There was no shortage of success for MSU athletics in 2023-2024, when four Spartan teams won a Big Ten championship. However, there were some disappointments in the university’s two biggest revenue sports. Tom Izzo’s men’s basketball squad went from a preseason top-five team to a first-weekend exit in March Madness and the Mel Tucker scandal sunk the Spartan football season. 

No matter the scene— Breslin Center, Munn Ice Arena, DeMartin Stadium, Jenison Fieldhouse—, MSU sports offer a steady stream of excitement and engagement throughout the academic year, for better or worse. 

So, I picked my three biggest MSU sports storylines to follow in 2024-2025. Here’s what you should keep your eye on.

Adam Nightingale and MSU Hockey push for a Frozen Four appearance

Of all the MSU sports during the past year, it was the hockey team that stole the show en route to the school’s first-ever Big Ten Championship and national tournament appearance. The way things ended for head coach Adam Nightingale and the Spartans— a 5-2 loss to rival University of Michigan in the national quarterfinal— will sting for some time. But I think MSU hockey has as bright a future as any program in the country. 

Even after losing phenom Artyom Levshunov, the No. 2 pick in the NHL draft and the highest MSU draft selection in 36 years, the Spartans are still looking to top last year’s squad by reaching the Frozen Four for the first time in nearly two decades. It’s a tall order with the usual powerhouses at play and the grueling Big Ten, but if Nightingale’s proven anything thus far in his tenure, it’s that he can continue to elevate his group. 

It took Nightingale just two seasons as head coach to lift MSU hockey from the ashes of a perennial bottom-feeder in the Big Ten. I believe he can stamp himself as a Spartan sports legend in year three with a Frozen Four appearance.

Jeff Hosler and MSU women’s soccer eye three-peat

On the topic of historic program turnarounds, MSU’s women’s soccer team has burst onto the national scene since 2022, when they brought home the first conference championship in program history. Head coach Jeff Hosler, entering his fourth season, has revamped the women’s soccer program in a way I find reminiscent of what Nightingale has done with MSU hockey. 

Led by future draft selections Lauren DeBeau and Lauren Kozal, the Spartans won the Big Ten championship in 2022. It was thought of as a fluke, as a lower-tier women’s soccer program simply blessed with professional talent. The next fall, Hosler and his squad proved that sentiment to be false. 

The Spartans started slow but found an edge near the midseason mark and, albeit with some outside help on the final Sunday of the regular season, capitalized on a tremendous final stretch to clinch back-to-back conference championships.

Hosler and company will look to make that three straight this fall.

The Jonathan Smith-Aidan Chiles era at MSU begins

In retrospect, Jonathan Smith was the perfect hire for MSU football as the antithesis of Tucker. I doubt 2024 will be an exhilarating year for Smith and MSU football, but there’s at least one reason to tune in: quarterback Aidan Chiles.

Chiles, a sophomore and former four-star recruit for Smith at Oregon State, brings something MSU hasn’t had in years: the aura and presence of a starting quarterback in major college football. From day one at the helm, Smith has said that Chiles is the guy for the Spartans. 

It’ll be interesting to see Chiles and Smith working together, and it’ll be a good indicator of MSU football’s future.