Football-Northwestern's Fitzgerald Extended Through 2015

Northwestern head football coach Pat Fitzgerald agreed to a new contract on Tuesday that will keep him prowling the Wildcats' sidelines through 2015.

"To be certain, I am absolutely ecstatic that we have come to an agreement with Coach Pat Fitzgerald on a long-term contract extension," said director of athletics and recreation Jim Phillips.

"This has been one of our top priorities the past few months.

There is no doubt that Pat is the right individual to lead Northwestern's football program well into the future." Fitzgerald was named Northwestern's 29th head coach on July 7, 2006 when then head coach Randy Walker died suddenly on June 29, 2006. Walker coached the Wildcats for seven successful seasons before dying from a heart attack.

In 2001, Fitzgerald joined the Northwestern coaching staff as a defensive secondary coach before moving to linebackers coach in 2002. In 2004, Walker named the up-and-coming coach the program's recruiting coordinator.

Northwestern is 19-18 since Fitzgerald took the reins. The program is coming off a 9-4 campaign in which the school earned its seventh bowl bid, an overtime loss to Missouri in the Alamo Bowl. It was only the fifth nine-win season in the program's 127-year history and first bowl game since 2005.

Fitzgerald began under difficult circumstances and as the youngest head coach amongFootball BowlSubdivision schools until Lane Kiffin was named Tennessee's head coach in 2008. Just weeks before the 2006 season was to have began, Walker's death floored the school, but Fitzgerald endured in what ended as a 4-8 season. The Wildcats moved to 6-6 a year later and led the Big Ten in total offense for the regular season, earning bowl eligibility for what would be the first of two straight seasons.

"In three years, Pat has quickly developed into one of the nation's top young head coaches.

He bleeds purple and has tremendous passion for Northwestern. I'm thrilled about the future of Northwestern football with Pat on board for many years to come," added Phillips.

The 34-year-old Fitzgerald was inducted into the College Football Betting Hall of Fame in 2008 for his exploits as a star linebacker with the Wildcats from 1993-96. He is the only two-time Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Award winner as the nation's top defensive player, having garnered those honors in back-to-back seasons (1995-96). Northwestern captured the Big Ten Championship in 1995 and earned a share of the title the following year.

Before taking a coaching spot at Northwestern, Fitzgerald was a defensive coach at Maryland in 1998 and Colorado in 1999 before holding a position at Idaho for one season.