Yes, barring portal magic, next year should be rough for MSU. It’s a good year to have them on the schedule.
Fitz to Michigan State
- Thread starter wildcatcoaster
- Start date
Collins and Fitz both have many friends.
Fitz will be cheering for MSU.
I will be cheering for the Cats.
Why would he? Head football coaches at other schools aren’t usually constantly visible mixing with the Hoi Palloi at most schools. Fitz was unusual in this regard. It was quite the privilege to see him around campus constantly for those first few years.
He has been at a couple of MSU basketball games and been well received from what I have read.
I imagine that MSU will be hosting transfer portal recruits at the game.
I’m sure given his existing bromance with CCC and budding bromance with Izzo, then he will be there.
Huge loss for MSU Fitz:
www.espn.com
Sources: Michigan State's Marsh to transfer to IU
As the Hoosiers continue preparations for the College Football Playoff semifinals, Indiana on Sunday landed a commitment from Michigan State transfer wide receiver Nick Marsh, sources told ESPN, one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal.
www.espn.com
Your definition of "well established" is generous to say the least.
Sheridan took over from DeBoer when Kalen left to be a HC (taking Grubb) after being the TE coach (was previously the QB coach before DeBoer arrived in Bloomington.
In his first year running DeBoer's system w/ Penix still at the helm, IU did quite well.
The next season, not so much.
In his 1st year at Bama, was OC primarily bc Grubb took a job in the NFL.
So, Sheridan has been OC or co-OC for a total of 4 seasons, none of them really running his system (whatever that entails, will be an offshoot of DeBoer's system) with his players.
He's going to have to do that at MSU.
Maybe Sheridan will end up doing a good job, but he's hardly a proven OC at this juncture.
Marsh transferring has been known for awhile. This has less to do with Fitz and more to do with how Michigan State played in 2025.Huge loss for MSU Fitz:
Sources: Michigan State's Marsh to transfer to IU
As the Hoosiers continue preparations for the College Football Playoff semifinals, Indiana on Sunday landed a commitment from Michigan State transfer wide receiver Nick Marsh, sources told ESPN, one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal.
granted, well established was an exaggeration, but he’s been on the staff as either quarterback coach or offensive coordinator at Washington and Alabama. I just don’t think you can blame him for Alabama’s inability to run the ball. Let’s just call him an up and comer who has shown much promise. Whether he works out or not remains to be seen but it is not a bad gamble.
MSU is off to a good start rebuilding their OL after nabbing the massive UCONN OT in the portal. One of eight transfer commits today for the Spartans.
Any word on if we’re competing against MSU for recruits?
It’ll be interesting if we learn how Fitz recruits against NU when he needs to.
What? Indiana’s offense was bad in 2020 and horrific in 2021.
You have to actively try to be bad when you have an NFL first rounder at QB.
Here's a ranking of the top coordinator hires thus far...
www.cbssports.com
Kelly's arrival signals a dramatic offensive shift for the Wildcats. The former Oregon and UCLA head coach has long recruited with a scheme-fit mindset and is known for speed-driven, run-first attacks. Armed with one of the nation's most talented rosters at Ohio State, Kelly helped the Buckeyes produce two 1,000-yard rushers, a breakout season from freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith and developed Kansas State transfer Will Howard into a dynamic passer. His return to the NFL was short-lived, but his track record at the college level should bring immediate improvement at Northwestern.
Think, Kelly (no.7), at the very least should be switched w/ Knowles (no.4).
Both helped dOSU win the Natty, but PSU D underperformed w/ Knowles and part of the reason he jumped to Happy Valley was bc Day, rightfully so, put the kabosh on some of the stuff Knowles was calling.
No mention of Sheridan btw...
Ranking college football's top coordinator hires ahead of 2026 season
These 10 coordinators are sure to make immediate impacts at their new jobs
www.cbssports.com
7. Chip Kelly, Northwestern OC
Previous job: Las Vegas Raiders OCKelly's arrival signals a dramatic offensive shift for the Wildcats. The former Oregon and UCLA head coach has long recruited with a scheme-fit mindset and is known for speed-driven, run-first attacks. Armed with one of the nation's most talented rosters at Ohio State, Kelly helped the Buckeyes produce two 1,000-yard rushers, a breakout season from freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith and developed Kansas State transfer Will Howard into a dynamic passer. His return to the NFL was short-lived, but his track record at the college level should bring immediate improvement at Northwestern.
Think, Kelly (no.7), at the very least should be switched w/ Knowles (no.4).
Both helped dOSU win the Natty, but PSU D underperformed w/ Knowles and part of the reason he jumped to Happy Valley was bc Day, rightfully so, put the kabosh on some of the stuff Knowles was calling.
No mention of Sheridan btw...
Interesting discussion. They are right that we need more, better players. But it is fun to imagine what Kelly and Braun can do with a little better talent. Real shame we lost Reeder as I thought he would be a great 1-2 punch with Komo.
I guess I have to reconsider my earlier post about Fitz learning from his past by hiring buddies. This hire appears to be some kind of coaching security blanket for Fitz. This inconsistent break from past ways of buddy hiring will undermine his potential for success at MSU. Totally agree with the observation above. Would have been better if he really wanted Bajakian nearby to have brought him on board as some kind of minor advisor role instead of qb coach. Great news for Bajakian though, he is probably making as much or more as qb coach than he was as OC at NU, benefitting from the skyrocketing coaching staff salaries during the interim of Fitz’s layoff.
For once I wish a video was AI-generated.
Seeing Fitz in MSU green talking about what it means to be a Spartan man is just… weird.
Seeing Fitz in MSU green talking about what it means to be a Spartan man is just… weird.
For all the money he got in that payout, can he not get a better haircut? My god he looks like they held him down and cut his hair.
Look like they’re still honoring his discount at the local Sport Clips in East Lansing
I don’t think they are going to be very good next year. He brought in a bunch of low 3 star transfers. Plus you always have to factor in the coach Jake factor.Fitz… Agile Scrum Master!
Where was that passion after the COVID season.
Their QB transfer is one of the most underwhelming, a senior from UCF who lost his job a couple of seasons ago.
They’re relying on a returning QB as well who played OK as a redshirt freshman.
Unless Fitz finds a stud QB… next season will be a long one for the Spartan Men.
Kind of hard to lose 40 players give or take and piece together an entire new coaching staff and roster and be good the same year. Plus he’s been coaching high school football the past few seasons.
It gives the lie to either the idea that he was getting game-changing NIL resources or that he's learned anything about the portal, but assuming middle-class NIL availability IMO it's pretty justifiable to carry on with the existing QB and try to bring in as much around him as possible on both sides of the ball and go from there as opposed to blowing the budget on a mid-tier QB.
Tulane just flipped 60 players on their roster and ended up in the CFP.
He is landing some studs: Kenny Soares just committed to rejoin him in East Lansing.
MSU football adds veteran, experienced LB transfer from ACC school
Michigan State football has added an experienced linebacker to its defense through the transfer portal
spartanswire.usatoday.com
He definitely landed game-changing resources: the MSU alum who wanted him donated $400M. So, he should have plenty of cash to sign a QB and other positions.
The fastest way to win is to land a top QB, but maybe their redshirt freshman is their future.
LSU, Miami, and Tennessee got into a bidding war for Leavitt and he’ll now get paid $5M for his final season. If Fitz were serious, why not make an offer?
We don’t actually know the timing and makeup of that $400M. The transfers they’re getting doesn’t paint the picture of elite resources.
I read on Reddit that supposedly $20-30M of the cash was available immediately if needed for NIL.
MSU donors handed its football program a blank check and fresh start.
And, yet, Fitz let a more talented QB (Chiles) leave and replaced him with someone much worse than Stone was (the UCF QB).
…and he hired Bajakian as his “Van Buddy”, as MSU fans call Jake.
I PREDICT… that Northwestern will have a better 2026 than MSU on the football field.
MSU is trusting their season on the guy who replaced Chiles. His arm looked just as good, he has 3 years of eligibility, and he played well for them. They also have a 4-star coming out of high school. I think that other QB that they got from the portal is meant as a back-up. They really had too many holes to fill after losing 40 to portal plus a graduating class from a team that only won 4 games. I feel they are putting together a rebuilding team (no matter what Fitz says) and will go all out for 2027. At this point, their fans want to see progress.
If Fitz wanted to prove how much he’d learned from the past few years of his self-described “PhD work”, then he would have told MSU’s boosters he needed $4-5M for a premier QB and $20-25M more to build around him.
Instead he’s relying on a 4 star freshman and two QBs who have underperformed.
If you think MSU’s fans will be as patient as NU’s… well I know you’re too smart to think that as they still consider themselves a Top 25 program despite no recent evidence to support it (Nebraska still thinks they’re Top 10.)
I PREDICT… that Fitz will last less than 3.5 seasons in East Lansing. He needs to win immediately to last there. And right now their team is less talented than last year’s 4-8 squad from what we’ve tracked.
Truthfully, I really don’t care what that team does other than lose to us. If they find success or not is a very very minor factor for me other than I appreciate what Fitz did here so I hope he is successful (just not overly successful that their program outshines us).
You are going to pontificate about this for years, we next years rebuild your flash point for whether Fitz has changed his evil ways. Can’t wait.