There’s a film, from 1982, about a man possessed. A man obsessed.

A connoisseur of opera, he dreams of building a grand hall deep in the South American rainforest.

So he screams his intentions from a bell tower. He steers his steamboat into the jungle. In order to reach his destination, he even convinces the natives to pull his massive ship over a mountain.

This man is crazed. But he is driven.

And he’s part of a true story.

The film is called Fitzcarraldo.

The man’s name is Fitzgerald.

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There’s a football team, in 2007, led by a man possessed. A man obsessed.

A man with a history of wins and championships, he dreams of restoring his program’s reputation – which was built on those exact wins and championships.

So he’s up every day at 4:50 a.m. and in his office minutes later. With his players, he is living, breathing electricity.

“It’s amazing to see how much energy he brings to practices,” one said.

His name, too, is Fitzgerald.

He’s part of a true story as well.

Sure, he is driven. But crazed?

No. He’s just a football coach.

And this fall, just a year after he took over this job, that’s all he’ll be.

He won’t be the green rookie who took over a program years ahead of his time, a 31-year-old face worn weary by embarrassing losses and the skeptical eyes of the college football nation.

When his team kicks off Sept. 1, he’ll simply be settling in.

He’ll be Pat Fitzgerald, the 32-year-old Northwestern alumnus, Northwestern head football coach and face of Wildcats football.

Now all he has to do is pick up where late coach Randy Walker left off: He has to win.

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There was little surprise when Fitzgerald jumped from linebackers coach to head coach following Walker’s death last June.

Though Fitzgerald easily would be the youngest boss in Division I-A, athletic director Mark Murphy was intrigued by his connections to NU’s two most successful head coaches – Walker, as an assistant coach, and Gary Barnett, as a player.

Add to that Fitzgerald’s success during the Barnett-led Rose Bowl season of 1995 – the former linebacker won back-to-back national defensive player of the year awards – and the fact that he was expected to succeed Walker six years later. Thus, he was “an obvious choice,” in the words of defensive coordinator Greg Colby.

So Murphy, whose search included some potential replacements outside the NU program, went with Fitzgerald. And after an emotional win at Walker ‘s alma mater, Miami (Ohio), to open his first season as head coach, it looked like the right choice, right away.

The Wildcats looked like they might not miss a beat.

Then reality set in.

A loss to Division I-AA New Hampshire. An underwhelming win over struggling Eastern Michigan. Then six straight losses, including one dubious distinction: the largest blown lead in the history of college football.

The mythical honeymoon was over. Suddenly, the once-celebrated Fitzgerald was scorned. He became defensive and repetitive in the public, often calling his team “very close” and “one play away” from being a winner, despite several blowout losses.

A 2-1 finish showed Fitzgerald and his young staff were improving, and in turn quieted some critics. But it was the coach who became loud. Once defensive, Fitzgerald now doesn’t hold back when assessing last year’s 4-8 record, good finish or no.

“If people aren’t extremely disappointed with last year, then they’re cheering for the wrong team,” Fitzgerald said. “This place is built on bowl games and successful seasons and winning championships. And we didn’t do that last year.”

Despite the questions, few within the program lost faith in Fitzgerald during the tough season. Many players and coaches, too, believed the team was very close to being bowl-eligible. And few of the Cats’ recruits backed out, with NU pulling in arguably its most heralded class since Barnett’s years.

Also, Murphy said, Fitzgerald deserved extra slack because of all the changes the Cats underwent. They had lost several talented seniors, including their quarterback. Their offensive coordinator and offensive line coach had left.

And then there was Walker.

So, while most coaches were perfecting their gameplans and devising their depth charts, Fitzgerald still was figuring out the job – all while counseling players, working with assistants, keeping ahold of recruits … and grieving himself.

“(Fitzgerald) did an outstanding job of leading our program through a really difficult time,” Murphy said.

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NU knows sadness. It knows tragedy. It knows losing.

Step by step, though, Fitzgerald is trying to replace those with happiness. Laughter. Closeness.

He’ll show humorous videos to his players before early morning practice. He’ll play the fight song in the locker room before practice, too.

He stresses competition – literally – by turning drills into contests. Some players even get mock wrestling belts for big plays in practice.

It’s all about camaraderie, Fitzgerald said, creating teammates who stick up for you when you’re down and “kick you in the pants” whenever necessary.

And Fitzgerald is one of those teammates.

When hired, left tackle Dylan Thiry said, Fitzgerald individually asked his players how they felt about him being head coach.

Many agreed he was the right choice. Thiry said Fitzgerald’s age made a difference, and especially his winning history at NU. But most of that would be moot without his hard work – he admits to having very little “me” time outside his evenings and weekends his with wife, Stacy, and sons, Jack and Ryan – along with his energy and enthusiasm.

“You dream to play for a coach like that – that will lay it all out on the line for you,” Thiry said. “And you want to lay it on the line for him.”

Fitzgerald also has matured since last summer, several say, improving as a coach and having more authority or “more hold of the reins,” as sophomore safety Brad Phillips put it.

Though not the father figure Walker was, Fitzgerald still stresses a lot of the same values. Instead of Walker’s motto of getting “one week better,” the new coach preaches daily improvement in all aspects of life – from football to education, just like Walker.

But, unlike Walker, Fitzgerald doesn’t just talk about daily development, about winning the next game. He’s got specific goals.

Bowl games. Winning seasons. Big Ten titles. Even national championships.

And, of course, the ever-romantic trip to the Rose Bowl, “Purple to Pasadena.”

“It should be (our goal),” Fitzgerald said. “And if it isn’t the same every year, then you probably need to get a (real) head coach here. If we don’t strive to win the Big Ten championship every year, then what are we working for?”

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It’s one thing to talk about teamwork, camaraderie and success. It’s another to achieve those things.

So, this fall, the pressure will be on.

Fitzgerald will oversee 16 returning starters, quarterback included. He’ll no longer be the rookie, nor the coach trying to help his team move on from a lost coach.

He’ll be a man with outside expectations – a man who must back up his Rose Bowl talk with wins, and who must prove last year’s struggles simply came from inexperience throughout the program.

Not that Fitzgerald is paying any attention.

“I don’t think he’s under any more pressure from external sources than he is from himself,” Colby said.

“I don’t worry about what anybody else said about our program, besides my players, my staff and the administration here,” Fitzgerald said.

This year, at least, that administration won’t administer too much pressure. Murphy, who last summer gave Fitzgerald a multi-year contract (neither he nor Fitzgerald would reveal details), said the coach will get time to develop.

But Fitzgerald doesn’t even want to think about developin
g. He wants to win, not because this fall is critical, but because every fall is critical.

“In the development of a football program, I think you have to lay a foundation,” Fitzgerald said, “and if that foundation’s laid with success, then everything kind of falls in place.”

That includes fans, the media, recruits and everyone else, Fitzgerald said. You get them on your side, then you get better players, become a better coach, and build a better program.

Then all that obsession – all that refusal to be outworked – pays off.

You become more than a man possessed. A man obsessed.

You become a winner, someone who’s on campus for good – and someone who was able to overcome a shaky first year filled with mistakes.

And that is exactly what Fitzgerald foresees.

“I expect to be here for a long time,” he said.

Senior football writer Patrick Dorsey can be reached at [email protected].