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Northwestern and head football coach Pat Fitzgerald have agreed to a 10-year deal through the 2030 season, according to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel.
He’s already been with the team for 16 seasons (6th-longest in FBS), and the 46-year-old coach clearly had no intentions of leaving. However, this is still a big time relief for Northwestern who reportedly feared losing him to the NFL.
Sources: Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has agreed to a new 10-year contract that stretches through 2030. Multiple NFL franchises reached out to Fitzgerald this year, including two that made a heavy push.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 27, 2021
Fitzgerald is currently 5-5 in bowl games, but a strong 2020 that ended with a Citrus Bowl victory over Auburn likely led to this contract.
Here’s his full career at Northwestern:
It probably helps that Jon Gruden’s 10-year deal started looking better of late and took the stigma away from those “Godfather” deals. Any contract for a decade is a massive investment, so we hope it all works out.
Also, just yesterday, Fitzgerald won the Stallings Award for being “an exceptional human.” Sounds like a coach who can rally young recruits, if you ask us.
Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald wins Stallings Award, given annually to an NCAA Division 1 head football coach who is an exceptional humanitarian & coach
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 26, 2021
Congratulations to Coach Pat Fitzgerald.
10 years for a coach who has consistently overachieved at a mid level power 5 program is safe money. NW fans don’t care if they go 6-6. He’s at a place he can be loved until he leaves or retires. Most coaches would take it. The track record of college coaches succeeding in NFL is low. 3 years and fired at a program like the jets isn’t a great deal.