The coaching carousel has spun quickly in East Lansing. Michigan State University’s football program announced a dramatic change this Sunday, firing Head Coach Jonathan Smith after just two seasons and swiftly hiring former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald as his replacement.
End of the Smith Era
Smith, hired with much fanfare in November 2023, finished his short tenure with an on-field record of 9-15 (4-14 in the Big Ten). The 2025 season, which saw the Spartans finish 4-8 and flirt with a winless conference record, proved to be the breaking point. New Athletic Director J Batt made the difficult decision to part ways, citing that the program had not “lived up to our shared standards for Michigan State Football.”
Smith’s time in East Lansing was challenging, marked by a massive program rebuild and the specter of sanctions from the previous regime. Despite a respected career on the West Coast, the fit never seemed quite right, and fan frustration, voiced even by prominent alumni like Magic Johnson, reached a crescendo. MSU will reportedly owe Smith more than $30 million in buyout money.
The New Spartan: Pat Fitzgerald
Just hours after Smith’s departure, reports surfaced that Michigan State had zeroed in on and hired Pat Fitzgerald, the former Northwestern boss. Fitzgerald, a Big Ten veteran, spent 17 seasons leading the Wildcats, compiling a 110-101record and leading the team to two Big Ten Championship appearances.
The hire is arguably the biggest and most polarizing move of the 2025 coaching carousel. While Fitzgerald is a proven commodity with extensive Big Ten experience, his departure from Northwestern in 2023 was amid a highly publicized investigation into alleged hazing within the program.
For Athletic Director J Batt, the quick pivot signals a desire for a different direction—a coach with deep Midwestern and Big Ten roots who is known for building a tough, disciplined program. Fitzgerald’s track record of winning at a school with notoriously high academic standards suggests he can build a competitive foundation.
Looking Ahead
With a new coach in place, the immediate focus shifts to recruiting and retaining the current roster, particularly with the transfer portal opening soon. Fitzgerald’s challenge will be to quickly reunite the locker room, leverage MSU’s superior resources compared to his previous stop, and address the negative off-field headlines that followed him to East Lansing.
The coaching change is a clear move by MSU to return to a standard of excellence, but only time will tell if the controversial hire of Pat Fitzgerald is the right one to propel the Spartans back into the Big Ten’s elite.