I felt underwhelmed when MSU announced that Fitzgerald was the hire. But, I am warming up to it. From what has been reported, all interested parties at MSU are on the same page. The president, AD, board of trustees (who notoriously love to meddle), boosters, and Izzo all said Fitz is our guy. The one time in my lifetime all parties have been on the same page was the Dantonio era.
He won the press conference, he got the crowd fired up at the basketball game last night. He's a big 10 guy who gets the importance of big 10 rivalries. I think I'm talking myself into supporting him in real time here. I'm not expecting an Indiana-like turnaround (weird words to type) but I just want to care about MSU football again.
Still, if it were up to me, I would have hired James Franklin. I know he can't beat Ohio State or Michigan. But right now we can't beat Minnesota. So his habit of choking in big games would have been a future problem.
I think Franklin would've been a clear improvement over Fitz, but I felt much of the same way when he was hired. When it was announced, I was like "That's it?"
But, like you pointed out, Fitz has done a great job since getting to East Lansing to energize the fan base and get everyone on the same page. The same couldn't be said for Smith, which makes me think Michigan State is going to be on a better path going forward.
I felt underwhelmed when MSU announced that Fitzgerald was the hire. But, I am warming up to it. From what has been reported, all interested parties at MSU are on the same page. The president, AD, board of trustees (who notoriously love to meddle), boosters, and Izzo all said Fitz is our guy. The one time in my lifetime all parties have been on the same page was the Dantonio era.
He won the press conference, he got the crowd fired up at the basketball game last night. He's a big 10 guy who gets the importance of big 10 rivalries. I think I'm talking myself into supporting him in real time here. I'm not expecting an Indiana-like turnaround (weird words to type) but I just want to care about MSU football again.
Still, if it were up to me, I would have hired James Franklin. I know he can't beat Ohio State or Michigan. But right now we can't beat Minnesota. So his habit of choking in big games would have been a future problem.
I think Franklin would've been a clear improvement over Fitz, but I felt much of the same way when he was hired. When it was announced, I was like "That's it?"
But, like you pointed out, Fitz has done a great job since getting to East Lansing to energize the fan base and get everyone on the same page. The same couldn't be said for Smith, which makes me think Michigan State is going to be on a better path going forward.