Daniel John Fitzgerald (March 3, 1942 – January 19, 2010) was an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. Fitzgerald was the head coach at Gonzaga for 15 seasons between 1978 and 1997 (except for 1981 to 1985) with an overall record of 252–171 (). He led the Bulldogs to their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, after leading them to their first post-season tournament, the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT) in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, where they won at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

in the first round. They had narrowly missed an NIT selection the previous two seasons. Gonzaga returned to the NIT in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. Among his recruits was future

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

member

John Stockton John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player. Regarded as one of the great point guards of all time, he spent his entire NBA career (1984–2003) with the Utah Jazz, and the team made the pla ...

, out of Gonzaga Prep in 1980. Fitzgerald was also responsible for hiring coaches

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has led the Bulldogs from mid-major obscur ...

Dan Monson Daniel Lloyd Monson (born October 6, 1961) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at Eastern Washington. He was previously the head coach at Long Beach State for 17 seasons. He was also the head coach at Minnes ...

, and

Bill Grier William Theodore Grier (born October 19, 1963) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently an assistant coach at the University of Colorado and was formerly the head men's basketball coach at the University of San Diego. Early care ...

to Gonzaga. His win total was a school record until Few passed him in 2009. Prior to his hiring in April 1978, Fitzgerald was an assistant coach for three seasons at Santa Clara, with a previous two-year stint as an assistant at Gonzaga under

Adrian Buoncristiani Adrian Buoncristiani (born c. 1940) is a former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach for six seasons at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, from 1972 to 1978. Early years Buoncristiani grew up in San Francisco, San Franc ...

, a high school teammate whom Fitzgerald ultimately succeeded. In between, he worked in the private sector for a year. At Gonzaga, his first season as head coach was their final year in the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

. Shortly after his arrival in Spokane, "Fitz" stated he was a strong proponent of moving out of the Big Sky to the WCAC. After becoming part-owner of the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Co ...

, athletic director (and former

baseball coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decision ...

)

Larry Koentopp Larry Koentopp (November 17, 1936 – January 12, 2019) was a college baseball head coach and Minor League Baseball executive. He was born in Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat ...

resigned in the fall of 1978 and Fitzgerald took on the AD position as well. Following his third year as head coach, Fitzgerald stepped down in 1981 to focus his efforts as athletic director and hired assistant and GU alumnus

Jay Hillock Jay Hillock (born c. 1949) is an American former college basketball coach. He was the head coach for six seasons in the West Coast Conference, four at Gonzaga in Spokane and two at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. Hillock was an assistant on ...

as head coach. Hillock resigned after four seasons in April 1985 and Fitzgerald returned to coach the Bulldogs. After making it to the NCAA Tournament a decade later, he announced in 1995 that he planned to coach two more seasons and promote Monson, a GU assistant since 1988, to head coach. After 19 years as athletic director, Fitzgerald resigned in December 1997, and was succeeded by Mike Roth. Fitzgerald then worked in private business in the Spokane area. He died in Spokane at age 67 after an apparent

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on January 19, 2010. Fitzgerald was also responsible for Gonzaga being put on four years of probation for keeping an illegal slush fund for recruiting purposes, hiding almost $200,000 from the NCAA. The NCAA investigators agreed that Gonzaga did not gain a competitive advantage from use of the money, since the totals spent on recruiting fell within NCAA guidelines. Born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Fitzgerald went to high school at St. Ignatius and graduated in 1959, then attended college at Santa Clara and

San Francisco State San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is part of the Califor ...

, and graduated from

Cal State, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degree programs, 122 m ...

. Prior to coaching at the college level, Fitzgerald was a high school coach and English teacher in California at Daniel Murphy (St. John Vianney) in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Archbishop Mitty John Joseph Mitty (January 20, 1884 – October 15, 1961) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the third Bishop of Salt Lake City (1926–1932) and the fourth Archbishop of San Francisco (1935–1961). Ea ...

(1968–1971) in San Jose.

Head coaching record

*West Coast Athletic Conference was renamed

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

in summer 1989.

References

External links

Sports-Reference.com
– college basketball – Dan Fitzgerald
Gonzaga University Digital Collections
– Dan Fitzgerald {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Dan 1942 births 2010 deaths American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from California California State University, Los Angeles alumni College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Gonzaga Bulldogs athletic directors Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States San Francisco State University alumni Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball coaches Santa Clara University alumni Sportspeople from San Francisco St. Ignatius College Preparatory alumni