Greg McElroy believes Pat Fitzgerald is a name to watch for Penn State

ESPN’s Greg McElroy believes former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is a name to watch in the Penn State coaching search. Fitzgerald has not coached in college football since post-2022 when he was fired by Northwestern.

Amid a hazing scandal within the program, Fitzgerald was let go in the summer of 2023 amid the allegations. He later settled a lawsuit with Northwestern after suing the school for $130 million for wrongful termination.

But while at Northwestern, Fitzgerald did “more with less” and McElroy noted this could be an interesting partnership with Penn State. Fitzgerald’s been a volunteer assistant coach at Loyola Academy HS in Illinois since 2023.

“Mike Elko is interesting. There’s no way he’s leaving A&M, the pockets are too deep, and he’s done too good a job. They’ll never let him walk. Just throwing it out there. Remember the name Pat Fitzgerald, just saying,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “Remember the name. With what transpired, and he got paid, actually, by Northwestern because of how that all went down. He’s available, has Big Ten experience, has done more with less for a very long time, which is the exact opposite of what James Franklin did. He did less with more. So we’ll see what happens. But that’s a name, by the way. Little nugget. Keep it in (mind).”

From 2006-22, Fitzgerald went 110-101 overall as head coach, including two Big Ten title game appearances in 2018 and ‘20. He led the Wildcats to a final ranking of No. 10 in the AP Poll at the end of the 2020 season.

However, the team took a dip in 2021 and ‘22, going a combined 4-20 in Fitzgerald’s final two years. Still, he led Northwestern to three 10-win seasons playing in the Big Ten, finished 5-5 in bowl games and had top 25 rankings at the end of five seasons during his tenure.

Penn State fired James Franklin following a 3-3 start to the season and nearly 12 years at the helm. On3’s Pete Nakos reported Penn State’s coaching search is expected to be wide and the school will take huge swings, such as one for Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, potentially.

So while Fitzgerald waits for his next opportunity, Penn State continues to play and evaluate options. Meanwhile, Northwestern ironically just beat Penn State last weekend, Franklin’s last game. Head coach David Braun is 16-15 since taking over for Fitzgerald.