Rece Davis addresses Pat Fitzgerald's potential landing spot in college football: 'Feels like Penn State'

The ‘College GameDay Podcast’ had an interview with Pat Fitzgerald on Wednesday. By the end of it, Rece Davis threw out a thought of where the former Northwestern head coach could end up next, with his name having had some traction on this year’s coaching carousel.

On yesterday’s episode of their show. Davis and Pete Thamel talked with Fitzgerald, the former head coach of the Wildcats. In discussing it afterward, Davis just went and threw out his name for the open job at Penn State, which might fit for the Nittany Lions based on his past in the Big Ten.

“You said it’s not our place, but we do have a podcast. Man, feels like Penn State,” Davis suggested. “I mean, I don’t know, you know. I mean, I don’t know anything about it. I’m not divulging anything, you know. You haven’t shared anything. You keep your sources close to the vest. But, you know. Not the only place, but I guess maybe it’s just a Big Ten heritage and the success he had in the conference.”

Fitzgerald was the head coach at Northwestern for 17 seasons from 2006 to 2022, being by far their all-time winningest coach at his alma mater with a record of 110-101 (.521). He hasn’t coached since he was dismissed, with a hazing incident taking place within their program that, due to a lawsuit, he has since been proven to have had no knowledge of, in Evanston. Now, three years removed from the sidelines, Fitzgerald could be considered for a return to college football.

As for Penn State, Fitzgerald could be a candidate for the school following its firing of James Franklin in October. His tenure, ironically enough, ended after a loss to Northwestern at the hands of Fitzgerald’s sudden replacement, David Braun. That’s based mostly on his head coaching experience, namely within the conference, having been on the staff in some capacity at Northwestern from 2001 on.

Again, Davis said it with no knowledge or thought of the viability of it actually being a possibility in Happy Valley. It’s just what came to mind first for him and was an initial takeaway, having just talked to Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald shares how he has been received by potential employers after settlement with Northwestern

Pat Fitzgerald has what happened at the end of his tenure at Northwestern behind him now, with a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit settled back in October. Now, that being the case, he’s beginning to gain some traction as a possible coaching candidate again in college football.

Appearing for an exclusive on the ‘College GameDay Podcast’ on Thursday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel asked Fitzgerald how he has been received by any school potentially considering him for their open job right now around the sport. He said it’s been very positive so far with everyone he has talked to at this point, with the focus more so being on his success, as a program and as a team on the field, while he was with the Wildcats.

“Yeah, I feel very fortunate. Like I said earlier, to Rece’s question, I feel fully vindicated,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s been great working through this process. You know, there’s been conversations with a lot of folks. It’s been face-to-face. It’s been on Zoom. It’s been phone calls. Been received very well. You know, you don’t win the amount of games that we won, graduate 100% of your players like we did, and run, in my opinion, a world-class program the way that we did, and, you know what, also learn from areas where we can improve and get better. And, I think, when people look at what we did collectively, they see a complete package, a program that competed for championships. Yeah, did we have some dips? Well, yeah. It’s the reality of college football, but we fought through them…I think people look at that going, yeah, maybe you had a couple tough years but you got it corrected, you got it fixed.”

“I know how to build a program. I know how to run a program. We know how to compete for championships, and graduate guys and develop guys to be prepared for life,” Fitzgerald said. “To answer your question shortly, it’s been perceived, I think, in a very positive fashion. And, just hopeful that this is going to work out and find a right fit for an institution and for me, and we can just go win championships, and then the next step would be just to sustain it.”