It’s official: Pat Fitzgerald is Michigan State’s new football coach.

Michigan State made the hiring official Monday. The Detroit News reported Sunday that the university intended to hire Fitzgerald, formerly of Big Ten peer Northwestern, to take over the Spartan football program after Jonathan Smith’s ouster after two seasons in East Lansing.

Terms were not disclosed. The hiring requires formal approval from the MSU Board of Trustees. The next scheduled meeting is Dec. 12.

“I am honored to be named the head football coach at Michigan State University,” Fitzgerald said in a statement released by Michigan State. “I’d like to thank President (Kevin) Guskiewicz and Athletics Director (J) Batt for this opportunity. This is a program with a deep and storied tradition, a passionate fan base, and a commitment to excellence that extends far beyond the football field. What excited me most about this opportunity was the vision for what Michigan State can be for years to come. We will restore tradition, and I’m eager to earn the trust of our players, alumni, and fans while competing at the highest level.”

Fitzgerald, who turns 51 on Tuesday, will helm the Spartans after a three-year hiatus following 17 years at Northwestern. He was dismissed before the 2023 season for a graphic hazing scandal. A later investigation by Northwestern did not find sufficient evidence that he knew of the hazing, but that he also had opportunities to find out about it.

Fitzgerald settled a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit out of court in August, and said later that he felt “vindicated” by the result.

Fitzgerald got his first head coaching job at the age of 31, when he became head coach at Northwestern after the death of predecessor Randy Walker in 2006. In 17 seasons at Northwestern, Fitzgerald’s teams went 110-101 overall, 65-76 in the Big Ten. Fitzgerald’s teams won 10 games three times, and 10 times he took the program to a bowl, where he had a 5-5 record. Twice, Northwestern won the Big Ten West during his time with the program.

Fitzgerald also had some lean years near the end of his run in Evanston. Following a 2020 season in which his team ended 10th in the final AP poll, he posted a combined 4-20 record, 2-16 in Big Ten play.

Pat Fitzgerald is a proven leader who understands the full mission of intercollegiate athletics —competitive excellence, academic achievement, and the holistic development of student-athletes,” Guskiewicz said in a statement released by MSU. “His track record of building disciplined, resilient teams and his commitment to coaching with integrity make him an exceptional fit for Michigan State University. I’m confident that under his leadership, Spartan Football will thrive on and off the field.”

Both records are worse than what Smith just posted in a two-year stint with Michigan State (5-19, 4-14). Smith is owed $33.5 million in an 85% buyout of his seven-year contract signed in Dec. 2023, which can be offset by the salary of his next position.

The hire is the first by athletic director J Batt, who Michigan State poached from Georgia Tech in June to replace Haller.

“Today marks the beginning of a new era for Michigan State Football,” Batt said in a statement released by Michigan State. “Pat Fitzgerald is widely recognized as an exceptional football coach, whose teams play with extreme toughness and grit, demonstrate continual improvement and maximize potential. Pat is an excellent fit for Michigan State Football, as he understands the Big Ten, has great relationships throughout the Midwest and embodies the values on which our program was built. His incredible passion will resonate throughout the program, connecting with all members of our Spartan community, including student-athletes, coaches, staff, alumni and donors.

“As an institution, we are committed to providing the resources and infrastructure required to realize our shared vision of competing for championships, and with Pat leading the way, Spartan Football is positioned for sustained success at the Big Ten and national level. We are excited to welcome Pat, his wife, Stacy, and sons, Jack, Ryan and Brendan, to our Spartan family.”

Fitzgerald is the oldest football coach hired by Michigan State since its November 2006 hiring of Mark Dantonio, who was also about to turn 51 at the time.

The challenge ahead

Michigan State is on its third coach since 2020, and its seventh since 2000. The rigors of college football’s professionalization since the time Fitzgerald last patrolled a sideline make for challenges to which he will have to adapt.

Fitzgerald said on a recent ESPN College Gameday podcast that he “got an opportunity to sit here and get a Ph.D. in what’s going on in college football” while out of college coaching, picking up strategies to handle changes like the transfer portal, NIL and revenue sharing.

The Michigan State program Fitzgerald takes over faces a number of challenges in both recruiting and retention. His official hiring opens a 15-day transfer portal window in addition to the main window Jan. 2 to Jan. 16. That means he will have to make heads or tails of his current roster early.

So far, only two Spartans — running back Makhi Frazier and receiver Nick Marsh — have announced their intention to enter the portal. Others have followed Fitzgerald’s social media accounts since Sunday.

Fitzgerald succeeded with limited resources at Northwestern, a private school that prioritized academic rigor that affected recruiting capabilities for the football program. Fitzgerald made his mark developing more raw prospects into better college players — he sent 16 players to the NFL Draft in 17 seasons.

Michigan State doesn’t have those problems, but it does have a limited pool of funds to wield in the NIL space. Part of the problem stems from four losing seasons in football, as well as the sexual misconduct scandal of former coach Mel Tucker and the ho-hum tenure of Smith. Some fans are out on the program, and it will take a winner to draw some back in.

Tucker’s legacy also left one more stain on the program in November, when the NCAA announced a negotiated resolution for recruiting violations that led to 14 vacated wins, three years of probation and a number of recruiting limitations on visits and contact. Those are challenges Fitzgerald will inherit.

Batt makes his mark

Michigan State spent a lot of money to hire Batt as athletic director in June — arguably money it didn’t have. It spent more than $12 million on his six-year contract, plus $1.3 million to buy out Haller and more than $2 million to pay Batt’s buyout at Georgia Tech. Then his new department got more than $12 million in an internal loan to furnish revenue share payments with athletes, an expense deemed necessary to keep up with other Big Ten schools.

Batt came to East Lansing known as a revenue generator, someone who can find money for programs in need. That made him a favorite of Nick Saban as a deputy athletic director at Alabama and a success helming his own operation at Georgia Tech.

If there’s one tool Batt can use to generate more revenue, it’s football.

“Do not be confused: every athletics department competing at the highest level must be successful in football,” Batt said at his introductory press conference in June.

Success — at least, hope for it — comes with a cost. Smith’s buyout is more than $33.5 million, to be paid in equal monthly installments through Jan. 31, 2031. Batt did save money by hiring a coach who did not have a buyout at another institution. That would’ve been another expense.

Fitzgerald will have to build his staff, which also will cost money. Many position coaches are on expiring deals, but some aren’t, including offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, who has another 14 months worth $1.5 million in base salary on his contract and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, who is owed more than $1.9 million base salary for the same term. Because Smith was fired, in the event of a dismissal Michigan State would owe them the full remainder of their base salary and any bonuses from the past season.

Batt probably didn’t expect to hire a football coach this early, but the product on the field may have necessitated it. Michigan State lost eight straight games to open Big Ten play this season, which caused Smith to be booed at Spartan Stadium and other athletics events. Fans even chanted for him to be fired at Ford Field on Saturday, when he ended his tenure with a win.

In college athletics, the hiring of a football coach is often crucial to an athletic director’s own job security. Whether Batt made the right hire or not will affect his own legacy that is building less than six months into his tenure.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The special teams play that handed Michigan State its loss to Iowa wasn’t the field goal that senior Drew Stevens nailed from 44 yards out to walk the Spartans off at Kinnick Stadium. It was the 40-yard punt return from Kaden Wetjen that set up the game-tying touchdown to begin with.

Michigan State intended to kick the ball out of bounds so as not to let Iowa’s explosive return man from getting a crack at a big return. But punter Ryan Eckley didn’t get the ball out of bounds. Wetjen fielded the punt and returned it 40 yards to key up Jacob Gill’s game-tying touchdown on a 13-yard reception.

“Kaden Wetjen single-handedly kept us in this game today in a lot of ways just with his returns,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a player like that, that electric, that much juice.”

Wetjen proved every bit the nation’s leading return man — one who holds two Iowa and Big Ten return records — in Michigan State’s 20-17 loss at Iowa on Saturday. The graduate senior who started his career at Iowa Western Community College returned three punts for a combined 147 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

“We went into it knowing their returner is a good player,” MSU coach Jonathan Smith said. “We decided to challenge him to start the game. After that we made some adjustments to get away from that.”

Wetjen’s 147 return yards matched quarterback Mark Gronowski’s passing yards for Iowa, and only seven short of the rushing total of 154. It was those hidden yards that put Michigan State’s defense in short-field situations late in the game, and also influenced the decision-making behind a handful of game-changing decisions.

Early on, Wetjen showed Michigan State (3-8, 0-8 Big Ten) any sort of “challenge” it could throw at him wouldn’t be much of a hurdle. A 45-yard punt return in the first quarter could’ve been a touchdown if only Eckley hadn’t tackled him through a blocker. The very next punt, after a stalled drive deep in Michigan State’s territory, Wetjen returned that for his 62-yard touchdown.

“We got chances to get him on the ground,” Smith said. “It wasn’t like we didn’t.”

That’s part of the reason quarterback Alessio Milivojevic punted three times in the game. Smith had repped his quarterbacks through punts every Thursday since fall camp. All those reps proved useful to Milivojevic. Keeping a quarterback on the field kept Wetjen off the field, and the redshirt freshman from Illinois showed a competent leg, for a non-punter, in his reps. None of those looks were meant to test the Iowa (7-4, 5-3) defense, Milivojevic and Smith both said after the game.

“It kind of angered me when they started doing the QB quick kick,” Wetjen said.

In the fourth quarter, though, Eckley took the field. And despite having a leg that has attracted NFL attention since last year, the redshirt junior who’s likely destined for the NFL Draft instead made a series of gaffes.

Eckley started off strong, kicking a 42-yard punt with 10 minutes to play that had plenty of hang time, his punt coverage forcing Wetjen to wave for a fair catch. The next time Eckley took the field, he shanked it wide right for just 11 yards before it went out of bounds.

On his final punt, Eckley was supposed to punt the ball out of bounds, but it stayed well inside the white lines and fell to Wetjen’s hands well before the coverage team got to him. With a juke, Wetjen beat long snapper Jack Wills. Then he jaunted up the right side for his big return before edge rusher David Santiago and a pursuing Wills wrestled him down.

“The last two punts (by Eckley) did not get executed how we wanted,” Smith said. “And that gets turned into a three-point loss.”

Eckley punted six times for 257 yards and a long of 58, including a 44-yard punt downed at the Iowa 1-yard line by gunner Keshawn Williams.

Meanwhile, earlier decisions to keep Eckley — and Wetjen — off the field proved costly late. At the end of the first half facing fourth-and-3 from the 49-yard line, Michigan State kept the offense on the field. On a rub-route to running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver, Milivojevic threw a pick into double coverage that nearly spotted Iowa a field goal — Stevens hit a 53-yard try on an iced attempt, then missed the next one that counted for real.

So, after advancing to his own 45 in a tied game with 41 seconds to play, Milivojevic took the field on fourth-and-2. But instead of calling an aggressive shot to try and win the game, he booted it 34 yards, down to Iowa’s 21-yard line, to avoid a return and hope to force overtime.

“I was just trying to get it off fast,” Milivojevic said. “I didn’t want any opportunity for them to come and block it and make things worse.”

Gronowski found two big passes for 19 yards to DJ Vonnahme and 29 yards to Reece Vander Zee to set up Stevens’ walk-off field goal. Wetjen took the field one more time for a sweep to line up the kick. And Stevens handed Michigan State its eighth straight loss.

“Thank God he’s on our team today,” Ferentz said, “because we would have been in trouble, for sure.”

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Michigan State’s best defense Saturday came when its defense wasn’t even on the field.

In a 38-13 blowout loss to No. 3 Indiana, Michigan State’s defense gave up touchdowns on its first five drives and got pushed into its red zone on the next two. But a whopping 19:12 of first half possession time kept Indiana’s offense off the field and made Saturday’s game competitive for at least a little while.

“Going into the game, especially in the first half, we wanted to put longer drives together,” MSU coach Jonathan Smith said. “Possess the ball, and there was a lot that we were able to execute besides just being able to flat-out match touchdown scores.”

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw for four touchdowns and 332 yards while leading his offense to a 464-367 lead in total yardage. Michigan State’s defense managed just three tackles for loss and no turnovers.

Such a stat line was to be expected against Indiana, who had the nation’s fourth-ranked offense and defense heading into the game. With explosive players all over the field, Indiana exploited talent mismatches against an increasingly banged-up MSU defense (it lost another, safety Malik Spencer, to end the game).

The Spartans’ defense didn’t have an answer for Elijah Sarratt, who scored two touchdowns on four catches, including one on a beautiful ball thrown by Mendoza right behind freshman cornerback Aydan West. In the run game, Indiana had whatever it wanted between the tackles, including Kaelon Black’s 29-yard touchdown through a significant chunk of the MSU defense.

Yet the Michigan State offense at least stayed on the field long enough to keep the game at a reasonable score — not the blowout most expected as the Spartans limped in off three straight losses. Four of eight drives lasted longer than four minutes, with the only touchdown drive going for 8:18 to take a second lead in the second quarter.

But Indiana just proved too much down the stretch for this defense.

“We knew what we were getting into,” VanSumeren said. “This is the Big Ten. This is what we came here to do, is to play these type of games, play these type of teams. It’s not like we were physically outmatched or anything like that. It’s just some things we gotta clean up at different positions, and we’ll get it right.”

Running woes strain Chiles’ limits

Aidan Chiles looked like he could do it all Saturday, throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown. He completed 27 of his 33 throws, including 20 straight at one point. He ran for 91 yards, including a 64-yard keeper in the second half. He even punted, the first MSU quarterback to do so since Rocky Lombardi in 2018.

But Chiles couldn’t do it all, held off the score sheet in the second half. And much of that had to do with the lack of a running game beside him.

Michigan State finished short of 100 yards rushing as a team for the third straight game, managing just 74 yards on 24 carries. It could’ve been even bleaker — Chiles’ 48 yards led the unit, and his total would’ve been a lot lower without that 64-yard call.

Transfer Elijah Tau-Tolliver ran for 13 yards on five carries to lead the running backs, starter Makhi Frazier bottled for a single yard on seven carries. Brandon Tullis, who showed improved pass protection compared to his early season form, finished with 3 yards on two carries.

Smith highlighted Indiana’s defensive front, led by defensive lineman Mikail Kamara (two tackles) and aided by the adept reads of linebacker Aiden Fisher (nine tackles) and Rolijah Hardy (eight tackles).

“We gotta get that solved, because we do — we want to be more effective with that,” Smith said.

Progress is fine, Spartans want results

There are no moral victories in football, even if the early fight Michigan State showed made the result a little easier to stomach.

Smith made it clear that though Michigan State showed progress in the loss, they’re still in the business of winning football games.

“We’re always looking to win the game, 100%,” Smith said, “and so that hasn’t lost our sight in any way. I mean, this is a good football team and all of that, but we want to be able to play winning football and haven’t done it the last few weeks.”

The lack of wins is weighing on Smith’s program. His four-game losing streak is the longest of his 19-game tenure at Michigan State, one that is in question given the way this season has gone. Performances like Saturday’s may have been expected, but those losses still sting.

And though it’s nice to show some progress on film, there’s a lot more work to be done. Improvements in the pass rush, pass coverage, the run game and pass protection need to be made, especially in a highly-charged rivalry setting this week against Michigan.

EAST LANSING — Fans booed Jonathan Smith’s Spartans off the field Saturday afternoon, but the Michigan State coach insists he’s facing no more pressure than he was at the start of the season.

Favored by more than a touchdown in front of a homecoming crowd, Michigan State (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) staggered through a 38-13 loss to a UCLA team that fired its own head coach a month ago. It’s the third straight loss for the Spartans since entering Big Ten play, packed with frustration for coaches, players and fans.

Now 8-10 overall and 3-9 in Big Ten play in his 18 games in East Lansing, the pressure is on Smith to turn this season around. He insists that’s nothing new.

“I think there’s always pressure,” Smith said. “This is what you sign up for. You want to be … a head coach, you want to be a play caller, you want to be a quarterback in the Big Ten, you want to play defensive line in the Big Ten. There’s always a, call it, pressure, but your own expectations (are) really what you’re chasing, and we’re focused on that.”

That answer is a familiar refrain from Smith, who made a similar comment about pressure at Big Ten media days in July. In the era of revenue sharing and NIL money, the financial incentive to win football games — or more adequately, not to lose them — never has been greater. New athletic director J Batt made that evident in June at his introductory press conference.

“It’s imperative we support all our sports, but do not be confused — every athletics department competing at the highest level must be successful in football,” Batt said. “… We’ll do everything we possibly can to dive in and help Coach Smith.”

There’s a lot riding on Smith to be successful this season — a more than $12 million internal loan to cover revenue share perhaps the most impactful. In July, Batt said he expected Smith to continue to make progress this season. Halfway through the season, it’s not clear he has.

Saturday’s game made it clear that fans had lost both faith and interest in Smith. A large contingent of the 72,109 fans in attendance headed to the exits before halftime, and those who stayed booed the Spartans off the field. Fans also booed Smith’s picture when it came up on the video board during a third quarter timeout, UCLA having scored 38 unanswered points by that point in the game.

Asked about those boos, Smith diverted the question to a compliment of MSU fans.

“I like playing at a place and being a part of a program that people genuinely care, have some energy and passion behind it,” Smith said. “And that’s a two-way street when you’re at a place (where) there’s a high amount of care factor and passion with it. So you’re asking for that. You’re going to get it on both ends.”

About the energy he felt from a booing crowd? Smith made clear he couldn’t speak for all the fans in attendance.

“Call it frustrations at halftime, all of us got the same ones,” he said.

The body language and energy of his players looked defeated by the second quarter. Smith chalked that up to a surprise.

“Very surprised by it,” Smith said. “And again, I think all of us that went through the week felt good, back to work. Guys (had) call it energy and focus through the week. So yeah, surprised that this performance looked the way it did.”

Smith already had caught flak from fans ahead of this game, losses at Southern Cal and Nebraska exposing clear flaws in talent, execution and even play calling. All those showed up in abundance against UCLA.

Like a fourth-and-1 call on his own 34 that saw Michigan State run a toss play behind Ashton Lepo, a right tackle who has looked visibly out-of-sorts since stepping in due to injury. Or the many times his defense was burned by underneath routes and crossers, exposing the same coverage issues of the linebacker room that showed all of last season.

This is the third three-game losing streak of Smith’s tenure, and it may last even longer. The Spartans are set to visit No. 7 Indiana next week, then host No. 15 Michigan. Minnesota and a once-ranked Penn State follow, neither to be taken lightly.

What happened Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium may go down as the lowest point of Smith’s tenure at Michigan State. It’s the kind of loss that can cause a program to cut ties with a head coach, like UCLA itself did by firing DeShaun Foster in Week 3. Sam Pittman at Arkansas, Brent Pry at Virginia Tech, even Mike Gundy after 21 years with Oklahoma State — Power Four institutions have acted fast to maintain momentum, and with it fundraising, in football.

Cutting ties with Smith would be expensive for Michigan State. Former athletic director Alan Haller signed him to a seven-year, $52.85 million contract in November 2023, looking for a program builder to guide it out of the gloomy end to Mel Tucker’s scandal-clad tenure as coach.

Michigan State fired Haller in May seeking a jolt in administration. Might it seek another jolt with a new head coach? There’d be a hefty sum involved, at least a $33 million buyout for the 85% guaranteed on Smith’s contract. Barring internal promotion, there’d also be a buyout for assistant coaches.

Then there’s the all-important question of who exactly to hire as a replacement. That’s a lot of money, and Michigan State’s athletic department is operating on a limited budget.

For their part, players who spoke Saturday maintain faith in their coach.

“Belief, I mean, it’s not a week-to-week thing that changes,” linebacker Jordan Hall said. “It’s something that we’ve been doing since January. We still believe in the guys on this team and the coaching staff, so that doesn’t change just because we have to go to Indiana or whoever we play next.”

“We all believe in who we are and who we’re led by,” center Matt Gulbin added. “We just gotta face this loss in the face, get better from it, watch the film and move on and get better. That’s all we can do.”

But the pressure is on for Smith, if not for losing games then losing the interest of fans and potential donors.

Saturday’s performance left a lot of questions for Smith to answer as head coach, and he may just be running out of time to answer them.

EAST LANSING — Mark Dantonio may have retired from head coaching five years ago, but he didn’t retire from football. In reality, he’s around it as much as he ever was.

The Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame inducted Dantonio Friday as part of its six-member 2025 class. It enshrined his program-record 114 wins, 12 bowl games, three Big Ten championships and one College Football Playoff appearance over the course of his 13-year career as the Spartans’ coach.

Dantonio’s coaching career may be over, but nowadays he’s watching more football than he even did as a coach as a member of the CFP Selection Committee.

“I really have,” Dantonio said. “I’ve watched more coaching film, and I watched a lot of TV games to sort of get the start of the season, who’s who and things of that nature. … I’ve always watched a lot of football, but probably pushing it a little bit more now.”

That’s his idea of retirement. Of taking it easy. On top of all that work, Friday’s induction marked the third hall of fame the 69-year-old Dantonio has entered in the past year, joining the College Football Hall of Fame (for which he also entered the Spartan Stadium Ring of Honor) and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2024.

The football itch has never been scratched for Dantonio, who started out as an All-Ohio safety at Zanesville High School in the 1970s. He played for South Carolina from 1976-78 before embarking on a 40-year coaching career across nine different schools, including the head coach at Cincinnati from 2004-06 and Michigan State from 2007-19. Dantonio earned Big Ten Coach of the Year twice in that span (2010 and 2013).

To Dantonio, his selection to Michigan State’s hall of fame is an honor beyond himself.

“I got started because I wanted to be around young people and watch young people develop,” Dantonio said, “and I love the X’s and O’s of it, and all the things that go along with it. But it really was about the players, and what can you accomplish with young people.”

How much could Dantonio accomplish? A lot. He brought Michigan State back as a powerhouse of the Big Ten in the 2010s, routinely in bowls and routinely winning against rivals — his 8-5 record against Michigan is the highest win percentage of any coach in program history. With Dantonio coaching football and Tom Izzo coaching men’s basketball, Michigan State established itself as a premier athletic department.

These days Dantonio’s program is the standard by which his Michigan State successors are judged — easy enough when he’s the winningest to ever do it. But in many respects, Michigan State’s program has never quite recovered since Dantonio’s retirement. It was a decision that caught many inside and outside the university by surprise when he announced it in February 2020, right before national signing day. Five seasons since his departure have yielded one winner: Mel Tucker’s 11-2 campaign in 2021 powered by Kenneth Walker III.

Piece by piece, it appears current coach Jonathan Smith (hired in November 2023, after Tucker’s scandal-clad dismissal brought Dantonio back to the sideline one more time as an associate head coach) has gotten the closest to filling that hole. Smith has given Dantonio his props over the course of two years in East Lansing, and Dantonio said he feels Smith has the program “on the right course.”

Dantonio himself didn’t build his own program in a vacuum, taking plenty of inspiration from two other Michigan State hall of fame members: George Perles and Duffy Daugherty.

“I think everybody has their own program, but you always look back in the past and try and, I think, replicate what was good,” Dantonio said. “You know, that’s what I tried to do. I reached back to Coach Perles’ teams, and then also to Duffy’s teams and things like that. And, you know, Michigan State’s got great tradition here. So once you’ve done it once, there’s always the possibility of doing it again.”

College football is a markedly different landscape since Dantonio retired. The transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) legislation changed the fabric of the sport so much that teams can now share revenue directly with athletes. The money side of the sport is more transparent than ever, and with that comes roster churn. That side of the sport is antithetical to Dantonio’s program, known for players sticking with him and his staff.

Dantonio still misses some joys of coaching, even if he’s still ingrained in the sport.

“I don’t miss the butterflies,” he said. “You know, that apprehension a little bit. But I miss the competitiveness of it and the thrill of winning.”

Maybe that’s why he’s never truly retired.

Funny how life works

From 1986-90, Dantonio served as the defensive coordinator for Jim Tressel’s Youngstown State program, helping lay the foundation for what would become a four-time NCAA Division I-AA national champion in the 1990s.

Saturday, that same Youngstown State program comes to East Lansing to play the Spartans (2-0).

“Going full circle a little bit,” Dantonio said. “I think I was 29 years old when I took the job at Youngstown. I was there for five years, and then (Tressel) stayed, I think, another 13 and won some national championships. (My) last year, ‘90, we were undefeated, but lost in the playoffs. But Youngstown had a great program, and still to this day, I think they’re very highly regarded.”

Current Youngstown State head coach Doug Phillips became a grad assistant with Tressel’s team the year after Dantonio left.

Youngstown State has played Michigan State three times in history, with the Spartans winning in 2011, 2013 and 2021, the first two under Dantonio.

EAST LANSING — Usually college football coaches have all the answers. At Michigan State, they’ve got all the questions.

Though the money and attention paid to college sports has professionalized the sport, college football is still, at its root, about player development. The vast majority of players come to campus either eyeing a future in professional football or needing to improve to touch the college field. From the perspective of Michigan State’s coaches, getting players there starts with their own ears.

“We believe that a smarter player is a better player, right?” safeties coach James Adams said Wednesday. “And so part of teaching and coaching and developing these young people is figuring out how they learn.”

Not only how players learn, but what they know in the first place. In order to develop better players, coaches deconstruct the framework of how they think about football, then fill the gaps. Players are different these days. The Spartans (2-0) have made a deliberate effort to recruit the sorts of players who want to learn and grow, who can handle themselves with intention.

“Kids are changing, you know,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said in August. “And it’s not the kids’ fault, it’s not the parents’. It’s just what’s around them. So you try to find those right kids.”

When the right type of kids get on campus, though, they’re all at various levels of football understanding. Before coaches can teach them anything, they must learn where players are at in their understanding of the game.

In the past, there’d be that caricature of an old-school coach who would rip into a player and tell them exactly what they needed to do, and the player’s success depended on how well they applied the lessons. These days, more young players are inquisitive. They want to, or even need to, understand “why” before they act. Their grasp of purpose dictates their chance of success.

Michigan State’s coaches are well equipped to handle those questions of “why.” In fact, they prefer it that way. Purpose is central to the development of players, getting down to the nitty-gritty details to elevate players’ football IQs.

It works like this: Aidan Chiles goes to a film session and watches back his tape. Before a coach lays into his ball placement, or his footwork, or his decision of when to scramble, they first ask what he sees. And through direct communication developed by trust, Chiles shows where he’s at.

“I have to have that with him,” quarterbacks coach Jon Boyer said Tuesday. “And so for me, everything, I try to pose questions rather than giving him the answers so that I know exactly what he’s thinking. We have to have that open line of communication, and that’s the way that we’re building the room together with all the quarterbacks.”

The same goes with defensive players. Adams, for example, will ask his defensive players what they see in the film room or even on the sideline. It’s what makes the difference between Armorion Smith miscommunicating on a touchdown play and making the game-saving pass breakup in double overtime, like he did Saturday.

“My question is always what happened?” Adams said. “If they can tell me what happened, right, we can work through the hows and the adjustments.”

By developing smarter players — especially on defense — Michigan State’s coaches can accelerate growth.

“We give them a clear way to learn and a process to learn,” Adams said. “The game of football hasn’t changed in 100 years, so we’re still teaching Cover 2 and Cover 3 like everybody else. But making sure the guys understand the why of what we’re doing and what we’re calling it, and then situationally how that may change.”

This philosophy has advantages on the financial side, too. The Spartans’ roster may not be laden with blue-chip talent, but head coach Jonathan Smith and his staff squeeze everything out of — and give every opportunity to — their players in order to maximize success. As Michigan State continues building its war chest to compete with the big spenders, Smith’s strategy gets a lot of bang for a smaller buck.

This strategy comes with responsibility for players, too. They have to be honest, first and foremost, about what they see on the field. Players almost have to be coaches themselves, something that favors older players who’ve played a lot of football. It’s a slow process, but the results can be strong, as Smith’s latter years at Oregon State showed.

“We’ve got a veteran group that they do a great job of coaching themselves and correcting themselves,” Adams said of this year’s team.

After one more tuneup against Youngstown State on Saturday (3:30 p.m./BTN), Michigan State will enter Big Ten play, where the margin for error shortens and there’s less time for learning. But don’t expect coaches to stop asking questions. Because it’s there where the key to this program’s success lies.

Two-point conversion

Aidan Chiles had a rowdy celebration after Saturday’s win over Boston College. He climbed into the student section to dance, hugged teammates, coaches and even commentators on the field. And he scooped up a child on the field and swung him around with a big hug.

That child was Boyer’s son. He and Chiles have known each other since Boyer was on Smith’s Oregon State staff that recruited Chiles in the 2023 class.

“Moments like that, (Chiles) earned the opportunity,” Boyer said. “And then for me to be a part of that and my son to be a part of that at the end of the game with a big hug, that’s what it’s about.”

EAST LANSING — A lot of words were said at halftime of Michigan State’s 42-40 double-overtime win over Boston College. A lot of tough truths. Probably some words not to be repeated in front of strangers. Some of the most important came from Nick Marsh.

The sophomore wide receiver had three catches on five targets for 22 yards and a touchdown in the first half, but he felt like he could’ve had more against a secondary that gave him space. Down 21-14, it was time to make a play. He let Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith know it.

“I told him coach, I got one-on-one coverage, give me the damn ball,” Marsh said.

Smith did, and it was Marsh who scored a tide-turning 41-yard touchdown to kickstart the Spartans’ comeback. He added one more catch, on six targets, for a 68-yard night.

How did Smith take his star speaking up?

“If that’s the case, he’s probably right, if it’s one-on-one,” Smith said. “Nick’s a competitor, I thought that was huge. Talk about his first touchdown, he’s carrying guys into the end zone on a slant like that. He is a competitive kid, talented and so, yeah, we gotta continue to find ways to get him the ball.”

Marsh has already tied his career high in touchdowns in a season — three — two games into the season. He had a quiet Week 1 against Western Michigan with just five catches for 32 yards.

A performance like Saturday’s flashes the kind of spark Marsh can ignite, both within himself and within his team.

Marsh was one of eight different players to catch a pass in the win and one of four with multiple touches, including fellow receivers Omari Kelly and Chrishon McCray.

“All these guys are great receivers,” quarterback Aidan Chiles said. “And if it’s their day, it’s their day. If they’re open, they’re open. And we’re going to get them the ball.”

Spencer crucial to the defense

Chiles’ apparent injury in the fourth quarter made Spartan Stadium hush to silence, but there was an equally important one in the first half. Safety Malik Spencer went down near the Michigan State sideline without putting weight on his right leg.

With Spencer gone, Boston College’s offense struck. The Eagles rattled off three straight scoring drives, with the majority of the yardage coming up the middle of the secondary where his absence created a hole.

“He’s a pretty big piece,” Smith said. “He is a good player, experienced out there. … He’s one of our better players on defense. And so again, we miss him when he’s (not) out there.”

In Spencer’s absence until late in the second half, Justin Denson Jr. and Devynn Cromwell played often. Cromwell got beat for a 56-yard sideline throw from Boston College quarterback Dylan Lonergan to receiver VJ Wilkins. That drive tied the game at 7, with 83 of 88 yards coming through the air.

Boston College scored two more touchdowns through the air in the second half, with Lonergan racking up 217 passing yards on 18-for-22 passing in the first half. By game’s end, he had 390 yards and another touchdown (scored in overtime). Nine of his passes went for more than 15 yards.

Not all of Michigan State’s secondary woes can be ascribed to that first-half spell without Spencer, but it exacerbated a talent problem in a secondary riding depth above star power. Spencer’s health, as well as that of fellow safety Nikai Martinez (out for the first two games of the season with an offseason injury) are two of the biggest questions facing this defense early.

Elsewhere in the defense, cornerback Joshua Eaton got beat a few times in coverage, and so did the linebackers over the middle. It’s an area Michigan State must clean up, because it’s part of the reason this game nearly went off the rails before halftime.

Ball security a problem for Kelly

Before he’d said anything at his postgame press conference, Kelly had something to get off his chest:

“I would like to shout my teammates out for not giving up on me,” Kelly said.

Saturday’s game started as a disasterclass from Kelly. After the defense forced a three-and-out to begin the game, Kelly fumbled away the punt return trying to strain for extra yards. The Spartans got the ball back off a fumble by Boston College running back Turbo Richard, but Kelly nearly gave it back later in the ensuing drive when he tried to hurdle a defender, knocking the ball loose with his knee before it bounced out of bounds.

“Something I live by is ‘don’t flinch,’” Kelly said. “Like whatever happens, however things go — good or bad — don’t flinch, because things are changing in a second.”

How quickly Kelly shook off his performance when he made a 30-yard catch out of halftime to set up Marsh’s touchdown, or when he fell on a Makhi Frazier fumble in the fourth quarter to prevent a vital drive from slipping away. And when the second overtime forced Michigan State to go for two, Chiles found Kelly on the left side of the end zone for the win.

Kelly’s punt returns showed a lot of risk, though, beyond his fumble. His decision-making under pressure faltered, like when he tried to corral a ball with one hand while surrounded by Boston College players in the second half. He’s not one to call a fair catch when he can avoid it, an area of unpredictability.

EAST LANSING — There’s a kick from Friday’s game that might bug Michigan State punter Ryan Eckley for a while.

It wasn’t any of his punts, two of which trapped Western Michigan within an stone’s throw of the goal line. It wasn’t his kickoffs either, including one that he sailed into the end zone for a touchback. It was a 46-yard field goal that he just sliced left to end the first half of a 23-6 win.

“Ahh, it would have been cool,” Eckley said listfully after Wednesday’s practice. “It would have been cool.”

Usually, Eckley is the holder on field goals. Who knew back in November that his first appearance of his senior season would include kicking them? With the Spartans’ top two kickers injured and the only healthy one — Blake Sislo — limited in range, Eckley had to dust off some skills he hadn’t used since his Newsome High School days down in Florida.

Forgive him for missing that field goal, even if his teammates gave him some loving grief on the field as the Spartans ran down the tunnel for halftime. He’d been practicing those long kicks for weeks during fall camp, kicking five field goals a day at eight or 10 practices by his estimation. He hit them all the way back to 60 yards, he says, even though he wanted to save his leg for his day job.

“I still have the leg to make it,” Eckley said. “I mean, it’s just finding the accuracy and consistency, not doing it as often as I used to.”

What Eckley definitely has is the confidence. His presence could command any stage, a self-deprecating humor and dry honesty that makes an audience hang on every word. And he loves talking about his craft. He uses golf as a metaphor.

“Kicking and golf are identical,” Eckley said. “You come over the ball, you slice, you pull, you draw, you leave your club face open. Your foot is your club.”

Like that 46-yard field goal?

“Probably an 8-iron, 9-iron lob shot,” Eckley said.

Or that second-quarter kickoff he sailed for a touchback?

“Sixty-degree Mizuno Pros,” Eckley said. “Just got them fitted.”

Even punting has its own selection of clubs, mostly wedges, depending on where and how he wants the ball to go. That’s an area that he wanted to grow this season, and so far it appears he has.

“Sometimes it’s like, hey, I need to play the 3-wood,” co-special teams coordinator Chad Wilt said Aug. 14. “I need to play the draw, I need to play the fade. It’s very similar to, like, what’s the shot selection for those guys?”

It’s fitting that after his second-quarter kickoff, Eckley stood on the Spartan head at the 50-yard line and mimed a drive, a little bit of swagger at a position used to making cult heroes. Like Bryce Baringer, his Big Ten Punter of the Year predecessor and holder of multiple records at Michigan State in career and season yardage. Baringer is now with the New England Patriots. Eckley is following those footsteps, with his game earning him both recognition from fans and boosting his hopes of one day punting on Sundays.

For now, he’s punting and kicking on Saturdays, with his name on the preseason Ray Guy watch list honoring the nation’s best punters. Eckley comes off a junior year averaging a Big Ten-best 47.9-yard average.

In four punts against Western Michigan, he averaged 51.3, with two of them pinning Western Michigan inside of three yards to the goal line. One of those led to a safety by Alex VanSumeren and Jalen Thompson. The other probably could have too if the Western Michigan quarterback didn’t fall on his own lineman. Plays like that make Eckley a defense’s best friend.

“The percentages are higher for the defense when the ball is closer inside the 20 and things like that,” Thompson said Wednesday. “So Eckley making it possible for the defense is only gonna help us.”

Without progress on the injury front, there’s a high chance Eckley continues pulling out all his clubs against Boston College in Saturday’s game (7:30 p.m./NBC). Head coach Jonathan Smith said if everything holds, Sislo will kick extra points and short- to mid-range field goals, while Eckley will kick long field goals and kickoffs.

Punts, kickoffs, holds — there isn’t a whole lot Eckley hasn’t done at his position, save for one bucket list item:

“I gotta score at some point,” he said.

Whether he throws, catches or runs in a touchdown, Eckley counts them all the same. It’d be a fitting addition to the scorecard of a player who’s done just about everything else for the Spartans, especially this season.

“I just try to have fun out there,” Eckley said. “At the end of the day, we’re playing a kids’ game, and you want to have fun with it.”