Hiring Pat Fitzgerald made almost too much sense for Michigan State AD J Batt.
The first-year athletic director is apparently well-versed on the toughness and grit that Michigan State football had been known for under Mark Dantonio. That toughness is hard to replicate, and it would take a special coach to squeeze it out of players. Jonathan Smith didn’t quite get the job done, so Batt needed the exact opposite type of coach.
He found that in Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald brings a toughness that has to make Dantonio proud to a program that needs its pride back. It’s been way too long since the Spartans played a style that would make Dantonio proud.
The new head coach understands the assignment, and he’s gotten the fanbase fired up again. He shows flashes of Dantonio when he speaks and carries himself in front of the media and with his team. The official Michigan State Football account on X shared a video featuring Fitzgerald and detailing his first couple of months on the job.
It’s safe to say that this feature has Michigan State fans ready to suit up for him.
“We want to re-establish that toughness was born here”
— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) January 29, 2026
This is The Spartan Way. pic.twitter.com/86PM4cUvFX
Anyone else run through a wall after watching this?
“The Spartan Way” is an incredible name for the video, too. He’s bringing back the Spartan way, and that’s refreshing to hear as a Michigan State football fan.
It’s been too long.
Pat Fitzgerald is a perfect culture fit in East Lansing
Possessing that underdog mindset and never being content is what made Dantonio so successful for over a decade — well, that and he was a dang good Xs and Os coach. Fitzgerald has had to fight for all the success he’s had in his playing and coaching careers, and the same could be said for Dantonio.
Now, he’ll get a chance to follow Dantonio’s footsteps and carry the torch that had been dropped during the Mel Tucker and Smith eras.
Michigan State needed a fiery head coach who understood what it would take to compete in the Big Ten and turn the program around. Fitzgerald fits that exact description. He has an old-school mindset that feels a lot like the one Dantonio brought in when he was hired back in 2006 ahead of the 2007 season. I’m not saying this is Dantonio 2.0, but the culture fit is perfect.
Michigan State might just be getting its football program back.