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The moves just keep on coming.
The wildest coaching cycle that college football has seen in years quietly had a Big Ten job open as the Lane Kiffin saga reached its completion.
Michigan State fired Jonathan Smith after just two dismal seasons in Lansing, Michigan.
Just hours later, the Spartans have reportedly their guy. It's former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, according to the Lansing State Journal.
The backstory:
In a wild year for college football, this weekend was a perfect example of that as Kiffin finally took the LSU job.
In the midst of that, MSU ousted Smith. That paved the way for Fitzgerald, who re-entered the coaching cycle this past fall.
Northwestern absolved its former coach earlier this year after it completed its investigation, and Fitzgerald released a statement saying the university settled the lawsuit the former coach filed against Northwestern for wrongful termination.
"The evidence uncovered during extensive discovery did not establish that any player reported hazing to Coach Fitzgerald or that Coach Fitzgerald condoned or directed any hazing," the university said in a statement.
Fitzgerald was then on the market. Programs in need of a head coach coudl interview the guy who once earned looks from the NFL when he was the head coach of the 'Cats.
ESPN had the opportunity to chat with the former Northwestern coach, and he expressed satisfaction with how he had been received in the college hiring space to that point.
"I feel very fortunate," Fitzgerald told ESPN's College Gameday Podcast. "I feel fully vindicated. It's been great working through this process. There's been conversations with a lot of folks. It's been face-to-face, it's been on Zoom, it's been phone calls.
Since then, it seems like mass hysteria has erupted in the college football coaching world.
LSU, Auburn, Penn State, Oregon State, UCLA, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech and Cal all fired their head coaches during the season. Michigan State was the latest on Sunday.
LSU concluded the Kiffin saga as the Ole Miss head coach took the job in Baton Rouge after Ole Miss gave Kiffin an ultimatum to decide after the Egg Bowl. Things devolved from there. Kiffin now won't finish the season coaching the Rebels, after leading them to a College Football Playoff berth.
So, yes. All of that happened on Thanksgiving weekend. That's why Michigan State's news felt like a whisper.
But, MSU's opening came after another one did not come open. Wisconsin won two of its final four games, with both wins coming over ranked teams. That saved Luke Fickell's job in Madison, where Fitzgerald would have been a good fit had Wisconsin moved on. The Badgers did not.
Michigan State, however, did. They reportedly owe Smith over $30 million. That did not deter MSU from pursuing Fitzgerald in a very prompt fashion.
Fitzgerald had a 110-101 record in 17 seasons at Northwestern. He's the longest tenured coach in NU history, coaching from 2006 to 2022 and took over after Randy Walker's unexpected death in June 2006. Fitzgerald won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award in the 2020 season.
"Northwestern wishes Coach Fitzgerald the best in resuming his football career," Northwestern wrote in its statement absolving Fitzgerald.
That career continues in Lansing.
What's next:
Fitzgerald taking over in Lansing means there's an eventual crash course with Fitzgerald and the program that fired him.
Northwestern is scheduled to travel to Lansing to play Michigan State in the 2026 college football season. The date and time for that game is still to be announced.
It will be compelling college football theater, to be sure.