On July 7, after 13 seasons at Northwestern, Pat Fitzgerald was let go as the school’s head football coach amid an investigation into hazing allegations made by a player in November. The allegations are supported by evidence that Fitzgerald knew about the incidents. Fitzgerald took over at Northwestern in 2006 after the sudden and unexpected passing of Randy Walker.
To clarify, we do not condone nor encourage the activity or organization of hazing. This article is simply looking back at the history of Pat Fitzgerald’s tenure as the head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats.
Prior to coaching at Northwestern, Fitzgerald was hired on as a graduate assistant at Maryland in 1998 before moving on to Colorado where he was reunited with Gary Barnett at Colorado, who coached Fitzgerald at Northwestern as a player. In 2000, he was hired to be the linebacker and special teams coach for the Idaho Vandals for a one-year term.
Playing and laying down the roots
As a player during the mid-1990’s, Fitzgerald blossomed himself into one of, if not, the most decorated athletes to play at Northwestern University. In 1995 and 1996, he was named as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.. Fitzgerald was a two time Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner, two time Chuck Bednarik Award winner and two time Consensus All-American. He was the first in college football history to win the Nagurski and Bednarik twice.
In his junior season, the Wildcats finished with a 10-1 record, sending Northwestern to a bowl game for the first time in 46 years. The following season, the Wildcats made it to the 1996 Rose Bowl Game. Fitzgerald did not play in that game due to a broken leg. In his senior season, his Wildcats would finish with a very respectable 9-3 season.
Over the course of his playing career, Fitzgerald participated in 23 games with 299 total tackles (20 for loss), five forced fumbles and three interceptions.
In 2008, after his second year as the head coach at Northwestern, Fitzgerald was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame. When it came to playing in the NFL, Fitzgerald was never drafted but did sign with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. With the Cowboys, he played just two preseason games prior to being cut. From there, he went on coach in college football.
Becoming the face of Northwestern as head football coach
Already a legend as a player, Fitzgerald entered the 2006 season with a team that was in a state of mourning over Randy Walker. When he took over the program at the age of 31, he was the youngest head coach in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. In that first season, the Wildcats finished with a 4-8 record, good enough for eighth in the Big Ten.
Improvement kept coming for Northwestern as Fitzgerald settled into his role as the gatekeeper for the football program. After a 6-6 season in 2007, the Wildcats were primed to earn a bowl invitation. Not only did they clinch a bowl game berth, they finished with a 9-4 record overall and garnered a fourth place standing in the conference. At the Alamo Bowl, the Wildcats battled the Missouri Tigers carrying a 23-20 lead into the fourth and final quarter before losing to the Tigers in overtime.
The following season. there was more of the same. The Wildcats were playing like a team that could be hunting for more success. The Wildcats upset #4 Iowa in Iowa City by a 17-10 score amid a National Championship hunt by the Hawkeyes. To date, that win over Iowa is the biggest upset win in the program’s history and it was followed by a win over Wisconsin two weeks later. The Wildcats earned a New Year’s Day Bowl and it helped Fitzgerald cement himself as the key figure at Northwestern.
In his first five seasons as the head coach at Northwestern, the Wildcats found themselves with a winning record overall and three straight bowl berths. The 2011 squad did finish the regular season with a winning 6-6 record but squandered their streak of winning seasons with a loss to a Ryan Tannehill led Texas A&M squad in the Texas Bowl.
Back to back 5-7 seasons in 2013 and 2014 would follow with no bowl appearance, but the rebuilding of the roster during those seasons set the stage for the ultimate honeymoon period in the Fitzgerald era.
Northwestern in Contention atop the Big Ten
The 2015 season started with a stunning opening game win against the Stanford Cardinal at tome in Evanston, in which the Wildcats won by a 16-6 score. Despite the loss, the Cardinal would recover from the opening game jitters to finish #3 in the nation with a win in the Rose Bowl. The win against Stanford was followed by four more wins leading up to their confrontation with Michigan earning the Wildcats a #13 ranking. The Wolverines would silence Northwestern with a shutout and Iowa gave Fitzgerald’s squad a second straight loss.
After the Iowa loss, the Wildcats rebounded to win five straight to close out the season finishing second in the Big Ten West behind Iowa. The 2015 season concluded with a New Year’s Day Bowl Game against the Tennessee Volunteers at the Outback Bowl in Tampa. Tennessee, ked by the running back duo of Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, made it look easy with a 45-6 rout over Northwestern.
While 2016, was a season where the Northwestern Wildcats took a step back with a younger roster, they were still a team that stayed very competitive. In the thick of the season with a 4-3 record, the Wildcats rolled into Columbus and gave the #6 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes everything they could handle with a 24-20 loss. Wining the final game of the regular season and arch-rival Illinois gave Northwestern plenty of reason to be optimistic about their upcoming bowl game against Pittsburgh and beyond. The Pinstripe Bowl Game at Yankee Stadium
The 2017 season did not start off that great for Fitzgerald’s Wildcats. The Wildcats had losses to Duke, Wisconsin and Penn State to give them a 2-3 record to start the season. Over the next four games, the Wildcats picked up wins over Maryland, Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska with all except the Maryland contest headed into overtime with the Iowa contest reaching a third overtime. After the three overtime games, the Wildcats sat at a very respectable 6-3 record. They would also win the final games of the year including the bowl game in Nashville against Kentucky to finish 10-3 and 2nd in the Big Ten West.
Much like like that of the 2017, a slow start was the thing that doomed the 2018 Wildcats. They won the opening week contest against Purdue then lost three straight including a narrow loss to Michigan at home. When it was all said and done, the loss to Michigan would be the Wildcats only conference loss in the regular season. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish came to Ryan Field in the first week of November and beat the Wildcats by 10. In the Big Ten Championship, the Ohio State Buckeyes won a by a considerable 45-24 margin. The Wildcats then found themselves in the Holiday Bowl against the Utah Utes where they won with a 31-20 score. Clayton Thorson at quarterback and Paddy Fisher at linebacker were considered as contenders for some major college football awards.
The downward spiral begins for Fitzgerald at Northwestern
At the time of the game against Utah in the Holiday Bowl, Fitzgerald was in the running for the Green Bay Packers head coaching job. It was a job that he ultimately turned down to stay at Northwestern. Over the next four seasons, the Wildcats had only one winning season with the lone one coming in the pandemic plagued season of 2020. That season, the Wildcats finished with a #10 ranking and got a trip to the Citrus Bowl where they defeated Auburn 35-19 in Orlando.
In 2019, 2021 and 2022, the Wildcats did not win more than three games in a season. The 2022 season, which would be Fitzgerald’s final season, the Wildcats ended up with a 1-11 record. Their lone win came in the season opener against Nebraska in Dublin, Ireland.
Uncovering a hazing culture at Northwestern
In July of 2023, an independent investigation and through articles first published by The Daily Northwestern, it was discovered that Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks. The Daily Northwestern article included accusations made by a former player and the independent investigation. Initially, the university suspended Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay, but once they saw that the allegations will not go away, he was fired as the head football coach of the Northwestern Wildcats football team. There is evidence to support that Fitzgerald allegedly knew of the hazing incidents and even encouraged them.
The entire roster has stated that do not tolerate hazing and that the allegations of the alleged incidents are “exaggerated and twisted”. They also have thrown their complete support for Fitzgerald.
Statement from Northwestern’s entire team pushing back against the allegations of hazing, which they call “exaggerated and twisted.” They also say coach Pat Fitzgerald had no knowledge or involvement in the allegations. pic.twitter.com/lMOAgCe0EB
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) July 9, 2023
Fitzgerald Coaching Record
2006 | Northwestern (4-8, 2-6)
2007 | Northwestern (6-6, 3-5)
2008 | Northwestern (9-4, 5-3)
2009 | Northwestern (8-5, 5-3)
2010 | Northwestern (7-6, 3-5)
2011 | Northwestern (6-7, 3-5)
2012 | Northwestern (10-3, 5-3)
2013 | Northwestern (5-7, 1-7)
2014 | Northwestern (5-7, 3-5)
2015 | Northwestern (10-3, 6-2)
2016 | Northwestern (7-6, 5-4)
2017 | Northwestern (10-3, 7-2)
2018 | Northwestern (9-5, 8-1) – 1st West
2019 | Northwestern (3-9, 1-8)
2020 | Northwestern (7-2, 6-1) – 1st West
2021 | Northwestern (3-9, 1-8)
2022 | Northwestern (1-11, 1-8)
Overall: 110-101
