Player Bio: Pat Fitzgerald - NORTHWESTERN OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

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Pat Fitzgerald

	Position: Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach
	Birthdate: 12/02/1974
	Experience: 4th HC/9th Overall

No matter what the setting, Pat Fitzgerald invariably feels comfortable using his passion, unwavering set of core values and outward enthusiasm to inspire and improve those around him.

It's apparent to anyone who has watched Fitzgerald join in his squad's linebacker drills during practice to demonstrate proper tackling form. Or to the hundreds of Northwestern freshmen to whom Fitzgerald teaches the right way to sing the school fight song at the start of each academic year. It's even clear to members of the state government of Illinois, whom this winter invited Fitzgerald to serve on the Illinois Reform Commission aimed at rooting out political corruption.

Pat Fitzgerald receives his College Football Hall of Fame plaque at the 2008 National Football Foundation Banquet from two-time Heisman Trophy winner and Hall-of-Famer Archie Griffin.

That passion was also a primary factor in Fitzgerald's Hall-of-Fame playing career at Northwestern, when he was a two-time Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Award winner and team leader of NU's back-to-back Big Ten title-winning teams in the mid-'90's. The 'Cats posted a two-year Big Ten record of 15-1 and made appearances in the 1995 Rose Bowl and 1996 Citrus Bowl with Fitzgerald serving as the centerpiece of a defense that ranked among the nation's best.

Although Fitzgerald's passion and commitment to excellence may be difficult to quantify, his positive impact in Northwestern's on-field performance since he took the reins as head coach in 2006 is not.

In 2009, Fitzgerald guided the Wildcats to a nine-win season and a berth in the Valero Alamo Bowl -- which proved to be an overtime thriller against Missouri -- as NU earned bowl eligibility for the third time in four seasons. For his efforts, Fitzgerald was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus, and a semifinalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award and a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award.

An assistant football coach for the Wildcats from 2001 through the summer of 2006, Fitzgerald was named Northwestern's 29th head coach on July 7, 2006, succeeding Randy Walker, who died suddenly on June 29, 2006. He was the youngest head football coach among Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) schools until Lane Kiffin (six months younger) was hired by the University of Tennessee on Dec. 1, 2008.

Fitzgerald is an annual guest with some of Chicago's professional sports teams, including the Blackhawks, White Sox and Cubs.

By no means was this the circumstance that Fitzgerald envisioned when landing his dream job, but when the Northwestern administration asked him to succeed Walker, he knew he was prepared for the opportunity.

"While this has been my goal from the moment I began coaching, it was also bittersweet," said Fitzgerald, who has posted a 19-18 record in his first three seasons as NU's head mentor. "We're continuing Coach Walker's legacy and building upon his successes. Northwestern will continue to have a football program built upon great work ethic, attitude and investment."

Led by Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern's football program is savoring unprecedented academic success.

In June of 2009, NU Director of Athletics and Recreation Jim Phillips announced that Fitzgerald and the school had agreed to a new seven-year deal that will keep him on the Northwestern sidelines through 2015.

"I want to thank Jim Phillips, President Bienen, Chairman of the Board Pat Ryan, our coaches and our players for their tremendous support and trust they've given me," said Fitzgerald. "It's no secret that I want to be the head football coach at Northwestern for many years to come."

It is not surprising that Fitzgerald's arrival on campus in 1993 coincided with the renaissance of Northwestern's football program. Since 1995, the Wildcats have won three Big Ten titles (only Michigan and Ohio State have won more in the last 14 years) and won six or more games in eight of those 14 seasons.

The program has steadily gained momentum in the three years since Fitzgerald took over as head coach, starting with a challenging 4-8 campaign in 2006, when just weeks before the season began, Walker's death rocked the NU football program and Fitzgerald assumed the head coaching position. In 2007, the Wildcats achieved bowl-eligibility with a 6-6 mark. Northwestern, however, did not play in a postseason game due to a lack of bowl slots for Big Ten teams. (A league-record 10 Big Ten squads were bowl-eligible in 2007.) Northwestern returned to the top of the league in offense in 2007, leading the Big Ten in total offense for the regular season.

Fitzgerald recovered from that injury, and in 1996 he again led the Wildcats to a share of the Big Ten title. As a result, he once again won the Nagurski and Bednarik Awards, becoming the first two-time winner of both honors. Fitzgerald also was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year again, and Linebacker of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus. He also was the recipient of Northwestern's George Ballantine Jr., Memorial Leadership Award.

This past year, a dramatically improved defense and some much-improved special teams play led the 'Cats back to a bowl game, their first since taking on UCLA in the 2005 Sun Bowl. Northwestern touted the nation's fifth-most improved scoring defense and the Wildcats set a single-season school record for rushing defense (126.4 ypg), breaking the mark that Fitzgerald and his teammates established in 1995. NU's 5-0 season start in 2008 was its best since the 1962 campaign, when the Wildcats were 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Off the field, the Wildcats are enjoying unprecedented academic success. The past three years, Northwestern has set program-bests with 16 Academic All-Big Ten selections in 2006, 18 Academic All-Big Ten honorees in 2007 and a school-record 26 last year. And for the first time in school history, the football team registered a combined team grade point average above a 3.0 for the 2009 spring quarter.

In addition, Northwestern continues to lead or rank near the top of the country in annual graduation rate. Four times since 2002, Northwestern has captured the AFCA's Academic Achievement Award, which is given to the top FBS football program for graduation rate. For the past two years, Northwestern has recorded a near-perfect 992 (out of 1,000) Academic Progress Rate (APR) index -- the newest NCAA academic measuring statistic.

Two of the linebackers that Pat Fitzgerald coached at Northwestern, Tim McGarigle (left) and Nick Roach (right), at a Chicago Bears' mini-camp in March 2009. Pictured with McGarigle and Roach is former NU quarterback Brett Basanez, a member of the Bears, along with Roach.

But the Northwestern student-athlete experience is not complete until one makes a significant contribution to the campus and Evanston communities, which is why so many of Fitzgerald's players have been recognized for what they've managed to give back. Fitzgerald, his family and his players partake in countless charitable events in the area, including NU's annual campus-wide Dance Marathon. 2009 graduate Eric Peterman received the National ARA Sportsmanship Award for his off-the-field efforts while a number of Wildcats have been named NU's Hilton Garden Inn Community Service Athlete of the Week for their contributions to toy drives, health and wellness programs in elementary schools and other local initiatives.

"It's just being the best person you can be," said senior defensive end and All-America candidate Corey Wootton. "That's what Coach Fitz strives for. Giving back."

In 1995, Fitzgerald was the leader of a suffocating Wildcat defense that led the nation in scoring defense and anchored NU's storybook run to the Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl. He ended the year by being named winner of both the Nagurski and Bednarik Awards as the nation's top defensive player. He also was the Big Ten, Chevrolet and Sports Illustrated Defensive Player of the Year. Fitzgerald accomplished all of this, despite the fact that he broke his leg in the second-to-last regular-season game.

A two-time first-team All-American, Fitzgerald started 23 career games and totaled 299 tackles, including 20 for loss. He also forced five fumbles and intercepted three passes.

Fitzgerald signed a free-agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys following his Northwestern career, and played in three preseason games before taking a one-year hiatus from football.

Prior to his return to Northwestern, Fitzgerald was a defensive graduate assistant at Maryland (1998) and Colorado (1999) before taking his first full-time position at the University of Idaho in 2000. In 2001, Walker brought Fitzgerald back to Evanston, hiring him to coach the Wildcats' defensive secondary. In 2002, he moved to linebackers coach, and then in 2004, added the recruiting coordinator to his title.

Named one of college football's top recruiters by SI.com in 2005, Fitzgerald played an integral role in both coaching and recruiting during his five years as a Northwestern assistant. He mentored two-time All-Big Ten linebacker and former St. Louis Ram Tim McGarigle, the all-time leading tackler in NCAA history. In February 2003, Fitzgerald was inducted into Northwestern's Athletic Hall of Fame.

In addition to his January 2009 appointment to the Illinois Reform Commission, Fitzgerald was named to the AFCA's Ethics Committee. He begins his term in the fall of 2009.

A native of Orland Park, Ill., and a graduate of Carl Sandburg High School, Fitzgerald resides in Evanston with his wife, Stacy, and three sons, Jack, born in November 2004, Ryan, born in September 2006, and Brendan, born in February 2009.

What They're Saying About Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald

Gary Barnett, former Northwestern head coach (1992-98)
Gary Barnett was Northwestern's head coach when Pat Fitzgerald was named Defensive Player of the Year twice and hired him as a defensive graduate assistant at Colorado in 1999.
"Pat personifies Northwestern football. The honors he received as a player, the way he handled himself as a student-athlete and the name he has made for himself in the college football world, makes it a real natural fit for Northwestern. Pat loves Northwestern; he will be a guy that the Northwestern community can count on to represent them for years and years."

C.J. Bacher, former Wildcat quarterback (2005-08)
"Coach Fitzgerald is the true definition of a Northwestern Wildcat. He is defined as a coach by his passion, loyalty, commitment to excellence and exuberance. He is defined as a player by his accomplishments, his leadership and his will. Coach "Fitz" has learned a lot from the late Coach Randy Walker and has developed a similar style of coaching with a bit more of a "hands-on" approach. He expects and demands 100 percent from each and every one of his players while at the same time each player knows that Coach Fitzgerald will be there for us to help us improve in every aspect of life."

Pat Fitzgerald, with sons Jack (left) and Ryan (middle), at U.S. Cellular Field for the Northwestern-Notre Dame baseball game on April 15, 2009.

Ron Vanderlinden, Penn State University, linebacker coach
Ron Vanderlinden was Northwestern's linebacker coach during Pat's playing days at Northwestern.
"When Pat was a player it was easy to see that he was special far beyond his outstanding football ability. Pat was a natural leader. He had tremendous confidence, determination, and a passion for success at everything he does. As I have watched Pat grow as a coach, I see these same qualities in Pat and the players he coaches. Pat is a fun person to be around, committed to his family, and grounded in his faith. Pat Fitzgerald is a winner, and the perfect coach to lead the Northwestern Football program."

Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green University, former head coach
Gregg Brandon was Northwestern's wide receivers coach during Pat's playing days
"Being a member of the Northwestern family gives him a tremendous advantage in keeping the Wildcats competitive year-in and year-out. He had a great career there and embodies all of the qualities that Northwestern University stands for."

Frank Lenti, Mt. Carmel High School, head coach
"Pat is the stereotypical up-and-comer. What he accomplished on the field as a player transitioned into becoming a great coach and he did all that at Northwestern. He has talked-the-talk and walked-the-walk at NU and I look forward to what he will accomplish in Evanston."

Tim McGarigle, former Wildcat linebacker (2002-05) and NFL player
"As a young linebacker, Coach Fitzgerald was my mentor, not only athletically, but also academically and socially. He firmly believes in not only making you the best football player you can be, but also the best man. Now as the head coach at one of the best schools in the nation, Coach "Fitz" gets to mentor an entire football team. To me, that is extremely appealing to anyone who decides to play football at Northwestern."