Dec. 3, 2008

By Larry Watts
Contributor, BigTen.org

Eleven years ago, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback great Troy Aikman and Pat Fitzgerald shared the same locker room together. Next Tuesday, at the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, Aikman and Fitzgerald will be together again as part of the 15-member class receiving induction into the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame.

"He doesn't even know who I am," Fitzgerald says of Aikman. "I was a free agent linebacker back then. If he knows who I am, I'd be shocked."

Fitzgerald's stay with the Cowboys lasted through three exhibition games, but his status in the world of college football is legendary in itself. The first player to twice be honored with both the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Awards as the nation's top defensive player, he led Northwestern to back-to-back Big Ten championships and appearances in the Rose Bowl (1996) and Citrus Bowl (1997). And now he is back in Evanston as the youngest head coach in the Bowl Championship Series division, leading the Wildcats to their first postseason appearance since 2005.

Voted to join college football's elite at the age of 33, Fitzgerald is the youngest person to ever be honored. Yet, the 15th player and/or coach from Northwestern to receive induction, remains always humble and claims he is just a representative of two great Wildcat teams.

"I wouldn't be where I am in my life without Northwestern University," says Fitzgerald, who just turned 34 this week. "I'll be forever indebted to this university. I'll never be able to pay back the university or Northwestern football for what they have prepared me for.

"I believe I'm being inducted as a member of the Northwestern family. Absolutely, it's all about the teams I had a chance to be part of. I think this is something special and it says where we are now as a program is because of those teams. Those two teams changed the attitude nationally of what Northwestern football is all about."

Fitzgerald traces his humility to his Irish roots on the south side of Chicago. "It defines who I am," he says. "We have persevered and worked through tough times. It's a family that has done it with a lot of humility and had a lot of fun.

"My parents (Pat Sr. and Flo) didn't have college educations and they really sacrificed to get us to a point where we could move to a place like Orland Park, where we could be part of some of the finest schools and families. They were able to send both of my sisters and I off to college and now we all have wonderful families."

Fitzgerald's father still can be seen in the background on game day as he helps his son with his headset. "Walk (former head coach Randy Walker) gave him that job six years ago," the son says proudly. "We were changing to a digital system and my dad had the technical background from working with Illinois Bell and AT&T.

"I see him in the hotel on Friday evenings (on road trips) and that's really special, something I don't take for granted. It's pretty unique."

Fitzgerald, who began playing football in second grade, points to Larry Lokanc, his defensive coordinator at Carl Sandburg High School as being his first great mentor in the game.

"He saw things in me I never thought I could see in myself," Fitzgerald says. "He was the first coach I was mature enough to understand what he was doing for me. Until then I just took it for granted that I was a pretty good football player. Not only did he see my potential to play in college, but he also saw my weaknesses and tried to help me turn them into strengths. He was hard on me -- academically, in the weight room and every way I prepared on the field.

"Coach Lokanc taught me to understand the position of playing linebacker and how to play it the right way. He made sure I didn't take what the good Lord gave me, which is very limited talent, for granted and I'll be forever grateful."

At Northwestern, Fitzgerald came across the next great mentors in his football growth -- head coach Gary Barnett and defensive coordinator Ron Vanderlinden. But Fitzgerald admits it took him a couple of years to realize his opportunity.

"I was just happy to be here, so I have a little pain and regret from those first two years," he says. "I could have done more to help the program. Maybe my attitude was in the wrong spot because the weight of the world was off my shoulders and I came in here thinking I had accomplished everything I had dreamed of instead of what I preach to my players now, which is you have just bought yourself a ticket to even bigger and greater challenges. Through the direction of coach Barnett and Vandy, I matured.

"Gary was so competitive and had such a belief in his vision and direction this program was going. The first time I met him, I felt like I had known him my entire life. He talked to me and my family about what it meant to be at a university like Northwestern from and education standpoint and experience."

Vanderlinden, who is now linebackers coach at Penn State, also coached linebackers with the Wildcats. One of his Nittany Lion proteges, Paul Posluszny, became the second player in college football history to twice be named the nation's top player.

"Vandy is an incredible teacher," says Fitzgerald. "He overturned every stone to prepare us as a defense and linebacking corps. Even though we were a bunch of misfits and knuckleheads, he had the uncanny ability to pull us all together and we grew collectively. I wasn't mature enough to understand the opportunity I had the first two years, but I finally figured things out thanks to his guidance."

"As a player, Pat was smart and just like a coach on the field," Vanderlinden says. "He absorbed all the information he could take in and had an eye for all the offensive tendencies. He had such a passion for the game and he got all the guys around him to play with that same great passion."

Although Fitzgerald's passion was the driving force behind one of the nation's top defenses, a broken leg kept him out of the Rose Bowl.

"Selfishly, as a competitor, it was the low point of my career, but as a teammate it wasn't," he says. "I was so fired up for the team. Sure I wanted to be in that arena and compete, but when we walked out of that tunnel and right there in the end zone was that purple and white, I started crying. We worked so hard for that moment as a team."

With a healthy Fitzgerald, Vanderlinden says USC's 41-32 victory might have had a different ending.

"On the very first series of the game, we had them third-and-14 and they ran a play-action," Vanderlinden recalls. "The linebacker who replaced Pat bit on the play-action and they hit Keyshawn Johnson for 14 yards. That not only kept the drive alive, but they went on to score a touchdown. Pat would not have bit on that play and the whole complexion of the game might have changed. It's just hard to measure his contributions."

At the Citrus Bowl in '97, Northwestern fell 48-28 to a Peyton Manning-led Tennessee club. While much was made of the fact star running back Darnell Autry came out of his sick bed to play because his backup, Adrian Autry, pulled a hamstring in warm-ups and linebacker Hudhaifa Ismaeli had been suspended, few people outside the Northwestern family knew Fitzgerald had suffered a broken rib in the first quarter.

"It wasn't a fun day at the office," Fitzgerald says. "My last game here wasn't my best game, but it was great to be out there representing Northwestern. That Tennessee roster was filled with first and second round draft choices, but we just kept battling through all our adversity. That just showed the character of this program."

According to Vanderlinden, the injury from the '95 season cut back on Fitzgerald's production as a senior, although he repeated defensive player of the year status.

"His ankle had been broken in two places, so he couldn't put that one heel down for half the season," he said. "He still didn't have the right mobility, but his instincts and heart along with being a year smarter made him a great player as well as a great leader."

"I don't know if you could say I lost a step because I never had a step to lose in the first place," Fitzgerald says with a laugh. "I probably didn't get my confidence back until midway through the year. Spring ball had been taken away from me and to lose that offseason really hurt me. But Vandy never wavered in his expectations and the standard he set for the linebacking corps. We were trying to create a foundation for the future."

After spending one year in the business world, Fitzgerald got back into college football with one-year stints as a graduate assistant under Vanderlinden (Maryland in 1998) and Barnett (Colorado in 1999). Then Walker called him back to Northwestern as an assistant coach in 2001.

"I was blown away," Fitzgerald says of the offer. "I feel like I am able to give back a little bit from what I was able to experience."

The relationship between Walker and Fitzgerald, who Walker was grooming to replace him, was far too short. Walker died in the early summer of 2006 and Fitzgerald took over the reins as head coach at the age of 31.

"The most honest man I've ever been around in my life," Fitzgerald says of Walker. "I learned so much from him from that value (honesty) alone. He always told you what you needed to hear, not necessarily what you wanted to hear. From that honesty, it gave you confidence in your own ability and confidence in the direction of the program.

"His attitude was infectious, always positive. There was no greater man who has ever touched this program. We try to uphold those values every day. And it's easier said than done."

In the Big Ten Conference, Fitzgerald is now regarded as the Luke Skywalker to Penn State coaching legend Joe Paterno's Obi-Wan Kenobi. He sees himself as always learning and pushing to become that so-called Jedi master.

"I know I still have a long way to go," he says. "But I just want to make a difference the same way this program made a difference for me.

"My wife, Stacy, and I were high school sweethearts and grew up 70 minutes from here. I want my sons, Jack (4) and Ryan (2), to have the opportunity to go to school here and for their dad to be here as well. This place means that much to us."

The Fitzgeralds also have a third child on the way in early February. They aren't anxious to spoil the surprise, so Fitzgerald resorts to coach-speak to describe the moment -- "We'll know the sex on game day."

Then the next big day will come in July, when the Purple Nation beats a path to South Bend, Ind. for their favorite son's enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame. Also a member of that class is Lou Holtz, who was on that Notre Dame sideline when the purple march to Pasadena began with a 17-15 victory over the Fighting Irish in 1995.

"Returning to the scene of the crime," Fitzgerald says with a smile. "It will be fun."