The spring ball finale on Saturday didn’t signify an “end” for first-year Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald, but the beginning of a rebirth. He said that this isn’t a rebuild at Michigan State, but a rebirth, and he’s gotten his players and fans to buy in to his vision.
There’s a long way to go, but spring ball gave Fitzgerald a nice start to his Michigan State tenure and now he can focus on piecing together his depth chart before the 2026 season kicks off.
Fitzgerald has a vision for the future of the program but he’s also looking to the near future in 110 days when the season kicks off, but his immediate goals for the program show that he understands one of the most important aspects of Michigan State football: a dislike for Michigan and a strong desire to beat the Wolverines. That game means a little more every regular season.
The new head coach understands just how much this game means to Michigan State fans.
Fitzgerald: “We start camp in 110 days. We'll be back in Spartan Stadium, take on the opener in 141 days, and we go down the road to take down Michigan in 203 days. So those things were on top of mind with our coaches, with our program.”
— Kenny Jordan (@Kenny_Jordan5) April 18, 2026
Fitzgerald is looking ahead to the start of camp and has that day marker in his mind and he also has the opener in his mind. The third date? He knows that Michigan is in exactly 203 days from the end of spring ball. The fact that he knows that number means that it’s a theme throughout the football building and Fitzgerald is adopting the “beat Michigan” mindset that made Mark Dantonio successful.
On top of memorizing how many days until Michigan, Fitzgerald had the team sign an old version of the fight song that was a tradition under Dantonio.
"We go down the road to take on Michigan in 203 days."
— Ben Shockley (@BenShockley_) April 18, 2026
Michigan State players also sang an altered MSU fight song after the Spring Showcase, singing "Go right through that line of blue."
Fitzgerald and the Spartans are already locked in on November 7th in Ann Arbor.@wilxTV https://t.co/Qdd0qvSWFY pic.twitter.com/KrOxapaqer
Michigan State hired the right coach to take the rivalry seriously again after a few disappointing seasons, and it’s refreshing to see.
Pat Fitzgerald is just the right fit
When you think of prime Michigan State football, you think of a gritty, blue-collar team that’s player-led but has a fiery head coach who commands respect and who puts that Michigan game at the top of his list other than obvious postseason goals.
That’s what Fitzgerald is.
The former Northwestern head coach is very familiar with the Big Ten and Dantonio’s program, and he saw firsthand what made the Spartans so successful under his leadership. He’s also an energetic, gritty, blue-collar guy who commands respect and knows that Michigan is a priority. He just gets it which is more than we could say about Jonathan Smith — but his fault, he just wasn’t a fit.
Will this perfect Michigan State mindset going to lead to success on the field? Only time will tell.
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