Wildcats fine as Big Ten underdog
Pat Fitzgerald knew change was needed after the 2019 season, as painful as it was to implement.
Since becoming the Northwestern coach at 31 in 2006 after the sudden death of Randy Walker, Fitzgerald had valued coaching staff stability. Soonretiring defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz had been in place since 2008. The same for offensive coordinator Mick McCall.
But last year, the offense devolved from plodding to almost nonexistent, largely because of horrid quarterback play. The Wildcats averaged fewer than 17 points per game in falling to 3-9 a year after losing to Ohio State in the 2018 Big Ten championship game. After the season, Fitzgerald fired McCall.
“You form really deep bonds and deep relationships (among coaches),” Fitzgerald said, “and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It was just time for a change in leadership, and we made the decision to make a change, and you never want to do that.”
In the old days, the Wildcats accepted mediocrity, or worse. Northwestern was the Big Ten athletic laughingstock for decades, the opposite of its reputation academically. It was as if it accepted playing the role for the conference of the walk-on at the end of the bench because it raised the team grade-point average.
As a star linebacker in the mid-1990s, Fitzgerald was part of the team that changed the Wildcats’ culture and expectations by fulfilling coach Gary Barnett’s seemingly impossible pledge to “Take the Purple to Pasadena.” Northwestern football has been relevant ever since.
That’s not to say the Wildcats are trying to be like the rest of their Big Ten brethren, including Ohio State, which they will play Saturday in the Big Ten championship game. Northwestern is the only private school in the conference. Its undergraduate enrollment of about 8,000 is by far the smallest.
The Wildcats generally don’t sign blue-chip prospects, favoring developmental players who fit their system. Northwestern recruited OSU quarterback Justin Fields, but Fitzgerald accepted that he had little chance to sign him once Fields became ranked among the country’s top players.
Even more than most coaches, Fitzgerald is the face of Northwestern football. He combines chip-on-the-shoulder attitude and self-deprecation.
No. 14 Northwestern (6-1) is a huge underdog, and there’s little doubt Fitzgerald relishes that role. “We’re gonna have fun. That’s not negotiable. I believe in that three-letter word. If you’re not having fun, I don’t know why you’re doing this, especially this year (because) it’s been such a challenge.”
“I’m not gonna lie to you,” he said of an upset, “it would be a hell of a ride home on I-65.”