Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1038527
12 > > > Northwestern Digital Program DAN & SUSAN JONES FAMILY HEAD FOOTBALL COACH PAT FITZGERALD Already the second-longest tenured Big Ten head coach at the age of 41, Pat Fitzgerald's 11 seasons at the helm of Northwestern have been spent building upon the tradition he helped establish as a Hall- of-Fame linebacker for the Wildcats in the mid-1990's. Characterized by his motivational skills, enthusiasm and passion for all things Northwestern, Fitzgerald has shaped Chicago's Big Ten Team into one that consistently achieves excellence in all three phases of the student-athlete experience: academics, athletics and community outreach. Taking over as head coach in 2006 after the sudden passing of his friend and mentor, Randy Walker, Fitzgerald provided leadership and stability in a trying time and has continued Walker's legacy of producing winning football teams while preparing young men for long-term success in life. Fitzgerald has led the Wildcats to seven bowl appearances in his 11 seasons and has guided the 'Cats to two of their three bowl wins in program history. Most recently, Chicago's Big Ten Team defeated No. 23 Pittsburgh in the 2016 New Era Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium, 31-24. After a slow 1-3 start to the season, the Wildcats won six of their last nine games to finish the 2016 season with a winning record of 7-6 for the sixth time under Fitzgerald. The fifth-year seniors of the 2016 class became the first group in program history to earn a pair of bowl victories with their wins in the Pinstripe Bowl and TaxSlayer Bowl in 2013. The 2015 season saw the Wildcats earn a trip to their sixth bowl under his guidance with an appearance in the New Year's Day Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida. Behind one of the nation's stingiest defenses and a ground and pound offense, the Wildcats opened the season with a 16-6 victory over No. 21-ranked and 2016 Rose Bowl Champion Stanford. The victory sparked a 5-0 start for the 'Cats and led to Chicago's Big Ten Team matching a program record with 10- wins, including five straight to close the regular season. NU finished the season ranked in the top 25 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches Poll. Northwestern's senior class of 2016 became the first in program history to post a pair of 10-win seasons and a pair was selected in the 2016 NFL Draft as defensive Dean Lowry was picked by the Green Bay Packers in the fourth round and superback Dan Vitale was taken in the sixth round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Additionally, five members of the 2016 class signed undrafted free agent contracts. Pat Fitzgerald hands off the 2013 Gator Bowl championship trophy to members of NU's all-time winningest senior class. From 2008-12, Fitzgerald guided the Wildcats to five consecutive bowl berths, most recently in the 2012 campaign when NU capped a tremendous 10-win season with a landmark victory over Mississippi State in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl. The 2012 'Cats, who played in a New Year's Day bowl game for the third time in five years, earned a No. 17 year-end ranking in the USA Today/Coaches Poll, the best positioning for any Big Ten team. Consequently, four consecutive senior classes to graduate from the Northwestern football program during that timeframe set or tied the school record for most career wins by a five-year senior class, with the 2012 group going out as the winningest NU senior class in history with 40 victories to its credit. Likewise, Fitzgerald's Gator Bowl victory on Jan. 1, 2013, marked the 50th of his career, officially making him the winningest head coach in Northwestern Football history. Away from the gridiron, Fitzgerald's players have achieved at the highest levels in the classroom, last fall placing a record 39 players on the Academic All-Big Ten team en route to posting a program-record 3.14 GPA for the 2015-16 academic year. In 2012, Northwestern collected top honors in the AFCA Academic Achievement Award for the seventh time since 1998. Additionally, Fitzgerald's program ranked second among FBS programs in the recently released multi- year Academic Progress Rating (APR), posting a score of 992 out of a possible 1,000 in the measure of player retention and eligibility. NU also goes to great lengths to make a difference in the community. Fitzgerald, his family and his players partake in countless charitable events, impacting the NU and Evanston communities through their participation in Northwestern Dance Marathon, Special Olympics, Misericordia, the NU chapter of Uplifting Athletes, weekly school and children's hospital visits, and dozens of other organizations. Additionally, a Wildcat also has been selected to the prestigious Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® in seven of the last year years (only 11 players from FBS football claim the honor each season), most recently place-kicker Jeff BudzienClick here to hear it in 2013. As a player in 1995, Fitzgerald was the leader of a suffocating Wildcats defense that led the nation in scoring defense and anchored NU's storybook run to the Big Ten title and Rose Bowl. He capped the year by winning both the Nagurski and Bednarik Awards as the nation's top defensive player and also was the Big Ten, Chevrolet and Sports Illustrated Defensive Player of the Year. Fitzgerald accomplished all of this despite suffering a broken leg in the penultimate game. Fitzgerald recovered from that injury and in 1996 he again led the Wildcats to a share of the Big Ten title. He repeated as recipient of the Nagurski and Bednarik Awards, becoming the first two-time winner of both honors and laying the groundwork for his selection in 2008 to