Pat Fitzgerald at Big Ten Media Days: 'It's Time For Action'

Pat Fitzgerald was thefirst up at Big Ten Media Days, and I was ready to take notes on what Northwestern's head coach in his official first interaction with the media of 2013... and... well, my computer randomly turned off three minutes in, and now won't turn on. Highlights, by people whose computers were on.

Here's the full transcript of Fitz's comments.

Fitz started off by mentioning that he's excited -- he asked if anybody out there was charting how many times college football coaches said they were "excited" at Media Days, and mentioning that his team had been to five straight bowl games. But:

Fitz: "We're not just satisfied with going to bowl games anymore. That's not acceptable...The expectation is to win championships."

— Northwestern Sports (@NU_Sports) July 24, 2013

Fitz: "5 straight bowl seasons, but we're just getting started at Northwestern....it's time for action" - MB

Off the heels of our longest bowl streak and to have the number of men we have coming back gives us great confidence that we'll be able to take the next step.

Fitz talked about the schedule, which features a Cal team and Syracuse team in the first few weeks:

Fitz: "We're not afraid to play anyone. We went into last Big Ten season playing 3 BCS opponents." #B1GMediaDay #B1GCats

— Northwestern Sports (@NU_Sports) July 24, 2013

We will adjust our practice plan during the Cal week to prepare for time zone and game time change.

— Matt Brown (@MattLGHL) July 24, 2013

On the offensive line, where he feels Northwestern has players capable of sliding in at right tackle and the two guard spots:

Fitz: "Entire offensive line is heathy coming off the spring and going into Camp Kenosha. There will be great competition among that group."

— Northwestern Sports (@NU_Sports) July 24, 2013

On discipline, where some people thought he took a shot at Ohio State (he didn't):

Fitz: "I think disciplining begins in recruiting." Wonder what Urban will think of that one.

— Inside Northwestern (@insidenu) July 24, 2013

He used that as a segue intor ecruiting

Fitz admits that NW is often a little late in offering recruits, but they need the extra time in making sure they're getting the right caliber of person for their program. Seems to be working. - MB

He mainly answered questions on targeting by discussing how much he cares about player safety, and brough up hockey:

Fitz taps into his #Blackhawks love to answer question about "targeting" penalties ... wants CFB to be safe for w/focus on athleticism.

— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) July 24, 2013

And on the big OSU game?

Fitz on OSU game: "You get excited for B1G play. Last time we played them at night was pretty special."

— Northwestern Sports (@NU_Sports) July 24, 2013

Just random stuff:

Twice! RT @ChrisVannini: Pat Fitzgerald just used the word "breadth." That's why he's at Northwestern.

— Adam Jacobi (@Adam_Jacobi) July 24, 2013

Pat Fitzgerald mentions the positivity of sleep for player health. #B1G

— Adam Jacobi (@Adam_Jacobi) July 24, 2013

And last but not least, look at how shiny he is!

via i.imgur.com

Typical Fitz, not much to discern from it, but he somehow managed to say all the right things.

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• Tuesday Sips, ft. MORE MARKNADO, Big Ten Media Days Comin', and more
• Northwestern incoming freshman Matt Fitzpatrick wins British Open Silver Medal
• Linebacker Eric Wilson to transfer from Northwestern
• Northwestern has the best special teams in college football
• Arthur Omilian, Northwestern Wildcats football, No. 38