March 13, 2007

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern's current head football coach and leader of the Wildcats' 1995 and 1996 Big Ten championship teams, is one of 75 former college players and eight coaches on this year's College Football Hall of Fame ballot. The College Hall of Fame is administered by the National Football Foundation (NFF).

Later this spring, the NFF will announce the 2007 induction class, which will be honored at the organization's annual banquet in New York City in December. Members of the NFF can vote for 11 players and one coach until April 4, before the voting results are subject to the final review of a Blue Ribbon Panel of Hall of Famers and other college football luminaries.

Fitzgerald personified the turnaround of Northwestern football in the 1990s, becoming the first player in college football history to win back-to-back national defensive player-of-the-year awards. A relentless linebacker, Fitzgerald was always prepared for whatever offenses threw at him.

He won the Chuck Bednarik and Bronko Nagurski Awards in 1995 and '96, and was honored as a two-time first-team Associated Press All-American. He is the only Northwestern player to receive repeat first-team All-America honors.

Fitzgerald also was the 1995 and '96 Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a 1996 Walter Camp All-American. The Wildcats won back-to-back Big Ten crowns in those two seasons, while posting a combined Big Ten record of 15-1, and earned berths in the Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 1996) and Citrus Bowl (Jan. 1, 1997).

In 2003, Fitzgerald was inducted into Northwestern's Athletic Hall of Fame. He served as a Wildcat assistant football coach for five years (2001-05) before being appointed Randy Walker's successor on July 7, 2006.