I remember watching the end of the Michigan-State-Michigan game when I was eight years old. I saw Michigan ahead, 23-21, with only 10 seconds remaining and thought the game was over. I decided to get up and go to the other side of the room. Then I heard “Oh, and he had trouble with the snap.” The rest is history.
This was a top of many golden moments in the Mark Dantonio era of Michigan State football. Just ten years ago, Michigan State made it to the college football semifinal, playing against Alabama in the Cotton Bowl with Dantonio. Under the Dantonio era from 2007-2019, the Spartans went 114-57. Mel Tucker became the replacement for Dantonio, and didn’t do well in the COVID college football year with a record of 2-5.
Although the next year, Tucker showed the Spartans were back into contention of being a contender in college football with an 11-2 record and a Peach Bowl win against Pittsburgh. With transfers Kenneth Walker III winning the Doak Walker award for best running back and the Walter Camp for being the player of the year, and top players like Jayden Reed, Jalen Nailor, Michigan State showed that star talent can happen in East Lansing, and another golden age was going to rise back up for Sparty. Then the 2022 season hit, and the Spartans went 5-7.
Sparty had trouble finding a star player without Walker, Naylor, and Reed. And 2023 ruined everything and turned hopes and dreams downhill. First, after going 2-0, Mel Tucker was accused of sexual misconduct and was fired as the head coach of Michigan State, then Harlon Barnett took over as interim and went 2-8 for the rest of the season.
After those two losing seasons, Michigan State decided to make a change at coach, somebody who was less energetic and more of a players’ coach. The decision was Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith.
If I had to describe the era of Johnathan Smith being the head coach for East Lansing, I would say it was forgettable. Smith never really got the chance to prove himself, and he felt like more of a coach who was a long-time intern, than a real coach.
But you wouldn’t see that if you saw the contract that Michigan State gave to him. Smith got a seven year deal, accumulating a total of $52.8 million dollars. And with Smith’s recent firing, he gets to keep $33 million of it. But all of this is now the past, and the future is now as the Spartans have hired Pat Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald looks like a hire to get back to the past. Fitzgerald is more energetic, more experienced, and has a very similar attitude to Dantonio and Tucker. Fitzgerald also had success at Northwestern, a university that is heavily known for caring more on academics than athletics, which can make it really hard to build a successful team, especially in the Big Ten.
There are concerns I have for this hiring. To start, the hazing. Pat Fitzgerald was fired from his most recent job at Northwestern for hazing allegations back in 2023.
While the charges were dropped, it was reported that he won the case. MSU is hiring a person who was fired after a controversy. When people still have their minds on Mel Tucker’s decisions, this does not seem like the smartest idea. Second, he does have the most wins at Northwestern, but in his last two years, he went 4-20 and his last coaching year was in 2022. Fitzgerald doesn’t have any experience with the NIL era, making it a difficult climb for him to get back to the top.
Now, what can be things that Fitzgerald can provide to help Michigan State get back on top?
First, he knows the Big Ten. Fitzgerald coached Northwestern for 17 years, and his record was 110-101 with a 5-5 bowl record. He also knows how important rivalries are in the Big Ten, something that was also missed from Jonathan Smith during his tenure.
Second, he got help from donors. Recently, Michigan State just got its biggest donation of 401 million dollars going to the program after the hiring of Fitzgerald. Was the hiring the main reason for the donation, most likely not, but it does help Fitzgerald get a major boost to the NIL era. Also, with the new coaching change, you would think that many recruits would decommit to the Spartans? But no, Fitzgerald has surprisingly kept a lot of the recruits in the class, and has also looked like he’s encouraging more people to join the Spartans.
Michigan State has gone through some rough years in their football program, and while I have concerns, I do believe it’s better than Jonathan Smith, and that he can lead MSU to being a top contender of college football and bring in another golden age of Sparty football.
Can MSU return to its former glory?
They will look back at their roots, a tough and energetic coach who understands what it takes to win in the most physical conference in football.