Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald is one of the longest-tenured leading men in all of FBS college football. Only one Big Ten coach has been in place longer than him: Kirk Ferentz, at Iowa.'
With Fitzgerald closing in on two full decades in Evanston, many college football fans and bettors are having trouble remembering just how long he's been prowling the sidelines in purple.
When Did Pat Fitzgerald Start Coaching at Northwestern?
Pat Fitzgerald was promoted to head coach of Northwestern football in June 2006. The move followed the unexpected death of former coach Randy Walker.
Northwestern isn't a public university, so it doesn't have to reveal Fitzgerald's compensation information – even under the Freedom of Information Act. Still, recent estimates based on Fitzgerald's tax returns place the salary somewhere around $5.8 million.