As a player, he led Northwestern to back-to-back Big Ten titles and the school’s first Rose Bowl in 47 years. As a coach, he helped the the team recover from a tragic loss and continued to build the program.
Now Pat Fitzgerald will receive college football’s highest honor.
The Wildcats’ coach and former star linebacker was named one of 15 inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation announced Thursday.
The 33-year-old Fitzgerald will be the 15th Cats player or coach in the Hall of Fame. One of 75 finalists for the Hall, he will be inducted alongside Troy Aikman, Lou Holtz and Thurman Thomas, among others.
“I was blown away,” Fitzgerald said of the announcement. “Just to be a finalist is an honor, and then to have the phone call from (NFF President & CEO) Steve Hatchell come in was borderline surreal.”
The distinction is the latest accomplishment in Fitzgerald’s impressive career. The Cats’ middle linebacker from 1994-96, he won back-to-back Bronko Nagurski Trophies and Chuck Bednarik Awards, both of which honor the top defensive player in the country.
No one else has won multiple Nagurski Trophies. Only one other player, Penn State’s Paul Posluszny, has won more than one Bednarik Award.
As impressive as Fitzgerald’s plethora of awards was his leadership on the field, which galvanized the once-humble NU defense. In the 1995, the Cats had the top-ranked scoring defense in the nation, spurring a historic run to the Rose Bowl and fulfilling the NU mantra “Purple to Pasadena” under coach Gary Barnett.
While Fitzgerald brought his team to Pasadena, he was unable to play in the Rose Bowl after breaking his leg in the second-to-last game of the season.
Fitzgerald returned in 1996 to lead NU to a second straight conference crown, finishing his career with 299 tackles. While his size kept him from being picked in the 1997 NFL Draft, he signed a free-agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys and played in three preseason games.
In 2001, Fitzgerald returned to NU, joining Randy Walker’s staff as a defensive backs coach. The same qualities that made him a great teammate – passion, intelligence, and camaraderie – endeared him to the Cats.
“He’s more of a player’s coach than a dictator,” said senior wide receiver Tonjua Jones. “He builds a dream with you, rather than building you the dream.”
Fitzgerald gradually became Walker’s right-hand man, the heir apparent to the head coaching job. When Walker died unexpectedly of a heart attack on June 29, 2006, Fitzgerald became the youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivison (formerly Division I-A).
Whether player or coach, Fitzgerald has emobodied the Cats’ definition of athletics and endeared himself to the NU community. Though his coaching record through two seasons is a modest 10-14, he has earned the respect of his players.
“He is the model of what it means to be a Northwestern football player, on and off the field,” Jones said. “He exemplifies leadership and actual performance on the field, but he understand that there’s a lot more to life than football.”
Fitzgerald will now have his name enshrined at the hallowed Hall in South Bend, Ind. He will be inducted on Dec. 9, 2008, at the foundation’s annual Awards Dinner.
Fitzgerald may be inducted while preparing to coach his first bowl game. When asked what that would mean to him, he chuckled.
“It would be great,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a great celebration.”
Bowl game or no, the defensive force turned program leader has certainly left his mark on NU – and all of college football.
He can hardly believe it himself.
“I told Coach Barnett: ‘At the end of the day, I just wanted to start for the Cats. Now look at me.'”
