By Paul M. Banks
College Football season is a little more than three weeks away, and when things get underway September 5th, Northwestern will look to build upon last year’s success. In 2008, they finished one win shy of the single season school record for wins. “We’re Chicago’s Big Ten team,” Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald proclaimed at NU Media Day. I’m sure many people at the University of Illinois might disagree. But as Fitz gets ready to hopefully take the purple to Pasadena, here are some of the highlights of what he had to say when he rocked the mic at Big Ten and Northwestern Media Days.
Read below to see what his expectations are.
And to see Media Day pictures, a few of which feature yours truly click here.
“As I mentioned at the Kickoff Luncheon, currently the market remains very difficult and it affects you as members of the media so I want to say thanks for coming out.”
Couldn’t agree more on that…so how about all those newcomers in 2009 at the positions that get all the glory and publicity?
“On offense, none of you know any of our guys’ names so I’ll spare it for now, but you will. That’s exciting for us as a staff and as a program. We have great competitive depth across the board on offense.”
So who are the new guys at the skill positions?
“From a competition standpoint at tailback, Matt MacPherson and I are just chomping at the bit to get out to the practice field every day. Stephen Simmons, after the role he had a year ago with Tyrell Sutton and Omar Conteh going down, is kind of the elder statesman but he’s being pushed by Jeravin Matthews, who is maybe the fastest player in our program and has bulked up to about 180 pounds now after a tremendous summer. Alex Daniel is a young player who redshirted last year and had a great spring so based on the empirical data from last year those would be the guys, but Scott Concannon and Jacob Schmidt are also in the mix along with Mike Trumpy and Arby Fields.
At receiver, Andrew Brewer has now moved to the outside after a great summer, Charles Brown is inside, with Sidney Stewart on the opposite side doing some nice things early. All those guys are being pushed by Lee Coleman and Jeremy Ebert as he comes off his injury. The position I think that gets lost occasionally for us is superback. Josh Rooks has done nothing but excelled at the point of attack blocking, his routes have been outstanding. We have a healthy Drake Dunsmore along with Brendan Mitchell and Mark Woodsum so our superback position will be involved in our offense. Mick McCall and our offensive staff have a lot of flexibility.”
On the importance of having two senior starters at safety, the leadership they provide and what it means to the success of his defense…
“On defense, it’s like baseball in that it’s important to have a great pitcher, catcher and centerfielder up the middle. Your safeties have to be able to come downhill and play the run but also be effective in the passing game. The play-making ability of Brendan Smith and Brad Phillips is as good as any in this league and they’re being pushed by younger guys also in David Arnold, Brian Peters and Jared Carpenter, who we were pleasantly surprised by in his spring.”
On winning consistently each year to take the program to the next level…
“Well, you look at our record in the regular season and we’re 83-79 since 1995 so we’ve gotten over the hump of being able to say we can win consistently. When I was being recruited in 1993 that was the only thing being used against Gary Barnett’s staff, that they’ll never win consistently there. 6-6 is not the destination but I think our program has proven over time that we can win here on a consistent basis. The hallmark of consistent teams is winning bowl games and that’s our goal. But that’s down the road, right now it’s more important to consistently prepare for practice and that’s what we’re focused on.”
What does he think the team will do best…
“I know that we’ll play hard and give maximum effort in everything we do. You look at the job we did academically last year, that’s one part of our character. The second is on the football field and one of our hallmarks is the effort our young men play with. It starts with the way we practice. I thought we had a great effort on our second day and I’ve always known our guys will play as hard as they can as long as they, from when I was a student-athlete to when I was an assistant coach.”
On the league’s competitive depth…
“If I were a fan of Big Ten football and went to games, I’d be excited because a lot of times you don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t think anyone sneaks up on anybody. There’s great players, great coaches in this league and for my role as a head coach, it’s why I’m going gray at 34, because it’s as competitive as it’s ever been.”
About all his effort in the community to increase brand awareness of the program, “Shot the Puck” at the Blackhawks playoff game, Pat Fitzgerald Day in his hometown of Orland Park, IL etc…
“I wouldn’t say I “shot” the puck at the Blackhawks game. There are some things that rank highly on the embarrassing scale and that was one of them for me. But it’s fun to be in Chicago, we’re in the third-largest media market in the country, right in Chicago’s backyard, and it’s great to be part of the Chicago landscape. We’re Chicago’s Big Ten team. To be asked to be part of that is humbling and it’s an honor as a Chicagoan. I went back to the John Humphrey Complex last week for the first time since maybe I was an umpire in high school, where I played football and baseball for the Pioneers, and I saw a lot of folks I hadn’t seen in a long time. Through the support of (director of athletics and recreation) Jim Phillips and the athletic department I’ve gotten to do a lot of things. Our program is on the rise and to be part of the Chicago landscape is exciting and I look forward to it growing even more.”