Ep. 1094: Pat Fitzgerald arrives at MSU with vigor and MSU basketball keeps rolling

·1 hr 11 min·5 clips

Pat Fitzgerald's halftime speech at Breslin Center riled up the crowd so much Tom Izzo couldn't hear his players during a timeout.

The episode opens with hosts Graham Couch and Jason Knick discussing the previous day's events introducing Pat Fitzgerald as Michigan State's new football coach. They contrast Fitzgerald's passionate, fan-engaging style with the more reserved demeanor of former coach Jonathan Smith, noting Fitzgerald's immediate embrace of the Michigan rivalry. The hosts critique the university's previous support for Smith and express optimism about Fitzgerald's fit, familiarity with the Big Ten, and sensible contract. They shift to Michigan State basketball, analyzing a dominant win over Iowa, highlighting the team's physicality, defense, and the development of players like Carson Cooper and Jeremy Fears. Detroit Free Press reporter Sean Windsor joins the conversation. Windsor shares an anecdote about an internal editorial decision at his paper regarding a headline about Fitzgerald and Michigan. He and the hosts delve into Fitzgerald's ability to command a room, the importance of line-of-scrimmage recruiting, and how NIL and the transfer portal change roster management. The basketball discussion continues with Windsor comparing guard Jeremy Fears to Mateen Cleaves and analyzing the frontcourt development of Jackson Kohler and Carson Cooper, including a story about Doug Herner's early prediction on Cooper. The conversation turns to the Detroit Lions, examining their defensive struggles, particularly the high time allowed for opposing quarterbacks to throw, and the implications for their playoff chances against Dallas. The hosts and Windsor briefly touch on upcoming NFL and college football conference championship games, including the Big Ten title game between Indiana and Ohio State. The episode wraps with promotional segments for show sponsors.

As heard by us

A grounded look at why a football reset starts with alignment and still has to end with execution.

Couch and The Rube gives the coaching discussion a useful frame: what a football reset actually asks of a program. The episode works through university alignment, persuasive leadership, staffing, offensive direction, recruiting, revenue sharing, and player development without…

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Why you'd press play

You want a coaching conversation tested against money, alignment, recruiting, and the work still ahead.

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