According to multiple reports, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald is on the list of candidates to potentially fill the Green Bay Packers head coaching vacancy. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the ball is in Fitzgerald’s court right now too. The Packers have contacted Fitz about scheduling an interview, but the NU mentor is currently focused on preparing his team to take on #17 Utah in the Holiday Bowl tomorrow (full game preview and prediction at this link).
We won’t know until after the bowl game whether or not Fitz will hear their Packers out on their offer, but he “has shut down countless interview requests from the NFL in the past,” according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Having already turned down Michigan, among many other very prestigious jobs, it is thought that Fitzgerald is an extreme long shot to ever leave NU, and that it would certainly take a rare and special situation/position. It is thought that he would conceivably leave in order to take the Chicago Bears job, but what about the Monsters of the Midway’s chief rival?
Current Packers CEO Mark Murphy was the NU Athletic Director in 2006 who promoted Pat Fitzgerald to head coach following the tragic loss of Randy Walker. Perhaps this connection might be strong enough to pry Fitz from his alma mater, where he is arguably the most decorated figure in the school’s athletic history?
As of now, Pat Fitzgerald, the reigning Big Ten coach of the year, has avoided media questions on this topic.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.