1. Pat Fitzgerald served as the head football coach of the Northwestern Wildcats from July 2006 until he was fired in July 2023 in the aftermath of a hazing scandal.
21 Facts About Pat Fitzgerald
1. 2.
Pat Fitzgerald was 31 at the time, making him the youngest head football coach in the Big Ten Conference and NCAA Division I FBS.
3.
Pat Fitzgerald became the longest-tenured head coach in Northwestern football history.
4.
Pat Fitzgerald played as a linebacker for Northwestern from 1993 to 1996, winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Chuck Bednarik Award twice as the best defensive player in college football.
5.
Pat Fitzgerald was awarded a Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1997 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
6.
Pat Fitzgerald was unable to play in the Rose Bowl after breaking his leg in the next-to-last game of the 1995 season against Iowa.
7.
Pat Fitzgerald won both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award in 1995 and again in 1996, becoming the first two-time winner of both honors.
8.
Pat Fitzgerald won the Jack Lambert Trophy as best linebacker in the nation in 1996.
9.
Pat Fitzgerald was not selected in the 1997 NFL draft but he was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Cowboys.
10.
Pat Fitzgerald is the fifteenth Northwestern player or coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
11.
Pat Fitzgerald was honored at a ceremony on December 9,2008, in New York City and enshrined in the Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana in July 2009.
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Pat Fitzgerald then moved on to the University of Colorado under his former Northwestern head coach, Gary Barnett.
13.
Pat Fitzgerald took a job at the University of Idaho before returning to Northwestern in 2001, where he served as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator until his promotion to head coach after the unexpected death of Randy Walker in June 2006.
14.
In 2012, Pat Fitzgerald became the second coach in school history to coach two nine-win teams.
15.
In thirteen seasons, Pat Fitzgerald has coached nine winning teams and one team that finished the season at.
16.
Coach Pat Fitzgerald has led the Wildcats to ten bowl games in thirteen seasons; before he became head coach the team had only been in six bowl games in 123 football seasons.
17.
From 2016 to 2018, Coach Pat Fitzgerald has led the Wildcats to three consecutive bowl wins.
18.
Pat Fitzgerald is one of only two coaches in school history to lead Northwestern to a bowl game victory, is the only NU coach to win back-to-back bowl games and has the most bowl game victories in school history.
19.
Pat Fitzgerald is from Orland Park, Illinois, and resides in Northfield, Illinois with his wife, Stacy, and three sons, Jack, Ryan, and Brendan.
20.
Pat Fitzgerald purchased a $2.3 million newly constructed home in January 2010.
21.
Pat Fitzgerald is a huge fan of the area pro sports teams often using his Twitter feed to support the Bears, Blackhawks and White Sox.