Northwestern Wildcats reward football coach Pat Fitzgerald with 10-year contract

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Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald has accepted a new 10-year contract with the school that will run until the 2030 season.

Fitzgerald, a former Northwestern star linebacker who twice won National Defensive Player of the Year honors, is the team’s winningest coach in history, with a 106-81 record in 15 seasons . Since 2015, he has guided Northwestern to two 10-game winning seasons, four back-to-back bowl wins and two Big Ten West Division championships in the past three years.

The 46-year-old was named the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year in 2020 and won the Big Ten Coach of the Year award in 2018.

Several NFL teams in recent years have expressed interest in Fitzgerald, who has also turned down opportunities from other college programs.

“We have built the foundation to compete for tandem championships with the best opportunity for academic and personal development in college football,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “We all have a lot to be proud of, but our best is yet to come.”

Athletic director Jim Phillips, who will be leaving Northwestern in February to become ACC commissioner, has prioritized finalizing a long-term deal for Fitzgerald before he leaves school, a source said. Northwestern has set up a search committee for Phillips’ successor and may hire in the coming weeks.

β€œWe have one of the best coaches in college football and, more importantly, a particularly suited leader at this university,” Phillips said in a statement. β€œDuring his tenure, Coach Fitzgerald has built a culture of unwavering belief in excellence on and off the field, and has led our Wildcats to unprecedented sustained success. They boast of incredible achievements in the classroom, in the community and in competition, and the will for years to come. “

Fitzgerald, who helped run the Northwestern Rose Bowl race in 1995 and back-to-back Big Ten Championships as a player under Gary Barnett, returned to school in 2001 as an assistant. He coached defensive backs and linebackers from 2001 to 2005 under Randy Walker, then became a head coach shortly after Walker’s sudden death in June 2006.

Under Fitzgerald, Northwestern made 10 bowl appearances and recorded five Top 25s, including a No.10 in 2020. Fitzgerald entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008, and 14 of Northwestern’s 16 appearances came with him as player. or coach.



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