Michigan State football is facing an important transition that needs to go right. The Spartans have made the wrong head coaching hire two times since Mark Dantonio retired and everyone is hoping that Pat Fitzgerald is finally the right man for the job.
Fitzgerald being the coach to turn the program back in the right direction would make too much sense honestly. He’s a hard-nosed, old-school head coach who preaches toughness and hard work which is something that Dantonio embodied during his time at Michigan State.
In a lot of ways, the two coaches are very similar.
Fitzgerald and Dantonio squared off quite a bit during the 2010s and the two coaches had some incredible battles. They each came away with some wins but they both coached a similar style of football. They each had tough teams that embraced underdog roles and often exceeded expectations due to being tougher than most.
However, Fitzgerald gives Dantonio all the credit for preaching toughness at Michigan State. He said that toughness was born in East Lansing and he shared a vision for the program that Michigan State fans are going to love. Essentially, he wants to follow the Dantonio blueprint.
"Toughness was born in East Lansing, and Coach D embodied it, and so did his teams."
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) June 5, 2026
🗣️ New @MSU_Football coach Pat Fitzgerald on @MSU_Athletics Hall of Famer Mark Dantonio#B1GToday pic.twitter.com/5IAvNd04Mk
Keeping Dantonio close to the program would be a good move by Fitzgerald and he’s done that already and I’m sure he’s picking his brain behind the scenes. Dantonio knows what it takes to succeed in East Lansing and there’s not a better coach to learn from.
Following his blueprint may not work in today’s era, but attempting to create a “rebirth” of the Dantonio era of toughness is going to win a lot of fans over.
Pat Fitzgerald knows that winning cures all
Michigan State has fallen on hard times on the recruiting trail and, in turn, on the field. The Spartans haven’t made a bowl game since 2021 and they’re not projected to go bowling in Fitzgerald’s first season either.
The optics around the program have been at an all-time low, but there’s only one thing that’s guaranteed to return the program to relevance: winning.
That goes without saying, but I’m not even talking about winning 9-10 games right away. Winning even 6-7 games this season will have fans buying back in and recruits will notice that Fitzgerald took over a “dead” program and turned it into a bowl-bound one. No coach since Dantonio has made a bowl game in his first season and look how that turned out.
Fitzgerald needs to follow the Dantonio blueprint for toughness and it’ll become a winning formula.
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