Pat Fitzgerald absolutely owned the room at 2026 Big Ten Media Days. His return to the league, after a three year absence, just reminded us of how great his media skills are. A phenomenal public speaker, the Michigan State head ball coach produced several verbal gems, but this remark, praising the passion of the Spartan faithful, was especially noteworthy:
“I’m just excited to have a home field advantage. Never lived that.”
“It’s going to be cool. Really excited about it. Not going to lie.”
It’s not just the remark itself, but also the delivery, and the tone as well. You can see and hear it around the 23 minutes and 40 seconds mark in the video above.
The sarcasm and snarkiness was intentional. He wanted to get the point across that he was taking a shot at his former employer.
Pat Fitzgerald is pointing out how Northwestern football never sells out a home game from primarily their own fans. NU does have sell-outs, for the big conference games, but the crowd is always a majority, and sometimes a strong majority, of the visiting team’s fans.
They aren’t typically a “Silent Majority” either.
While Fitzgerald is not wrong, and perfectly within his rights to say this, this remark is more than just a slam against his alma mater/place where he built his coaching career.
It’s an obvious, blatant self-own.
He was the head ball coach at Northwestern 2006-23, so if they need the opposition’s fans in order to pack the place, that, at least partially, is whomever was in charge over there at the time.
And the contradiction/paradox of this quip perfectly encapsulates the zeitgeist of Pat Fitzgerald leading Michigan State Spartans football.
Hit-or-Miss, Boom-or-Bust, Risk/Reward: Pick Your Cliche
As Fitzgerald said at Media Day, there is a short list of places where he would fit, and East Lansing is one of them. He’s incredibly self-aware in that regard. And rightfully he ran, did not walk (as he himself put it) to take the gig.
At the end of last year, Michigan St. announced a historic $401,000,000 donation from Greg and Dawn Williams, with $290 million of that allocated to Spartan Athletics.
Greg Williams, CEO and co-founder of the fintech corporation Accrisure, provided the largest single financial commitment in MSU history, and one of the largest single amounts in college sports history.
MSU isn’t messing around, and if they think the Orland Park, IL native and all-time leader in Northwestern coaching wins is the guy, then maybe he is.
They gave him a five year, $30 million deal, despite the fact that he left NU in disgrace, due to a hazing scandal that rocked the program.
State expects results, and now we’ll see what Fitzgerald can do now that he has a bigger brand name school backing him. Sink-or-Swim time begins now!
However, it’s going to take time to really see if the Pat Fitzgerald hire is a success or not. Don’t judge by the end result at yesrt one. This is a big rebuilding project in E.L. for anyone stepping into this job.
The Big Reunion/Circle the Date Game
The bad news for Fitz and the Spartans (to the extent that July/August predictions are actual “news”), they are widely projected to have a very poor season.
Most prognosticators seems them finishing somewhere around 13th-16th in the 18 team Big Ten, and finishing with a record of 3-9, 1-8 in the league.
The good news for Fitzgerald and MSU (again we really shouldn’t call preseason speculation “news”) is that the one conference game they’re projected to win is the one that matters the most.
No, sorry, we are not talking about Nov 7 at Michigan.
We’re obviously speaking about Oct. 17, at home to Northwestern. The narratives for that one already write themselves, and this will be a highly anticipated game, on both the regional and national levels.
Northwestern just named their starting quarterback for this season, on Tuesday, and it is…wait for it…for MSU QB1 Aidan Chiles.
He’s at a point in his career that is similar to Minnesota Vikings starting QB Kyler Murray- a major career crossroads type of season.
Plus he has a similar, dual-threat skill set that is reminiscent of Murray.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, said of Murray: “the way he sees the field, the way he can throw with anticipation, and ultimately where he’s at in his career is a unique time.”
Sounds like Chiles, who will enter this game with as much to prove as Pat Fitzgerald does.
Has He Evolved With the Times?
In his final three seasons at NU (not including the covid-shortened half season of 2020) Fitzgerald went 7-29. He was 4-20 in his final two. He didn’t adjust well, at all, to the NIL/excessive player transferring era.
However, maybe Fitzgerald has grown, learn and adjusted from that?
He’s had three years away from head coaching to think about it and figure out a new approach.
So it’s very difficult to speculate how this will all go.
“I wouldn’t say I have a chip on my shoulder,” Pat Fitzgerald said during his time on dais at Big Ten Media Day.
“I wouldn’t say our program has a chip on our shoulder. I’d say we have a bag of chips on our shoulder.
“I’ll leave it at that.”
While he’s only been away since 2022, so much has drastically changed, in college football since then. Asked what he thinks the biggest change in the sport has been, Pat Fitzgerald responded:
“I think the biggest thing that’s changed is basically the end of your season until you start the spring semester. So the retention of your roster, and then obviously the acquisition of talent that you get through the portal.
“That’s the biggest change.
“Yeah, there’s a financial component to it and rev share, NIL and all that, but to me that’s been the biggest change.
“Guys want to be developed. They want to be coached.
“Our staff motto is to be the best player development staff in the country, and guys want that, and we’re going to do it holistically.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, Ratings and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.