Well, that was quick.
Hours after Michigan State fired two-year head coach Jonathan Smith on Sunday, the Spartans have already lined up his replacement, former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, according to multiple reports.
Smith spent just one-and-a-half seasons at Michigan State, having been hired from Oregon State midway through the 2024 season to replace the fired head coach, Mel Tucker. Smith posted an 0-7 record in 2024 before the Spartans finished their 2025 campaign 4-8 on Saturday, although they closed on a 38-28 win over Maryland.
That victory over the Terrapins was Smith's first win in Big Ten play with Michigan State. He finishes his tenure there with a 4-15 overall record and a 1-14 mark in conference play.
Fitzgerald was fired from Northwestern in July 2023 amid an investigation into allegations of hazing and sexual assault in the Wildcats' program. The law firm Arent Fox Schiff, acting as an independent investigator, confirmed those allegations. Eleven then-current and former players “acknowledged that hazing has been ongoing within the football program.”
“The hazing included forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature, in clear violation of Northwestern policies and values,” Northwestern University president Michael H. Schill wrote following the investigation.
Fitzgerald claimed no knowledge of the hazing and later filed a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Northwestern, which was settled out of court in August. Northwestern acknowledged in a statement that Fitzgerald did not know about the hazing in the football program and that he never “condoned or directed any hazing.”
The firing ended a 17-year tenure for Fitzgerald as coach of the Wildcats. His career record is 110-101. He posted three of the five 10-win seasons in Northwestern school history and took the team to its only two Big Ten Championship Game appearances in 2018 and 2020, losing to Ohio State both times.
