Pat Fitzgerald is a man of the people. Not only did he show up early to his weekly radio show on Tuesday, but he answered questions candidly and really showed up for Michigan State fans.
It’s nice to have a coach with a personality for the first time in a few years. Fitzgerald is overflowing with personality, even while answering the most mundane questions.
During his first game week radio show as Michigan State head coach, Fitzgerald was asked about veteran offensive lineman Conner Moore. Several accolades were brought up and the host of the show, Dalton Shetler, asked Fitzgerald if he should keep going.
Fitzgerald’s answer was probably something no one expected.
Radio show host Dalton Shetler rattles off accolades for OL Conner Moore. Asks Pat Fitzgerald if he should keep going and the MSU coach says why not, it’s his last year so he can’t leave.
— Connor Earegood (@ConnorEaregood) September 1, 2026
Unless …
“Maybe Lane Kiffin will take him,” Fitzgerald quips. “Is that too soon?”
Lane Kiffin caught a bit of a stray in Fitzgerald’s response to Shetler who was going to continue naming Moore’s accolades. Fitzgerald took the “keep everyone guessing” approach in his answer because who could have seen Kiffin being brought up in the coach’s weekly radio show?
It’s a valid joke because Kiffin has been in the headlines lately for trying to bring in a couple of guys who had already gone through the draft process and were in the middle of NFL training camps.
Now the SEC is filing a lawsuit against LSU because Kiffin is still trying to roster these guys despite the fact that the conference issued a ruling that all players who went though the draft process and/or were on NFL rosters during the preseason will not be eligible to play.
It may have been a playful joke, but there’s no one more deserving of catching strays than Kiffin who’s trying to bend the rules for some cheap wins at LSU.
How could you not like Pat Fitzgerald?
Listening to Fitzgerald talk, even when he’s cracking jokes, it’s a night-and-day difference from Jonathan Smith and even Mel Tucker. While Tucker was intense and looked the part in the first two years, he fell apart and fans found him difficult to like after the 2022 disaster and the issues that led to his firing in 2023.
As for Fitzgerald, he seems to always say the right things and it has fans and players buying all the way back in like they haven’t been in years.
Fitzgerald is clearly the right guy for the job.
A coach who takes himself seriously but knows when to lighten up and crack jokes while being fairly candid throughout the process is one that usually succeeds in East Lansing.
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