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| Frostburg State athletics photo |
Frostburg State athletic director Troy Dell has announced that DeLane Fitzgerald has been selected as the school's head football coach following a national search in January. Fitzgerald will be the 13th head coach in the 54-year history of the Bobcat football program.
He replaces Tom Rogish, who retired earlier in the offseason after six seasons and a 14-45 record. Frostburg State was 1-9 last season.
"I'm ecstatic to be here and I can't wait to get to work,"
said Fitzgerald. "I've always thought, throughout my career, that
the Frostburg State University football program is a sleeping
giant. We will build a successful program on discipline and
competitiveness and we (coaching staff and team) will finish
everything we start."
"DeLane Fitzgerald brings to Frostburg State University a
true love of the game of football, but even more, a love of
teaching football to student-athletes," said FSU president Jonathan
Gibralter. "His skills are those needed to build a winning program
and be a positive, inspiring force to his team."
Fitzgerald comes to Frostburg after coaching at Southern
Virginia for the past eight years, including the last five as the
program's head coach. He was tasked with turning around the Knights
that averaged just two wins per year over the program's
history.
Fitzgerald, who has 24 wins in five seasons at the helm of
Southern Virginia, helped the Knights set the single-season school
record for wins twice. This past season, he led SVU to a
program-best 8-2 record behind a six-game winning
streak.
In 2012, he led the Knights to a 5-6 overall record, the
third highest single-season total. As the offensive coordinator in
2007, Fitzgerald helped the team a 6-5 record, a then school
record. That same season, the Knights set school marks in rushing,
passing, total offense and points scored and finished seventh in
the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in
total offense (474.3 yards per game).
Prior to Southern Virginia, Fitzgerald served for one season
as offensive coordinator at NAIA-affiliated Bethel (Tenn.), helping
the Wildcats to a 7-4 overall record and the 2005 Mid-South
Conference Western Division championship. Fitzgerald's offense
ranked fourth in the NAIA in total offense (453.8), third in
rushing offense (272.8), seventh in pass efficiency rating (140.2)
and 10th in third-down conversion percentage (43.1%).
Fitzgerald served for two years on the football staff at the
Tennessee-Martin in 2003-04 as the special teams coordinator and
running backs coach. Prior to UTM, he coached at James Madison
University for the 2002 season. The Dukes posted a 5-7 overall
record, but laid the ground work for JMU's NCAA I-AA National
Championship two seasons later.
Fitzgerald got his coaching start at the Bridgton Academy in
North Bridgton, Maine from 2000-01, serving as the school's
defensive coordinator.
His collegiate football playing career started at Potomac
State from 1995-96. As a sophomore, he was named team captain and
was a Lough Award and Student-Athlete Award winner. After PSC,
Fitzgerald transferred to James Madison for the 1997-1999 seasons.
He helped lead JMU to an 8-4 record in '99 with a spot in the NCAA
playoffs and a share of the Atlantic 10 Championship. He was twice
selected to the Academic All-Atlantic 10 team.
Fitzgerald received his bachelor's degree in kinesiology
from James Madison in 1999. In 2012, he earned his master's degree
in education from Bethel (Tenn.).