by Ryan ‘Turbo Jackson
I know I don’t write a ton about the Green and White and honestly it is because there really hasn’t been anything great happening in East Lansing. The football team has been less than newsworthy, with the exception of off the field things, and the basketball team really hasn’t been relevant in quite a time. With another lackluster football season, they fired their coach and replaced him with ex-Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald.
To say this year’s coaching carousel has been crazy is an understatement. Penn State, LSU, and Florida to name a few, have all moved on from their current coaches even before the season has ended. These are top notch coaching jobs that rarely come open all at the same time. The only downside is that there are a ton of vacancies, but not many suitors. Every college football fan has been engulfed in the Lane Kiffin drama where he left Ole Miss to head to LSU, filling the void Brian Kelly left. But with all these high-profile jobs open one would think that the top-notch coaches would be just lining up, but that is not the case at all. We have seen a lot of high-profile coaches take extensions with their current schools thus locking them in, at least for this cycle.
So, who is Pat Fitzgerald? He last coached at Northwestern and did quite an amazing job. His tenure was ended because the university claimed that he was involved in a hazing scandal. He remained out of the public eye while his case was being heard in court where they found him not guilty of any wrongdoing. That being said, I can see how this would make Michigan State fans on edge. Mel Tucker was fired for a sexual misconduct lawsuit. I won’t go into detail here, so Google is your friend if you want to do more research. So, State fans are left with the question, we just got over one scandal and then we hire another coach that has a past. GREAT! Fitzgerald was 110-101 over 17 seasons at Northwestern. Having a winning record there is quite a feat and until the false accusations, Fitzgerald was one of the top coaches in the BIG10.
Fitzgerald was rumored to be wanting to return to coaching this cycle, however, no real rumors had surfaced with anyone seriously giving him any pub. Michigan State signs their guy and I think this is a fantastic hire. Fitzgerald won at Northwestern. A school that isn’t known for its football prowess and higher academic standards. Insert him into East Lansing and I think he is going to be successful. There are a ton more recruits that would prefer to go to State vs Northwestern. Remove the higher academic standards and that opens Fitzgerald to get more talent into his team. I have always been a big fan of his and I thought he was given a raw deal towards the end of his Northwestern tenure, so I expect him to make a huge splash in the BIG10 and keep more Michigan talent in state. He will also challenge Big Brother in recruiting as well. Not only should Michigan take notice but the BIG10 as a whole. Michigan State might be back on its way to relevance yet again!
***Until next time, checkout The Turbo and 2ks show at youtube.com/turboand2ks.
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