Pat Fitzgerald

The Gator Bowl win was also Fitzgerald's 50th win as head coach, allowing him to pass Pappy Waldorf as the winningest coach in Northwestern history.

Against #7 Michigan, Fitzgerald led the defensive effort with 14 tackles, including two tackles for losses, in the Wildcats' 19–13 win, the first for Northwestern against Michigan since 1959.

He recorded eleven tackles in Northwestern's victory over #9 Notre Dame in South Bend, the Wildcats' first victory over the Irish since 1962.

Patrick William Fitzgerald Jr. (born December 2, 1974) is an American football former coach and player who was head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats football program until he was fired in 2023 in the aftermath of a hazing scandal.

Fitzgerald starred at linebacker for the Wildcats in the mid-1990s, helping to lead the team to a 10–1 regular season record in 1995 and a berth in the 1996 Rose Bowl, the school's second bowl appearance and the first since 1949.

As a linebacker for Northwestern from 1993 to 1996, he won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Chuck Bednarik Award twice as the best defensive player in college football.

At one point during the 1995 season he averaged over 13 tackles a game on his way to Consensus All-America honors.

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.

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.

The '12 team finished the season with a 10–3 record which tied the 1995 and 1903 teams for the most wins in school history.

Fitzgerald returned for the 1996 season, leading the Wildcats to a 9–3 overall record, a second straight Big Ten Championship, and a second consecutive New Year's Day bowl, the 1997 Citrus Bowl.

In his playing career, he was twice named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and was a two-time Consensus All-American.

He also won the Jack Lambert Trophy as best linebacker in the nation in 1996.

He was awarded a Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1997 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 1997, he was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, which recognizes one male and one female student from the graduating class of each Big Ten member school, for athletic and academic excellence.

He was not selected in the 1997 NFL Draft but he was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Cowboys.

They released him after two pre-season games.

Fitzgerald is the fifteenth Northwestern player or coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

After graduation, Fitzgerald joined the coaching staff at the University of Maryland in 1998 under head coach Ron Vanderlinden.

He then moved on to the University of Colorado under his former Northwestern head coach, Gary Barnett.

He 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.

The Wildcats struggled in Fitzgerald's first season as head coach going only 4–8 overall and 2–6 in the Big Ten.

Fitzgerald was promoted following the sudden death of head coach Randy Walker prior to the 2006 season.

He was 31 at the time, making him the youngest head football coach in the Big Ten Conference and NCAA Division I FBS.

Fitzgerald would go on to become the longest-tenured head coach in Northwestern football history.

He 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.

The Wildcats improved to 6–6 the following year before going 9–3 in the 2008 regular season (5–3 in conference play) and playing in the Alamo Bowl.

After the season, Fitzgerald was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus.

The 2009 season saw the Wildcats beat Iowa 17–10 on November 7.

The win over fourth-ranked Iowa is, to date, the highest ranked opponent defeated by a Fitzgerald coached team.

Two weeks later, the Wildcats beat #14 Wisconsin for the second upset win of the season.

Northwestern finished off the '09 season at the 2010 Outback Bowl, where their quarterback, Mike Kafka, set school records all-time all-bowl records with 47 completions on 78 attempts for 532 passing yards.

The Wildcats lost 38–35 in overtime to Auburn, who would win the BCS Championship the following season, when a fake field goal attempt fell short.

In 2011, the Wildcats defeated #9 Nebraska in Lincoln 28–27 with backup quarterback Kain Colter guiding the team in the second half.

In 2012, Fitzgerald became the second coach in school history to coach two nine-win teams.

Northwestern played in the third New Year's Day bowl game under Fitzgerald, the 2013 Gator Bowl.

They won 34–20, their first bowl victory in sixty-four years, over Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl.

The 2013 team finished 5–7.

In 2014, the team started 0–2 with a loss to Northern Illinois before winning three straight.

After back-to-back blowout losses to #19 Nebraska and Iowa, Northwestern lost to Michigan at home.