ESPN writer: Former Northwestern coach was the worst coaching hire in college football

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The college football coaching carousel is still spinning, but many familiar faces already have landed in familiar places.

This includes former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was hired earlier this month as the new coach at Michigan State.

Author and ESPN college football writer Bill Connelly was critical of MSU in a recent ranking of every new hire in the Football Bowl Subdivision — placing Fitzgerald's fit as No. 30 on a list of 30.

"This is the one power-conference hire I just don't like," Connelly wrote in a Dec. 22 story on ESPN.com. "Again: Maybe things will work out great. Our guts are wrong about hires all the time. Fitzgerald is still pretty young, and no one simply forgets how to coach. … State is taking a massive risk."

Fitzgerald, 51, ended his tenure at Northwestern with a 110-101 record, though was fired due to a hazing and sexual harassment scandal within the football program. An investigation found that he did not know about the hazing, and he settled with Northwestern. The terms of the settlement have not been shared publicly.

Fitzgerald went 14-31 in his final four seasons at Northwestern, a record that Connelly says would get him fired if equaled at Michigan State. The school fired Jonathan Smith in November after a 9-15 record in two seasons.

"Instead of embarking on a thorough replacement search, the school replaced him the very next day with a guy who went 4-20 in his past two years," Connelly wrote. "Fitzgerald has no track record of success in the NIL-and-transfers era either, and while it might turn out that he has all the right answers, why would you pay $6 million a year to find out?"

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ESPN writer: Pat Fitzgerald worst coaching hire in college football

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