Pat Fitzgerald took the helm at Northwestern in 2006 as the youngest head football coach in FBS. His passion, enthusiasm, and unwavering values have resurrected the Wildcat's winning traditions producing a nine-win season and a berth in the Valero Alamo Bowl last year.
The Hall of Fame linebacker goes in-depth with Coach Insider.
What coach did you most admire growing up and why?
The first coach that I can remember really looking up to and emulating was my linebacker coach, Larry Lokanc. He was my high school linebacker coach and defensive coordinator. When I was a sophomore he brought me up to varsity and it was a great experience, but the next off-season he made me come in and work out at six in the morning. I didn't know why, he didn't tell me, but he saw things in me I didn't see in myself. Without him I wouldn't be here right now because I wouldn't have had the opportunity to play Big Ten football and go to Northwestern. I had great coaches growing up in grade school too, but that was the first time I realized what a coach was doing to help me and I'm forever grateful.
Do you require your football players to volunteer in the community? What are the requirements?
We have an off-season competition called the Wildcat Games and one major component is community outreach. You can actually get more points for going and reaching out to the community or going to see other games and events on campus than you can for bench-pressing 400 pounds. What that does is allow our players who may not be 100% healthy to have a role, and it also puts a priority on our guys giving back. We're so fortunate-we get the opportunity to compete, play and coach Big Ten and Northwestern football. It's a very humbling opportunity and if you're humble and give back you can share that opportunity with others who are down on their luck, less fortunate or may be struggling with an illness or an ailment. Our guys, I'm so proud of them, they take great pride in it and really enjoy it. At the end of the day as you move on in life, hopefully we'll be able to pass on to generations with the ‘Pay it Forward’ mentality.
Do you believe margin of victory should be taken into account by pollsters and the BCS system?
I don't think we should have any polls until October, maybe Halloween. Preseason polls are for fans and overrated. It's all based on past experiences and from football teams' reputations. But each team is different each year. Look at some teams that were ranked in the preseason top 10 this year-some of them are 3-2. Doesn't mean they're bad football teams, just that they might be going through some things. If we waited until October to rank, we'd have a true ranking of where teams are. As for margin of victory, all that matters is that you win by one. It's irrelevant.
How can you prepare your team in advance to limit personal foul penalties that tend to take place in the heat of the moment?
Those things happen in practice too, and you need to do a great job of educating your players, understanding the rules and the rules of engagement, so to speak, and to look at the sportsmanship opportunities that happen in practice. I have a policy that when our guys decide to get in a little bit of a fracas, if it's heated with a little pushing I'm alright with that but the minute they decide to go to fisticuffs I will kick them out of practice for five or six plays and let them hold hands, walk around and get to know each other a little better.
Tell us about a favorite charity that you support.
Last year a great foundation called the St. Baldrick's Foundation was brought to my attention. What they're trying to do is raise awareness for pediatric cancer research. It just breaks your heart to see a little young person battling cancer. What I asked our coaches to do was to volunteer to shave their heads around St. Patrick's Day, which obviously for an Irish Catholic guy like me is a pretty big holiday, and St. Baldrick's plays on the Irish theme. We all shaved our heads, and I thought it was a great way to raise some awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research.
What important values and principles are your players learning through football?
Football is a microcosm of life. As the ball is oblong, so is life. You never know where the ball is going to bounce, and you never know where life is going to go. We talk all day about choosing to have a great attitude and working as hard as we possibly can and being men of great character. It's defined by who you are when no one's watching and being someone who can be trusted to do the right thing. If we have that foundation then we have an opportunity to be honest – with ourselves and each other-and understand we're part of something bigger. We talk about being part of a family, which is tough love. When you need a hug you get it and when you need a kick in the pants, you get that too. Obviously it's about respect for yourself, the game, the university, those around you and those that you play with. I think football teaches you a ton about life and that if you stick to your values and who you are, you have a chance to be successful in all opportunities.
How would your current linebackers compare to you during your college years?
They're a lot better, a lot more athletic. The game has changed a lot. I couldn't play today. The kids are so athletic and have so much more on their plate. E-mail came out when I was a sophomore or junior in college; now you have e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, you have all these social networks and things on the internet to distract you from what's important in your life-being the best student you can be, a good teammate and a good football player. I think it's really difficult on the kids today and our guys do a really good job.
If you were evaluating game film of yourself as a high school senior, would that player be recruited to play for your program today?
I still have my highlight tape and it's as stiff and un-athletic a linebacker as I've ever seen. But I had really good teammates in high school and really good teammates here at Northwestern that kept me unblocked. I guess the hallmark of a good player is a guy who can make a tackle when he's unblocked and I was pretty much unblocked my junior and senior year of high school and in college, and found a way to get the ball carrier on the ground.
Give us the three most recent additions to your iPod.
I don't handle my iPod, I give it to my recruiting office and they keep me up to date on the current trends. I drive six minutes to work so I'm not listening to a lot of radio, so I have no idea – I just like songs that are upbeat. If I were to go back the 90s and 80s on XM radio would be my two favorite stations because that's the generation I grew up in.
Recall for us your all-time favorite college football game or individual play.
I saw it a couple weeks ago on the Big Ten Network. We scored a big touchdown at Michigan, Steve Schnur underthrew a ball to Matt Hartl. Sam Valenzisi, Rob Johnson and Bryan LaBell – three of my teammates – have worked hard to honor Matt Hartl this year and to create an endowed scholarship in Matt's name and one that will keep his legacy alive forever here at Northwestern. I saw that play and I see the bust of Matt every time I walk into our academic center and that's a play that sticks out for me. That was a big game for our football program, to go on the road to prove to ourselves that we could win a big road game. It really spearheaded our run to the Roses and that was a huge play in the history of our program and a huge play by Matt.
My favorite game was the Rose Bowl. There were a lot of great games but to come out of the tunnel and see 75% of the Rose Bowl in purple and white – to play a team from L.A. and still see the stadium that way – and to see the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance as we took the field was truly a dream come true and something that drives me every day.
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