He was 31 at the time, making him the youngest head football coach in the Big Ten Conference and NCAA Division I FBS.

[2] He played as a linebacker for Northwestern from 1993 to 1996, winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Chuck Bednarik Award twice as the best defensive player in college football.

Fitzgerald was unable to play in the Rose Bowl after breaking his leg in the next-to-last game of the 1995 season against Iowa.

In his playing career, he was twice named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and was a two-time Consensus All-American.

Fitzgerald won both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award in 1995 and again in 1996, becoming the first two-time winner of both honors.

He was honored at a ceremony on December 9, 2008, in New York City and enshrined in the Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana in July 2009.

[13] The win over fourth-ranked Iowa is, to date, the highest ranked opponent defeated by a Fitzgerald coached team.

[15] The Wildcats lost 38–35 in overtime to Auburn, who would win the BCS Championship the following season, when a fake field goal attempt fell short.

[16] In 2011, the Wildcats defeated #9 Nebraska in Lincoln 28–27 with backup quarterback Kain Colter guiding the team in the second half.

Investigator Maggie Hickey, who was formerly an Illinois inspector general, stated that the Wildcat players accusations were "largely supported by evidence.

From 2016 to 2018, Coach Fitzgerald has led the Wildcats to three consecutive bowl wins (2016 Pinstripe, 2017 Music City, 2018 Holiday).

[20] Fitzgerald is a huge fan of the area pro sports teams often using his Twitter feed to support the Bears, Blackhawks and White Sox.

While Fitzgerald has led the Wrigley Field crowd in the iconic "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" song during the seventh inning stretch of a Cubs game, as a South Sider he is a die-hard White Sox fan.

[21] While Northwestern is a private university and is not obligated to release compensation data, some publicly available tax forms indicate that Fitzgerald is among the highest paid coaches in the Big Ten.

[23] Loyola Academy beat Lincoln-Way East High School to win the 2023 IHSA Class 8A State Football Championship.