Kindred spirits: At Michigan State, Pat Fitzgerald and Tom Izzo share a reverence for those who serve
Saturday’s tribute to first responders revealed a value Pat Fitzgerald brought with him to Michigan State – and one Tom Izzo has embodied for decades
Pat Fitzgerald walked the Spartan Stadium field before kickoff Saturday wearing a dark green T-shirt with Sparty charging forward while carrying an American flag.
Photo credit: Jonah Wilson/Spartans Illustrated
Before the game began, Fitzgerald zipped a white Nike vest over it.
A short distance away, Tom Izzo stood with his Michigan State basketball team in the south end zone for the national anthem.
Across the field in front of them, military personnel and first responders stretched the edges of a gigantic American flag across much of the playing surface.
Photo credit: Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated
Photo credit: Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated
Michigan State’s football players had American flag decals on their helmets.
When the Spartans emerged from the tunnel, fifth-year kicker Liam Boyd carried another American flag onto the field.
Two home games into Fitzgerald’s tenure as Michigan State’s head coach, the Spartans have entered Spartan Stadium behind the Stars and Stripes twice.
Photo credit: Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated
Taken separately, none of those details would necessarily mean much. College football is often filled with patriotic displays, especially around the anniversary of Sept. 11. Teams wear decals. Flags are carried. First responders are recognized.
But what happened before and after Michigan State’s game Saturday provided a glimpse into something that appears to run considerably deeper for Fitzgerald.
And, in the process, it revealed another way Michigan State’s new football coach may be a kindred spirit with the school’s longest-tenured and most prominent coach.
Fitzgerald and Izzo have spent their lives in different sports. They have different personalities, different coaching styles, and, until recently, careers rooted in different Big Ten institutions.
But both men have a long history of using their programs to honor military members, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and others whose jobs require them to accept risks far more consequential than anything found on an athletic field.
For Izzo, that history stretches back decades.
For Fitzgerald, there is an extensive record from his years at Northwestern, too.
Saturday, those two histories intersected at Spartan Stadium.
Before the game, police officers and firefighters joined Michigan State’s football team during the Spartan Walk and led the Spartans toward the stadium.
Photo credit: David Harns/Spartans Illustrated
Photo credit: David Harns/Spartans Illustrated
Later, a firefighter who had been at Ground Zero participated in the coin toss.
And after the game, Fitzgerald walked into his press conference wearing a green East Lansing Firefighters Local 1609 T-shirt.
Photo credit: David Harns/Spartans Illustrated
It wasn’t apparel supplied by Michigan State or something planned as part of the program’s branding. The firefighters had presented it to Fitzgerald as part of the Spartan Walk.
He decided to wear it.
Then, before discussing a single word of what happened during the football game, Fitzgerald talked about why.
“So thankful and appreciative of our first responders, those that protect our freedom,” Fitzgerald said. “We had a very special Spartan Walk today, walking in with a lot of first responders. It was really special.”
Before leaving the Kellogg Center for the stadium, Fitzgerald had talked to his players about Flight 93 and the passengers who saved countless American lives on the ground by sacrificing their own.
“We kind of (take) for granted the ‘Let’s roll’ mantra,” Fitzgerald said. “(On Flight 93), it was ordinary people doing extraordinary things for others.”
That, Fitzgerald said, was the message Michigan State carried with it when it left the hotel.
The football game soon followed, but he admitted there was emotion involved in walking into the stadium alongside the first responders.
Then he pointed to the shirt.
“I’m honored to wear our East Lansing firefighters T-shirt that they gave me,” Fitzgerald said.
His most powerful words came a few moments later when he returned to the firefighters who responded on Sept. 11, 2001.
“When the bell rang, they didn’t run,” Fitzgerald said. “They ran to.”
That sentiment might be new to Fitzgerald’s Michigan State tenure.
It is not, however, new to Fitzgerald.
A history that predates Michigan State
Go back through Fitzgerald’s 17 seasons running Northwestern’s program, and there is a recurring pattern...
Subscribe to Spartans Illustrated to read the full story, including:
How Fitzgerald’s history of honoring military members and first responders dates back years at Northwestern, including Heroes’ Day, Military Appreciation Day, and a Wounded Warrior Project partnership
Why Tom Izzo’s connection to those who serve took on a deeper meaning when he brought his Michigan State team to Ground Zero just two months after 9/11
How Izzo’s two trips to Kuwait to spend time with American service members became life-changing experiences that helped shape his program
The meaning behind Michigan State’s games aboard aircraft carriers, at Ramstein Air Base, and at the Naval Academy – experiences Izzo has insisted are about far more than basketball
Why Izzo’s admiration extends beyond the military to police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and other first responders
How Saturday at Spartan Stadium brought those histories together – and showed why Fitzgerald and Izzo may be kindred spirits when it comes to service, sacrifice, and perspective
