EVANSTON, Ill. -- Until Monday afternoon, Pat Fitzgerald had been the face of Northwestern football.
He was the program's most decorated player in the modern era, a key figure in the 1995 Rose Bowl renaissance that changed the trajectory of a bottom-dwelling program, a College Football Hall of Famer and the school's all-time winningest coach (110 victories) -- responsible for two Big Ten West Division titles and five of the program's six bowl wins. Fitzgerald had spurned overtures from other college programs and NFL teams to remain at Northwestern, announcing after the team's 2018 Holiday Bowl win that he would be a "Wildcat for life.