Pat Fitzgerald has a lofty goal in mind for Michigan State

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Pat Fitzgerald is back in the Big Ten this fall after a couple of years out of football.

The former Northwestern coach was the winningest in Wildcats history, and now he replaces Jonathan Smith at Michigan State after an experiment that failed after just two seasons. Fitzgerald, who is 51, turned in three 10-win seasons in Evanston and reached the Big Ten title game in 2020.

However, he was just 4-20 in his final two seasons at Northwestern before he was fired ahead of the 2023 season following an investigation into alleged hazing within the football program. Joining a Spartans program that has just one winning season since Mark Dantonio retired in 2019, Fitzgerald is setting the expectations high.

"I wouldn't say I have a chip on my shoulder," Fitzgerald said, per ESPN. "I wouldn't say our program has a chip on our shoulder. I'd say we have a bag of chips on our shoulder, and I'll leave it at that.

"We're going to get back to playing tough, hard-nosed Spartan football that's going to make our fan base and Spartan nation proud. The expectations are to win the Big Ten championship, full stop. If a head coach walks up here and doesn't say that, I'd want to check their pulse."

It's certainly a big goal. Michigan State won the Big Ten three times under Dantonio, but it hasn't played for a conference title since it won the league and made a run to the College Football Playoff in 2015. The Spartans haven't even played in a bowl game since 2021.

Fitzgerald inherits a program defined by malaise in the 2020s, but it seems he has tried to light a fire under his team from the get-go.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Pat Fitzgerald has a lofty goal in mind for Michigan State

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