One of the early situations where new Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald had to think on his feet involved the quarterbacks coach position.
Fitzgerald initially hired Mike Bajakian to the position, but Bajakian ended up leaving for the same job with the Cleveland Browns after only about a month on the job. Just a couple of days later, Fitzgerald announced that the team would be hiring John McNulty to the recently vacated spot on the coaching staff.
Rutgers Offensive Coordinator John McNulty. Rutgers Football Media Day in Piscataway, NJ on August 12, 2018. | Peter Ackerman
McNulty officially began as MSU’s quarterbacks coach on Tuesday, something else Fitzgerald announced when he named McNulty as the hire last Wednesday on Feb. 4. He previously spent the 2025 season as a senior offensive analyst at Rutgers, but his resume is quite extensive, with numerous different stops as a position coach at the collegiate and NFL levels, also rising to be a coordinator sometimes at the NCAA level sometimes.
Here’s what Fitzgerald had to say about the hiring:
Fitzgerald on McNulty
Michigan State’s Pat Fitzgerald speaks at a press conference at Spartan Stadium during National Signing Day on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. | Jacob Cotsonika, Michigan State Spartans on SI
The biggest connection to know on the staff is the short overlap McNulty has had with new Michigan State offensive coordiantor Nick Sheridan. The two of them were at Alabama at the same time in 2024, with Sheridan serving as the primary OC while McNulty was one of the team’s analysts.
“[Nick and I] wanted someone with coordinating experience, similiar to [Bajakian] to add to the room offensively,” Fitzgerald said. “Someone with a quarterback background and experience. Obviously, that speaks for itself with John McNulty.”
McNulty was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Rugters two separate times, the first stint being from 2006-08, and then again from 2018-19. He was also the OC at Boston College in 2022. Additionally, McNulty has been a specialized quarterbacks coach for the Arizona Cardinals (2012), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2013), and Tennessee Titans (2014-15).
“We interviewed a handful of candidates,” Fitzgerald added. “We had an outpouring, again, of candidates interested, and I’m very thankful for that. But we kind of set our parameters with what we were looking for, and we were able to get that done relatively quickly, but thoroughly.”
Michigan State Spartans head football coach Pat Fitzgerald addresses the crowd during a men’s basketball game against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. Fitzgerald had been formally introduced earlier that day. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI
From now on, McNulty’s No. 1 priority has to be the continued development of rising redshirt sophomore Alessio Milivojevic. If he continues to develop and play as good as he did in the final four games of 2025, Milivojevic has the chance to leave a special legacy in East Lansing.
In Milivojevic’s four starts, he threw for 986 yards with seven touchdowns and just two picks. Over a 12-game sample size, that would add up to 2,958 yards, 21 touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Dec 18, 2014; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterbacks coach John McNulty reacts after a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Field. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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