By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
The casual sports fan might not know everything about Northwestern football, but there appears to be nothing casual about Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald or his approach to recruiting.
"It's the lifeblood of a program," Fitzgerald told OGS in a telephone interview Tuesday, hours before Wednesday's nearly national holiday known as Signing Day.
"It's absolutely critical to get the right young men into your program," he continued. "You go after guys who you think will fit what you value."
Penn State is expected to confirm another high-powered recruiting class Wednesday, and fellow traditional power Ohio State won't be too far behind. But don't expect Fitzgerald to go seeking treatment for an inferiority complex anytime soon.
"Since 1995, we've won more Big Ten championships than anyone except Ohio State," Fitzgerald said, perhaps offering a previously unknown tip to that casual sports fan. The fifth-year coach has no problem pitching his program.
"We've won 17 games the last two years, 54 of our players have a grade-point average over 3.0, we've got one of the best faculties than any university in the world can offer and while you're here in school, you get to be in Evanston, right in the backyard of Chicago," Fitzgerald said, all in one breath. "Do you want me to keep going? I can go for an hour on what I tell recruits to get them to come to Northwestern."
Whatever he's telling them, it's working. Fitzgerald said he has 17 young athletes ready to sign on Wednesday, 12 of whom "committed before the end of their senior year." Earning their verbal assurances during the fall was a much bigger deal than whatever hoopla we'll see on television throughout the day Wednesday.
"Getting them committed was much more labor intensive than what it will take for us to sit around and wait for a fax (Wednesday)," Fitzgerald joked.
You can't help but be impressed by the coach who just turned 35 in December, as well as his energy and positivity. But while the ultimate goal for any Big Ten team is to get to Pasadena, not everything about college football comes up roses.
"Fans get so caught up in star ratings and other things that might not matter," Fitzgerald said as the conversation shifted toward social media's place in recruiting. "You go on the ticker and you see how ESPN is glorifying how these kids are de-committing. It shouldn't be about which hat a kid chooses over another. These kids haven't played a down of football in college. I think the more we glorify it, the more we're setting them up for failure. I'm not totally enamored by it, if you can't tell."
Even though he's one of the youngest coaches in the sport, today's recruiting scene is a far different one than when he was a prep star who eventually signed on to play for Gary Barnett at Northwestern in the early 1990s.
"A lot of these kids want the glory and all these things written about them on Internet sites, but the stone-cold reality is that they're just starting over at a brand new level," Fitzgerald said. "All these recruiting gurus will disappear when they sign."
But Fitzgerald won't play the you-ain't-nothing card with his youngsters ... until they ask for it, of course.
"If we get a young man who thinks he's a finished product by the end of his senior year of high school, he's probably not going to be a good fit with our program," he said. "The athletic component is easy, but if you don't want to work on the football field or in the offseason, you're not going to make it at Northwestern. I'm looking for guys who say things like, 'Coach, develop me.' I don't cohabitate very well with guys who are prima donnas."
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 11:28AM 