Pat Fitzgerald Is Back in College Football: Michigan State Just Hired Him as Head Coach
Pat Fitzgerald has a job again. Michigan State just gave it to him.
The former Northwestern head coach, who had been out of football for several years following the hazing scandal that cost him his job in Evanston, was officially hired by Michigan State to lead the program in 2026. It is one of the most surprising coaching moves of the cycle. It is also one of the most polarizing.
Fitzgerald is back. Whether he should be back is going to be a debate that follows him all season.
Why Michigan State Took the Risk
The Spartans needed a culture builder. The program has been in a downward spiral for years. Recruiting has slipped. Wins have dried up. The fanbase wants relevance again. Fitzgerald, before the scandal, was one of the most respected program builders in the Big Ten. He took Northwestern to a Big Ten Championship Game and won more games at that school than anyone in the modern era.
That track record is what got him the job. Michigan State is betting that the football coach inside of him is still the same guy who turned a Northwestern football team into a consistent winner. They are also betting that the scandal that ended his Northwestern tenure does not define him going forward.
The Hazing Scandal Will Not Go Away
Fitzgerald was fired by Northwestern after an investigation into hazing within the football program. He has maintained that he was not aware of the worst behavior. The case became one of the most high-profile coaching firings in recent college football history. There was a lawsuit. There were lengthy public exchanges. The story dominated college football headlines for months.
Michigan State did its homework before the hire. The school’s leadership decided the upside outweighed the risk. That decision is going to be evaluated in real time. If anything goes wrong with player welfare in East Lansing, the coverage will be brutal.
What Comes Next
Fitzgerald inherits a roster that needs significant overhaul. He has to win in the transfer portal. He has to rebuild relationships with recruits in the state of Michigan. He has to convince a fanbase that has been disappointed too many times that this is the right move.
The Big Ten is a brutal league now. Ohio State and Oregon are at the top. Michigan is in transition under new head coach Kyle Whittingham. Penn State has Matt Campbell starting fresh. The conference is loaded.
Fitzgerald has a year to prove that he can still do the job. He also has a year to prove that he deserves to be doing it. Both clocks are ticking.
This is the most important hire Michigan State has made in a decade. The school knows it. So does Fitzgerald.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
