Tom Izzo comments on Jonathan Smith, Pat Fitzgerald coaching change

Michigan State football officially made their coaching change on Tuesday, introducing Pat Fitzgerald as head coach after moving on from the Jonathan Smith era in East Lansing.

Obviously, the man everyone wants to hear from, and his opinion on the matter, is head basketball coach Tom Izzo. Izzo is a noted football lover, and is someone who is the leader of MSU athletics.

Izzo had a great relationship with Smith, and admittedly was upset to see how things went down with the former Spartans head coach. In his post game press conference, Izzo addressed the situation with Smith.

"It has been tough. I said it on Jonathan's behalf, it is hard to see a coach go down. Especially one that has character and class."

After touching on Smith, Izzo turned his attention to Fitzgerald, who he also has had a really good relationship with over the years. Izzo has been open about Fitzgerald, and even made a joke about his Breslin Center appearance on Tuesday.

"I told Pat Fitzgerald to shut the coach up, he was messing up my huddles getting the crowd fired up. He is on a mission. When you go through hell a little bit, it makes all the glory better."

Needless to say, Izzo has some mixed emotions about the situation, but one thing is for certain, he is happy about the direction the program is going.

See everything Izzo had to say in his post game press conference after beating Iowa by clicking here

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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Tom Izzo comments on Jonathan Smith, Pat Fitzgerald coaching change