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Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach 16 PAT FITZGERALD HC PAT FITZGERALD • 11th Season • 70-58 Overall Record • Winningest Coach in NU History • 6 Bowl Games • Twice has led the Wildcats to a program-record 10 victories • 2008 CFB Hall of Fame Class • 1995 & 1996 Nagurski Award Winner • 1995 & 1996 Bednarik Award Winner • Two-Time All-American Already the second-longest tenured Big Ten head coach at the age of 41, Pat Fitzgerald's 10 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 led the Wildcats to their sixth bowl game under his guidance with an apperance 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 two were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft as defensive end 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. From 2008-12, Fitzgerald guided the Wildcats to five consecutive bowl berths capped by 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, a record 39 players made 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 national honors in the AFCA Academic Achievement Award for the seventh time since 1998. Additionally, Fitzgerald's program ranked second among all 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