We are 51 days away from college football kickoff. We are cruising through the week. Today, we have an outstanding player and coach Pat Fitzgerald from Northwestern. As well as, Jim Ritcher from NC State. Enjoy your Friday eve, and be sure to check back tomorrow for #50 in our countdown to kickoff. Enjoy!
Pat Fitzgerald (51) Days Away From College Football Kickoff
Bednarik x 2 and Nagurski x 2 Winner
Pat Fitzgerald is the only person to win both the Chuck Bednarik and Bronco Nagurski Awards twice. He was the leader of the Northwestern defense that helped the Wildcats reach their first Rose Bowl in 47 years. As a two-time consensus First Team All-American, he made 299 tackles in his career, including 20 for a loss, and was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in both 1995 and 1996. Fitzgerald’s talent sparked an NU defense that led the nation in scoring in 1995 and helped the team win back-to-back Big Ten titles. From Orland Park, Illinois, he was named Defensive Player of the Year by both Chevrolet and Sports Illustrated in 1995. After his time at Northwestern, Fitzgerald signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent, but soon realized that coaching was his true calling.
Fitzgerald worked as an assistant coach at several universities before coming back to Northwestern in 2001. He then spent five years as an assistant coach at NU before becoming head coach in 2006. At that time, Fitzgerald was the youngest head football coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
During his 17 seasons as head coach at Northwestern, Fitzgerald won 110 games. He led the Wildcats to 10 bowl games, five AP Top 25 finishes, and two trips to the Big Ten Football Championship Game after winning the Big Ten West Division in 2018 and 2020. Fitzgerald was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2018 and won the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Year Award in 2020 after leading the team to a No. 10 national ranking and a Citrus Bowl win over Auburn.
Fitzgerald has coached over 50 All-Big Ten players, including 21 who made the first team. He has also coached 11 All-Americans, with four earning first-team honors, and 22 players who were picked in the NFL Draft.
Fitzgerald’s 110 wins put him 14th all-time among Big Ten football coaches, and his five bowl game victories are tied for 12th in the conference.
In December 2025, he was hired as the head coach of Michigan State University.
Another Great #51, Jim Ritcher, NC State
Jim Ritcher played center at North Carolina State and helped bring attention to the position. The Outland Trophy, given to the nation’s top interior lineman, had never gone to a center in its 33-year history until Ritcher won it in 1979. He was a two-time All-American and twice won the Jacobs Trophy as the best blocker in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
At 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, Ritcher was known for his mobility. In 1978, after the Syracuse game, the Associated Press named him Lineman of the Week. North Carolina State honored Ritcher as the school’s outstanding scholar-athlete and retired his number 51 jersey. He earned a degree in sociology and went on to play 16 years in the NFL with Buffalo and Atlanta. After retiring, Ritcher settled in Raleigh, North Carolina, and worked as a flight instructor and commercial pilot.
Editor’s Note: The countdown to college football kickoff has been a series on the Last Word on College Football social media platforms for the past 9 years. They consisted of a photo and a small blurb for each player, with the jersey corresponding to the number of days until kickoff. The rank of the players is sourced from articles by Bleacher Report, Fox Sports, and The Athletic. There are also some favorite players of the Last Word on College Football writers. Their bios are sourced from multiple online sources, including but not limited to the College Football Hall of Fame, their Heisman profiles, and school websites.
Main Photo: Northwestern Athletics
