EAST LANSING, Mich. — Just hours after firing Jonathan Smith, Michigan State is hiring Pat Fitzgerald was the next head football coach of the Spartans. Fitzgerald was previously the head coach at Northwestern from 2006-2022.

Fitzgerald went 110-101 and is the Wildcats' longest-tenured coach in school history. Northwestern fired Fitzgerald in the summer of 2023 due to a hazing scandal.

Fitzgerald denied knowledge of the hazing and settled with the school this past August where he admitted no wrong doing.

He takes over a Michigan State program on probation for violating rules by having three ineligible players participate when Mel Tucker was coach from 2020–23.

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