Pat Fitzgerald (@coachfitz51), a PCA National Advisory Board Member, is the Northwestern University Head Football Coach. Prior to coaching, his College Football Hall of Fame career included twice being named All-America, twice winning both the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Awards, and leading Northwestern to back-to-back Big Ten titles and a Rose Bowl appearance in the mid-90's.

Fitzgerald explain here that he recruits a lot of captains. Captains at the high school level are passionate, dedicated and they aspire to be great at everything they do. That type of attitude is contagious, and a near guarantee that when he invests his coaching time in them, he’ll get a great return in attitude and effort back.

Captains are also typically well liked by other team members. The players whom Fitzgerald recruits often have outstanding character and fit PCA's ideal of the Triple-Impact Competitor®, committed to improving oneself, teammates and the game as a whole.