Chicago — Bret Bielema was the youngest head coach in college football when Wisconsin hired him in 2006. By the time the season kicked off, he was only the second youngest, because of a young linebackers coach at Northwestern who took the reins amid tragedy.
Following the unexpected death of predecessor Randy Walker in June 2006, Fitzgerald became Northwestern’s head coach that summer at the age of 31. And so as Bielema cut his teeth building a dominant Wisconsin program, there was Fitzgerald doing the same at Northwestern.
“He’s always been trying to beat me out the whole time,” Bielema said Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days, smiling at the podium.
Fitzgerald led Northwestern from 2006 to 2022, a 17-year run in which he went 110-101 with 10 bowl appearances and a top AP poll rating of No. 10 in 2020. His tenure ended with a hazing scandal in 2023, for which he earned a settlement for a wrongful termination suit. Three years later, Fitzgerald is now at Michigan State.
“I think the game is better with Fitz in it, overall, and I’m happy for him,” Bielema said.
At a conference foe, though? Now that’s tricky territory to coach against a friend.
“I’m happy for Fitz, but I wish he would have got a job somewhere else,” Bielema said, ribbing his reunited counterpart. “He called me in December. There was another school that was talking to him, and I was trying to help him get that one. And then, ha! When I heard his name floating around Michigan State, he didn’t call me.”
Fitzgerald signed a contract with Michigan State that runs a minimum of five years for $30 million, and with that embarks on a rebuild aiming to turn the page on four losing seasons of MSU football and restore the program into a Big Ten contender, where it was when Fitzgerald used to tangle with former head coach Mark Dantonio.
Following an All-American playing career at Northwestern from 1993 to 1996, Fitzgerald got his start in coaching as a grad assistant with Maryland and Colorado, then his first position coach role with linebackers and safeties at Idaho. Northwestern hired him on to coach defensive backs in 2001, then he started honing his old position group in 2002.
Had things shaken out differently, maybe Fitzgerald wouldn’t have been coaching Northwestern in 2006, because Bielema wanted him on his Wisconsin staff. Bad.
“I offered Fitz my D coordinator job when I was at Wisconsin — my first D coordinator job,” Bielema said. “He was the linebacker coach at Northwestern, and I offered him the job, and I kind of went full full press on him.”
Fitzgerald turned him down.
“I always used to beat him up about it,” Bielema said.
Bielema and Wisconsin wound up winning a meeting between the teams, 41-9, later that fall. He’s 4-1 against Fitzgerald all-time, the only blemish a 33-31 home win for Northwestern in 2009.
Fitzgerald and Bielema will coach against each other Oct. 10, when Illinois takes on Michigan State at Spartan Stadium.
Former Spartan QB Katin Houser back in Big Ten with Illini
Katin Houser wishes he could’ve played all four years of his college career in the Big Ten, but it didn’t work out that way. But after two years honing his craft at East Carolina, the former Michigan State quarterback is taking the reins at Illinois.
“This is the premier conference in college football,” Houser said.
Here’s how it went down: The Californian quarterback flipped his commitment from Boise State to Michigan State in the 2022 class and redshirted his true freshman year. He lost a position battle to Noah Kim in fall camp as a sophomore but made 11 appearances and seven starts anyway during 2023’s turbulent 4-8 campaign when then-coach Mel Tucker was fired amid a sexual misconduct scandal.
Houser transferred to East Carolina at the end of that season, where he threw for 2,006 yards, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2024. This past season, he broke out for 3,300 yards and 19 touchdowns compared to six interceptions before hitting the portal again. He comes to Illinois with an intention of proving himself against tougher competition.
“I felt like at this time in my career. I wanted to go play against really good competition, and no better place to do that than the Big Ten,” Houser said. “Illinois was one to reach out to me, and I felt like it was a really good place for me to go develop and make a run in the NFL, and also go win some games.”
Houser credits being thrust into the fire at Michigan State and gaining experience at East Carolina with helping him along as a quarterback.
Illinois needed a quarterback after the graduation of three-year starter Luke Altmyer — a UDFA signing of the Detroit Lions this offseason.
According to Bielema, Houser was one of the top targets Illinois identified in the portal. As he and his coaches watched film separately — “when I say things, sometimes it changes other people’s opinions” — Houser ranked top two on every list of available quarterbacks.
“I’m talking all of them, right? The guys that went everywhere across the country,” said Bielema, whose transfer quarterbacks in other years include NFL starters Russell Wilson and Tommy DeVito.
“Then I started diving into him because it’s one thing to have talent. You gotta like the players that you coach. And I just started to find out a lot about him talking to high school (coaches), Michigan State people that crossed paths with him.
“Obviously at East Carolina, I know East Carolina was doing everything they could to keep him, and I love the fact that he had stayed there that last year, even though people had told him probably he could have moved on at that point, but he had more to prove.”
There’s also more for Houser to prove at Illinois, namely against Big Ten competition like his old Spartans.
“I think the biggest thing that separates me is just my anticipation and to be able to get the ball in hands at an efficient rate,” Houser said. “I think with the offensive line around me and the receivers and the weapons I have around me, I’ll be able to do that.”
Alex VanSumeren, Hall of Fame coach both have winning in mind at Southern Cal
Even if his time in East Lansing spanned four losing seasons, Essexville Garber product Alex VanSumeren seemed like the kind of player who might play his whole college career at Michigan State. Maybe that had more to do with his brother Ben’s reputation as a utility hero on 2021’s 11-2 Peach Bowl winning Spartans. Maybe it’s because he stayed in the first place when so many others left.
But after a second coaching change since he got to campus in 2022, VanSumeren entered the transfer portal this past January and wound up at Southern Cal. As he sat behind microphones in Chicago with an SC pin on his lapel and lofty goals on his mind, VanSumeren made clear that he wants to win his senior year. The Trojans believe he’ll be a big part of that.
“I got goals to achieve and things to do and everything like that. So at the end of the day, I just needed to go where I thought was best for me and my future,” VanSumeren said. “And to have this opportunity, I want to take full advantage of it.”
Southern Cal coach Lincoln Riley gave glowing reviews of the former Spartan’s leadership. He says having a bellcow like VanSumeren is pivotal for his group.
“We had a really talented D-line group, but we felt like having kind of that linchpin, that guy that was really experienced, was going to be pivotal to that group becoming what they could,” Riley said. “And he was a guy that gave us plenty of problems just coaching against them last year.
“He’s just a tough, hard nosed, just gritty kid, man.”
VanSumeren played in four games as a freshman in 2022 before missing all of 2023 with a lower body injury. He came back in 2024 and immediately started all 24 games of the Jonathan Smith era, ending his Spartan career with 71 tackles, 52 of them a year ago.
“I was fortunate to have a lot of experience there. Started 24 games straight,” VanSumeren said. “I had a lot of experience, man. I’ve seen it. So I think just the ability of knowing the Big Ten is very beneficial. I played these teams — downhill runs. Now I’m able to combat that and defeat those blocks.”
VanSumeren is being coached by 2026 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Gary Patterson, who came out of retirement to be USC’s defensive coordinator after D’Anton Lynn left for the same role at Penn State. Patterson is already making an impact on VanSumeren and his peers.
“I mean, he’s in the Hall of Fame for a reason,” VanSumeren said. “You know, he could have stayed retired. He could have kept golfing, being with his family, but he came back for a reason because he loves the game and he wants to win. You know, he’s told us many times he didn’t come back for anything but to win. A lot of wisdom from him.”
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Bret Bielema says college football better with Pat Fitzgerald in it
Reporting by Connor Earegood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Connor Earegood, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
