RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesChicago — 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.
More: Three Michigan State football story lines entering Big Ten Media Days
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.
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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 ju...
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