Not surprising, I guess, given what he's done in Evanston. His body of work as the HC at Northwestern is beyond impressive, considering the limitations inherent in a program like that. Meyer gets all the accolades, and his record warrants the hype, but what Fitzgerald has accomplished at Northwestern is nothing short of amazing.
Packers interested in Fitzgerald
- Thread starter Bowlmania
- Start date
Northwestern hopes that he stays because if he leaves then I think you will see NW taking a step backwards. He was the perfect coach at the right time for that program and it will be hard to find someone to duplicate his success.
Mark Murphy signed him to coach Northwestern so there is a connection.
I can’t imagine him leaving NU, being a Chicago-area native and NU alum, coaching the hated Packers. But I guess if GB throws a boatload of $ at him, anything can happen.
Fitzgerald probably has a lifetime contract at Northwestern. Can't see him leaving. The NFL stands for "not for long", meaning you better do good things fairly quickly or a replacement will take your place. Green Bay is in a tough division and making the playoffs for them is not going to be easy anytime soon.
What? Why not? That's not same as someone from Bay Area would never say "Frisco" which I do agree. But Alum is an Alum is an Alum anywhere isn't it?
Green Bay is one of the most storied franchises in professional sports. That's one tough gig to pass up.
Why? Northwestern was trending up - way up by comparison to their history - prior to Fitzgerald's arrival there. Gary Barnett, and then Randy Walker, were getting it done.
Recall also that Kevin Wilson got his first BiG notoriety as an OC/AHC at Northwestern under Walker.
There's no reason to expect Northwestern will suffer a drop off . . . they'll miss Fitz, no doubt, but I'll bet he's got a program in place to continue a good measure of success if he were to leave.
All that aside, I don't think he leaves. He's the current Woody Hayes of the BiG, and the BiG is better for it, IMO. So is Fitz . . . .
Totally agree given his teams talent level and what he achieves. Great leader.
Neither is bro, bro.
P.S. The "i" in "it's" should capitalized, and you need punctuation at the end of a sentence.
Yes they had a few good years but Bennet and Walker both had losing records at Northwestern
27 1992–1998 Gary Barnett 35–45–1 .438
28 1999–2005 Randy Walker 37–46 .446
29 2006– Pat Fitzgerald 87–65 .572
Thank you for proving my point. Northwestern WAS trending up under Barnett and Walker prior to Fitz.
How is that since neither one had a winning record so how were they on the upswing. In 8 years Walker went to 3 bowl games and only had a winning record in conference 3 times.Thank you for proving my point. Northwestern WAS trending up under Barnett and Walker prior to Fitz.
My co-worker's son is a Northwestern grad, as is a former student who played basketball for me. I've personally heard both refer to themselves as NU "alums".
Good point. Nobody (including me) anticipated Brad Stevens leaving Butler for the NBA. But there is something to be said for spending your precious little down time from coaching with your family instead of on the road schmoozing high school kids and their parents or scouring film of prospects. No babysitting college kids or worrying about what your team will look like three years down the road. Just coaching.
I'm not defending the personal attack, but offering you some help. In the words of the immortal Foghorn Leghorn, "it was a joke, son." Note the emoji and the miniscule increase in winning pctg from Barnett to Walker. You need to have your subtle humor detector tuned up.
Cougar, I love reading your posts, but no, it wasn't a joke. Scott's take on my posts to him was correct.
My point was that Northwestern under Barnett and Walker DID trend upward from what NU had been previously. John Pont, Dennis Green, and Francis Peay all had horrific W/L records.
[on edit]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Northwestern_Wildcats_football_seasons
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Ahh. My bad. I thought your first reply was to Bowlmania. My fault for not reading the thread more carefully. And you are definitely correct, what Barnett and Walker did at NU was most definitely an upward trend before Fitz.
BTW, Barnett took NU to its first bowl game in 47 years, and between Barnett and Walker, NU went to a total of 5 bowl games in 15 years . . .
. . . and they laid a foundation for an assistant coach, Pat Fitzgerald, upon promotion to HC, to take the program to a long-term winning record.
If that ain't trending up, I don't know what is.
No, he's from Columbus. It's part of the culture there to feel superior to everyone else.
I was just gonna post before Barnett it was a dumpster fire. Then he wins the Big 10 and goes to a Rose Bowl? Thats Huge! Major program changing stuff!
why would he? he's in the big sissy division.
Wrong! He is All Class and is the architect of Northwestern’s move to a consistently competitive Big Ten program.
he's still in the big sissy division. when he played against the big boys he got smacked. and you're also wrong about him being the architect of NU's competitive football. that was barnett and walker.
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They just knocked off the #17 ranked team in a bowl. He won every regular season conference game but one (and the championship game). He’s great.
another great coach, ala brohm.
he just knocked off who? yeah i'm impressed. and he still plays in the big sissy division.when he played against the big boys, he got smoked.
Combined Barnett and Walker did not coach the 14 seasons Fitzgerald has when he solidified the program and justified the investment of $250 million in private funding to build their magnificent new athletic facility on the shores of Lake Michigan. His 96-70 record dwarfs the combined records of Barnett (35-45-1) and Walker (37-46) which is 72-91-1!
Fitzgerald is a fantastic coach. He’s a natural. Folks that try to downplay this don’t understand the history of Northwestern. They were just horrible fro the better part of 25 years. He regularly gets 7-10 wins. Yeah...I’d take it. I recall the years of Rick Venturi, Francis Peay and Dennis Green.
why would he? he's in the big sissy division.
Funny, that teams from the big sissy division have been the only ones to hand big, bad dOSU a conference loss the past 2 seasons.
Big sissy division was 4-1 in bowls; Mighty East was 1-3 (thanks Ohio State)
