Pat Fitzgerald Inks Decade-Long Deal To Stay At Northwestern

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.

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.

Congratulations to Coach Pat Fitzgerald.

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Gary Sheffield Jr is the son of should-be MLB Hall of Famer, Gary Sheffield. He covers basketball and baseball for OutKick.com, chats with the Purple and Gold faithful on LakersNation, and shitposts on Twitter. You can follow him at GarySheffieldJr