It looks like you can probably cross out another Detroit Lions college coaching candidate from your list. Just a few days after Iowa State’s Matt Campbell made it pretty clear he was sticking with the program, Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald may be following suit. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Fitzgerald has denied all of several requests to interview with an NFL team.
“Multiple NFL teams have inquired about Northwestern HC Pat Fitzgerald and, to date, as of right now, he has not agreed to any of the interviews, per source,” Schefter tweeted on Monday night.
Schefter’s language leaves open the possibility that Fitzgerald could still interview in the future, but if he has not agreed to interview at this point, it’s hard to imagine him changing his mind as team’s prepare to finalize their lists.
This is important for the Lions, as rumors suggested Detroit was very interested in checking out Fitzgerald as a candidate for their head coach vacancy.
“There’s some interest in Pat Fitzgerald,” reported Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicles.
It’s unclear how serious that interest ever was, but if Fitzgerald won’t even let them—or any other NFL team—in the door, it appears we can probably put his candidacy to rest.
For all the latest on the NFL coaching carousel, check out our 2021 tracker.