Michigan State to retain defensive coordinator Joe Rossi on Pat Fitzgerald staff

New Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald will retain defensive coordinator Joe Rossi in 2026, per On3’s Pete Nakos. He’s a holdover from Jonathan Smith’s staff.

Rossi originally was serving as the interim head coach upon Smith’s firing just last week. This came on the heels of a 4-8 2025 campaign under Smith, including 1-8 in Big Ten games.

Rossi joined the Michigan State coaching staff after Smith was hired by the Spartans in November 2023. Rossi started out at Minnesota in the role of defensive analyst before moving into the role of defensive coordinator a short while later. While at Minnesota, Rossi had multiple Top 15 defenses.

A Pittsburgh native, Rossi was a four-year letter winner and a multi-year all-conference selection as an undersized defensive end. Upon graduating from Allegheny, Rossi broke into the coaching profession as d-line coach at Division 3 Thiel College in Pennsylvania. After two years coaching d-line at Thiel, Rossi was promoted to d-coordinator.

After six years coaching defense at Thiel, Rossi moved up to the FCS ranks at Maine, starting out as a special teams coach. He broke into the Big Ten as a special teams coach at Rutgers, where he served as defensive coordinator for two seasons.

Pat Fitzgerald retains Joe Rossi on Michigan State staff

Rossi broke into the Big Ten as a special teams coach at Rutgers taking on the role of interim defensive coordinator midway through his second year on the Scarlet Knight staff.

Fitzgerald coached Northwestern from 2006-23. In his 17 seasons at the helm of the program, he led the Wildcats to a 110-101 mark and a 65-76 record in conference play.

Fitzgerald’s best season at Northwestern was in 2018, when the team went 8-1 in conference play and appearance in the Big Ten Championship game. In total, he logged nine winning seasons with the Wildcats.

On July 7, 2023, Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks after a player accused him of being aware of hazing within the program. Law firm ArentFox Schiff conducted an independent investigation into the allegations.

Initially, the school said the investigation didn’t find sufficient evidence to support the player’s allegations. However, on July 10, 2023, the school fired Fitzgerald after The Daily Northwestern released a story that included detailed descriptions of hazing from the former player.

“Fitzgerald, who reportedly was owed $68 million from the private school on his contract that ran through 2031, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in October 2023 for $130 million,” Detroit Free Press wrote. “Northwestern and Fitzgerald settled out of court on Aug. 21 this year for an undisclosed amount.

“Fitzgerald denied knowledge of the hazing, and the school issued a statement to USA TODAY saying evidence uncovered did not establish any player reported hazing to Fitzgerald or he condoned any actions and he was ‘incredibly upset and saddened’ when he learned of the alleged details.”

SpartanMag’s Paul Konyndyk contributed to this report