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