A football team always takes on the personality of its head coach, and that means the Michigan State Spartans are going to be feisty under new head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
Without a doubt, Fitzgerald is a football success story. He was a consensus All-American linebacker for the Northwestern Wildcats from 1993 to 1996 and then parlayed that into a head coaching role at Northwestern starting in 2006.
Fitzgerald went 110-101 in 17 seasons at Northwestern before he was fired as part of an investigation into hazing allegations within the football program.
Fitzgerald filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, and the two sides settled.
Now in East Lansing and representing the Spartans at Big Ten Media Days, Fitzgerald was asked if the way things ended at Northwestern has left him with a chip on his shoulder.
“I wouldn’t say I have a chip on my shoulder,” Fitzgerald said, according to Steve Sarma of On3. “I wouldn’t say our program has a chip on our shoulder. I’d say we have a bag of chips on our shoulders.”
What does that look like?
Pat Fitzgerald trying to bring Michigan State back to playing gritty football
At their best, the Spartans are a tough team to play against. In the heyday of the Mark Dantonio era, they boasted elite defenses and running games that could shove the ball down an opponent’s throat.
Michigan State has always had a bit of an underdog mentality on the gridiron thanks to being an hour northeast of their biggest rivals, the Michigan Wolverines.
Throw in the underdog vibes with a “bag of chips” in terms of mentality, and there’s reason to believe the Spartans can be a feared opponent once again in the Big Ten.
It has been a long time, though, so Fitzgerald will have his work cut out for him. The Spartans haven’t had a winning season since 2021, and they’ve also gone through two head coaches since then.
