Pat Fitzgerald isn’t easing into Michigan State. He’s setting the bar where he wants it from day one.
Back in Chicago on Wednesday, the Spartans’ new coach made it clear he isn’t interested in talking about small wins or gradual progress. Even with Michigan State coming off a four-year bowl drought and its last Big Ten title dating to 2015, Fitzgerald said the goal is to get the program back to the top of the league.
"You're going to have 18 head football coaches walk up here and have an expectation to win the Big Ten Championship, and if you don't have that expectation, I don't know why you do it," Fitzgerald said on Wednesday. "I have no idea why you do it. That's our expectation."
The numbers around Michigan State don’t exactly match that ambition. ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Spartans a 32.7% chance to reach six wins and become bowl eligible.
Their odds of winning the 18-team Big Ten sit at 0.1%, and their College Football Playoff chance is 0.8%. Fitzgerald’s comments read less like a prediction and more like a reflection of how he approaches the job, but they’d look awfully bold in hindsight if MSU winds up surprising people.
The move to East Lansing also comes with a different kind of setup for Fitzgerald. He pointed to the resources available at Michigan State as a clear step up from what he had at Northwestern, where he built his reputation by squeezing everything he could out of less.
"I wasn't going to walk to East Lansing; I was going to sprint," Fitzgerald said about when he got the job. "The opportunity, once it was presented to myself, Stacey, and our family, it was a no-brainer."
That jump in support is part of what makes this next chapter so intriguing. Fitzgerald even joked that he’s looking forward to finding out what it feels like to be on the right side of home-field advantage for once.
His track record at Northwestern gives him plenty of credibility. When he took over there, the Wildcats had finished in the AP Top 25 only twice since 1949, and both of those seasons came when Fitzgerald was playing linebacker at NU - No. 8 in 1995 and No. 15 in 1996. As head coach, he delivered four AP Top 25 finishes and two trips to the Big Ten championship game.
He’s also not pretending the outside expectations are high. Michigan State was recently picked to finish 16th in the conference in an unofficial preseason media poll conducted by Cleveland.com, and Fitzgerald brushed that off without much ceremony.
"We'll talk about that at the end of the year," he said about his team's placement. "I can read.
It's not my first rodeo. Somebody's got to be placed where we're placed.
It's fine. We'll roll the ball up and go play."
Michigan State also released its preseason roster on Wednesday, and one detail stood out: nobody is wearing No. 1. That number is being held back for now, because Fitzgerald wants to turn it into something more meaningful.
At Northwestern, he had a tradition of giving No. 1 to the player who best embodied the team’s values. He’s bringing that idea to Michigan State, but with a twist: the players will help choose who gets it.
"Everybody has played against the guy --- this is a general statement --- [the person] who wore No. 1 was usually the guy who thought he was No. 1, and I'm kind of anti-No. 1.
I like the guy that cares about his teammates more than himself. I like the guy that cares about the program more than himself.
The giving of yourself for the greater good; to me, that's family...
"I think that's what jersey No. 1 represents: who the Spartan is. We're gonna have that tradition started up this year. Our Unity Council nominates a group of names that we'll present to the team next week, and then a team will vote on who they believe the Spartan is."
Whoever gets the number won’t necessarily have to wear it on the field. If the player doesn’t want to switch to No. 1, he’ll still get a No. 1 sticker on the back of his helmet.
And at Michigan State, that number carries real weight. Charles Rogers, Andre Rison and Jayden Reed have all worn it, making No. 1 one of the most recognizable jerseys in Spartans history.
In Other News...
Michigan States OL Fix May Hinge On One Transfer Addition
Michigan States offensive line is getting a major reset this year, with four new starters set to reshape a unit that badly needed help after last seasons struggles in pass protection. The most interesting piece of that overhaul may be UConn transfer Ben Murawski, who arrives after starting every regular-season game for the Huskies and brings a reputation as a sturdy run blocker at a position where the Spartans need reliability.
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The timing matters because Michigan State is planning for a possible shift at point guard after the 2026-27 season, when Jeremy Fears Jr. could be moving on. Add in the NCAAs new age-based eligibility model, which gives current scholarship players the option to extend their college careers, and the Spartans are navigating a future that is a little less predictable than usual. [Read more 🡒]
Two New MSU Transfers Carry Huge Fall Camp Pressure
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Kenny Soares Jr. is another name worth watching because his role is changing as much as his surroundings, and that kind of adjustment can define whether a transfer becomes a difference-maker or just another body in camp. There are still other position battles and moving parts around the roster, but these are the kinds of newcomers who can set the tone for the whole class if they handle the jump the way Michigan State needs them to. [Read more 🡒]