Michigan State Fires Jonathan Smith. …Michigan State Hires Pat Fitzgerald?

Michigan State officially announced Jonathan Smith was to be relieved of his duties effective Sunday. Not long after, the rumor mill started churning Pat Fitzgerald as the candidate to replace Smith as the Spartans head coach.

Because we’re a serious operation here at Off Tackle Empire, we come with instant reactions to the news!

LincolnParkWildcat: His last four seasons at Northwestern stunk and after being a player and coach there for 26 years he should have known what the fuck was going on in the locker room. I’m not sure he wants to or is able to deal with the new world of NIL. That being said, we had some good years and bowl wins. The team played hard and tough, and he’s the winningest coach in school history.

If MSU goes into this with eyes wide open, if they can give him substantial help navigating the NIL era, if he has good coordinators, I think he’ll do well. There should be someone from the university legal office monitoring the locker room to prevent misconduct, just to be safe. Will still feel weird not having him wearing purple on Saturday.

Kind of…: All else equal–and go ahead and pick at that phrase all you want–it strikes me as a fine hire. I’d trade him for Fickell straight up. Now we get to see if it was Fitzy or Hank who was most responsible for NW’s extended run of above averageness

HoustonBoiler: Based on the results after Hank retired/left, I’m going with Hank. However, this will provide additional data. Perhaps Fitz can persuade me to change my mind.

I actually expected MSU to take a run at Pat Narduzzi if they moved on from Smith.

Brian Gillis: From MSU’s perspective, I don’t think it’s a bad hire.

Personally, I thought Franklin would be the best hire. (I wonder if there were any back channel discussions before he went to Va Tech?)

I know Spartan fans thought they were getting Urban Meyer or Andy Reid or some other big buck, but they could have done a lot worse than Fitz. They certainly have before.

MinnesotaWildcat: lmao

AlmaOtter: Proof that everyone gets a second chance in college football. And third chance. And fourth chance.

WhiteSpeedReceiver: As a fan of a team that isn’t Michigan State, I love the Fitz hiring. He was was circling the toilet before he was fired for either overseeing hazing or not knowing what was going on within the football program he was paid to be aware of every aspect of.

MinnesotaWildcat: Pat Fitzgerald will bring an identity to Michigan State, at the very least, that I would think they would welcome: hard-nosed approaches on offense and defense, Running the Ball, and a staunch belief that the RPO represents the purest form of communism.

Is Fitz the right guy for the new era of college football? I have my doubts. He struggled in his final two seasons at Northwestern before It happened, and if we’re waving off 2020 for the bad seasons, maybe you want to wave it off as a good season. Regardless, outside the blip of 2020, Fitz presented more as a stubborn old cuss shaking his fist as the world changed around him than an innovator who actually knew how to (re)build a program. Perhaps he’s taken some time to learn and grow as a coach and person.

If you’re a Sparty fan, you’ll hope that’s the case. Force him to bring in strong coordinators (if Jeff Genyk shows up on your staff, hit the panic button), have someone to take care of NIL, and he can clap and grimace and grit you to the middle of the pack in the Big Ten. Good luck.

BuffKomodo: Coulda been worse for Sparty. Perhaps hiring someone who has already been fired for cause (though something got settled) will mean it won’t happen again (it probably will).

Rockymtnblue: I am intrigued.  I don’t think history will define this as a great hire, but it may be a pretty good one.  At the very least he’ll bring a firm leadership to the program, and he emphasizes toughness, which will resonate with the fanbase.  How well he navigates modern college football NIL and transfer portal will be the primary factors in where he falls between an adequate hire and a really good one.