Coaches / Head coach / Pat Fitzgerald
Form · last two seasons
66
performing to its level
Rating66recent
Peak66best 5 yrs
Career65whole career
confidence
Pat Fitzgerald
Head Coach · Michigan State
Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.
Chemistry
49
continuity at Michigan State · early
Seasons here1
Programs2
Stints2
Career path
Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
Chemistry
vs every head coach since 2016 · 62 = typical
Tenure here
Seasons as head coach at his current school
Staff continuity
Seasons he and his offensive coordinator have worked together
Player retention
Players kept vs. the league norm for similar rosters (fewer transfers out)
Followers
Players and staff who followed him from his previous job
QB & coordinator
How long his quarterbacks have played for the same coordinator
Roster continuity
Share of starters returning from one season to the next under him
Dashed gold ring on the radar = average (62). Chemistry scale: 62 is typical, 20-50 is a warning sign, under 10 is a collapse.
As head coach
Rating66Form66≈ as usualPeak66Career65
2006–2026 · 18 seasonsRecord 110-101National titles 0Great seasons 0 (top ~7% of all teams that year)
- Rating 66: his whole career, recent seasons weighted most, measured as how far his teams stood above their era, crediting him with half of what each program already was when he arrived (about the share that, historically, follows a coach to his next job), fading as the program becomes his own.
- Peak 66: best five-season stretch, 2016–2020 at Northwestern (36-25), taking over an average program.
- Career 65 (#261 since 1936): total accomplishment over 18 seasons (110-101), 0 national titles, 0 elite seasons; full credit for the program he inherited.
Over expectation · 2016 on56Results against what his rosters' talent predicted (program lift, evaluation, recruiting, staff building, game management).
Rating = who he is: his whole head-coaching career (since 1936), weighted toward recent years — how far his teams stood above their contemporaries, how much he lifted programs, his great seasons and titles. Form = the last two seasons. Career = the all-time ranking number.
Program lift55
Evaluation76
Results60
Recruiting67
Staff building55
Game management54
| Season | Team | Record | Season rank | vs contemporaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Michigan State | 0-0 | #53 | +0.33 SD |
| 2022 | Northwestern | 1-11 | #96 | -0.68 SD |
| 2021 | Northwestern | 3-9 | #96 | -0.68 SD |
| 2020 | Northwestern | 7-2 | #13 | +1.04 SD |
| 2019 | Northwestern | 3-9 | #78 | -0.24 SD |
| 2018 | Northwestern | 9-5 | #43 | +0.50 SD |
| 2017 | Northwestern | 10-3 | #22 | +1.00 SD |
| 2016 | Northwestern | 7-6 | #29 | +0.80 SD |
| 2015 | Northwestern | 10-3 | #56 | +0.23 SD |
| 2014 | Northwestern | 5-7 | #64 | -0.02 SD |
| 2013 | Northwestern | 5-7 | #61 | +0.11 SD |
| 2012 | Northwestern | 10-3 | #30 | +0.68 SD |
| 2011 | Northwestern | 6-7 | #57 | +0.09 SD |
| 2010 | Northwestern | 7-6 | #79 | -0.44 SD |
| 2009 | Northwestern | 8-5 | #73 | -0.26 SD |
| 2008 | Northwestern | 9-4 | #44 | +0.30 SD |
| 2007 | Northwestern | 6-6 | #79 | -0.56 SD |
| 2006 | Northwestern | 4-8 | #77 | -0.44 SD |
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).