Fitzgerald’s record speaks for itself as a head coach at Northwestern, where he led the Wildcats to 10 bowl games. But his poor handling of hazing within the football program makes us wonder if MSU is taking too big of a risk. While Fitzgerald settled a lawsuit related to the hazing and it was otherwise found that he was unaware of the hazing, he was still responsible for his team and coaching staff at the time.

Despite reassurances from Guskiewicz that the community should “trust" in their decision and that the university has done its “due diligence,” we hesitate to believe that. Between mishandling of Title IX cases by the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) and the ongoing litigation with Tucker, we find it hard to believe that transparency is at the forefront of institutional decision making.

While it’s understandable that the football program is searching for a win after hitting rock bottom, the real question is whether a few wins is worth the baggage that Fitzgerald brings. On paper, Fitzgerald’s hire is practical and financially savvy, but there is no guarantee that Fitzgerald’s tenure at MSU will remain untroubled. 

Fitzgerald has also only offered broad assurances about how he would prevent misconduct going forward. In a recent appearance on ESPN’s College Gameday podcast, he said he intends to bring “proprietary” safeguards to his next job and promised to be “relentless in making sure our guys are about the right things,” emphasizing player education on “all the social issues that are out there,” including “date rape.” 

Beyond those generalities, he has not explained what that plan actually is. And given the independent investigation and civil lawsuits that found years of severe hazing in his program (even without evidence he directly knew) and concluded his staff had “significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct,” the public deserves more than vague reassurances.

So we ask MSU: Why take the risk?

Fitzgerald suggests that his number one goal is to transform MSU into a winning name, but this university is at a point where we need to be sure that our football coach, being one of the most public-facing figures of the university, will uphold our reputation. We’re not convinced, and we’re certain that MSU can’t weather yet another black mark to its name.

This editorial represents the view of The State News Editorial Board. It is made up of The Opinion Coordinator, two staff columnists, the Editor-In-Chief, the Multimedia Editor and the Newsroom Development Manager.