Before Michigan State football head coach Pat Fitzgerald agreed to lead the Spartans, one priority emerged throughout all of his conversations with university leadership: alignment.
It's no coincidence that Fitzgerald values the shared commitment between university leaders and the football team; it’s been central to his success for nearly two decades. He believes a shared vision is essential for sustained success, which he hopes can hold true again as he begins to rebuild MSU.
“It’s about, number one, being aligned,” Fitzgerald said Monday. “When the board and the president, the athletic director and the head football coach are aligned, great things and special things can happen.”
Fitzgerald said Northwestern benefited from that same alignment, a primary reason he won 110 games and make 10 bowl appearances. For 17 seasons, he established a winning culture through mutual trust among university leadership.
“That program we built was on bedrock,” Fitzgerald said. “But that’s what we’re building here, and obviously, I’m not doing a good enough job yet to get us there. But every day, every rep, we’re getting closer and closer to that.”
Of all the university leaders, Fitzgerald's connection with athletic director Dan Bartholomae remains the most critical as they coordinate in restoring MSU's past successes.
The emphasis on alignment predates Bartholomae’s tenure, when J Batt was hired as MSU’s athletic director in June 2025. MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz has harped on the advantages university alignment brings to a football program.
Even as college football has rapidly shifted since FItzgerald's final season in Evanston, that trust remains fundamental. Name, image and likeness, revenue sharing, and the transfer portal have flipped how coaches build their rosters, spurring the need for unity.
Schools across the country are already preparing next season's approach to the transfer portal despite not being halfway through the college football season. Player evaluation is constant. Fitzgerald and the MSU coaching staff are committed to rebuilding this roster, but are focused on preparing the team for the team's next game on the schedule.
"We talk personnel every day, Gas (general manager Bryan Gasser) and I. But as far as, like, that nth degree, with the coaches right now, our focus is trying to get better in football," Fitzgerald said.
