There have been turbulent times a little too often over the past decade at Michigan State.
We witnessed the disgusting Larry Nassar saga unfold and the poor handling of it by the athletic department, Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio having their names smeared and faces plastered all over an ESPN graphic with Nassar, Mark Hollis run for the hills during that whole scandal, a sudden Dantonio retirement followed by three different head coaches since, a tragic campus shooting that rocked the entire community and took three lives, and now the loss of both president and athletic director in a three-week span due to a not-for-the-people board of trustees.
I’m not even going to mention having to live through the Spartans’ biggest rival winning not one but two national titles in the two biggest NCAA sports. Being a Spartan fan isn’t for the faint of heart.
But Michigan State is still in good hands. Although J Batt and Kevin Guskiewicz are gone, leaving the leadership positions in East Lansing noticeably vacant, Michigan State has three coaches who are going to act as the glue that’ll hold everything together during this latest stretch of turbulence.
Tom Izzo. Adam Nightingale. Pat Fitzgerald. Michigan State’s “Big 3” are apparently fired up to get the university back on track after facing some adversity.
“I’ve been without a lot of people, you know what, still standing, still winning!”
— Michigan State Content (@msucontent) June 16, 2026
Izzo says Fitzgerald and Nightingale were the first to call him after the news of the president’s departure a few weeks ago. Their words were “let’s go!”
“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I… pic.twitter.com/0LApXwPNhn
Izzo: ”I love my football coach and my hockey coach. They were the first two guys to call me last week. Their words were ‘let’s go’.”
No one wants Michigan State to succeed more than Izzo and he’s willing to work together with Fitzgerald and Nightingale to make sure that it’s a premier athletic department. Losing two guys that were supposed to be in East Lansing for a while hurts, especially when it’s a self-inflicted wound, but Michigan State has three guys who are willing to pick up the slack.
It’s good to see that none of the “Big 3” have been deterred by the latest debacle, and instead motivated to lead change and see that the university is back on top where it belongs.
Michigan State made the right hire
With the president and athletic director leaving in the span of a month, the football coach that they hired and who took the job because everyone was on the same page would have a big decision to make. Fitzgerald watched as his new bosses who hired him to turn Michigan State around and vowed to give him the resources he needs to succeed were run off by a faulty board of trustees.
And yet he’s still fired up to be a Spartan.
Fitzgerald spoke to the media this week and said that it didn’t put a sour taste in his mouth and he’s excited about the future of the program. Michigan State found a coach who legitimately wants to be a Spartan and who’s going to work together with Izzo and Nightingale to build an elite athletic department. Although they left abruptly, that’s a pretty solid parting gift from Batt and Guskiewicz.
Michigan State got the right guy. He’s checking all of the boxes in terms of leadership compared to the last couple of head coaches, but now he needs that to translate into wins.
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