Next up: Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, one of the best young coaches in college football. A star linebacker at Northwestern, Fitzgerald was part of the 1995 Big Ten Championship (and 1996 co-championship). During those seasons he also was the back-to-back winner of the Bronco Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Ties to Michigan
While a player, the Fitzgerald-led Wildcats went 2-0 against Michigan on their way to back-to-back Big Ten Championships. Other than playing and coaching against the Wolverines, there don’t seem to be too many apparent connections to the Maize and Blue.
Coaching Career
After a one year career in the NFL, Fitzgerald returned to the college ranks in 1998. From 98 to 2000, he served as linebacker coach at Maryland, Colorado (under his former coach Gary Barnett), and Idaho. In 2001, Fitzgerald joined Randy Walker’s staff at Northwestern as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator. He served in that position until Walker’s death in 2006, when he was promoted to head coach.
In the four seasons since, Fitzgerald has compiled a 27-23 record, with a 15-17 conference record. While reaching bowls the past two seasons, Fitzgerald has gone 0-2, losing two close games by a total of 10 points. As head coach, Fitzgerald has gone 0-3 against Ohio State and 1-3 against Michigan State. Fitzgerald went 1-2 against Michigan in his first three years before not playing the Wolverines in 2009. He’s also gone 3-1 against in-state rival Illinois.
On the recruiting front, Fitzgerald has never finished higher in the Rivals.com class rankings than 8th (in 2007 and 2009). Part of this can be contributed to Northwestern’s rigorous academic standards on and off the field. Despite low-rated recruiting classes, SI.com named Fitzgerald as one of the top college recruiters in 2005, while still an assistant.
Outlook
To start off, Pat Fitzgerald has given no signs he has any plans to leave Evanston for a big program. By all accounts, he seems content to stay and be the JoePa of Northwestern. He was highly regarded as a candidate to replace Charlie Weis this past year at Notre Dame, but had no interest in the job. If the Maize and Blue came calling, I would not be surprised to get a vehement no thank you from the young coach, especially because, with the new division structure, he’ll be facing his alma mater annually.
That being said, I think he could be a good fit. Foremost a defensive coach, he would right the ailing Wolverine defense. He’s coached in the Big Ten, and understands the rigors and tradition of the conference. He’s shown an ability to coach offense to the players he has, unlike a former Mountaineer who has taken several years to get the type of players he requires to do anything (I still have nightmares about Steven Threet and Nick Sheridan, folks.) For that reason, I would expect a solid first year with the Winged Helmets if he was the guy. His skill at recruiting would be even better at a major program where academics, while not as strong as at Northwestern, are still an important factor. He could definitely help Michigan become relevant again in the Big Ten. Furthermore, he’s clean in his coaching experience, and his background with Northwestern certain helps in the regard of NCAA compliance (a smart guy coaching smart guys at a smart school hopefully won’t do anything stupid.)
All in all, I doubt Fitzgerald would be willing to take the job, and I wonder how he’d do against Michigan’s major rivals, I still feel he could make a great coach for the Maize and Blue. I truly believe he can rise to the high expectations he’d face every year.
