Zarnell Stephen Fitch (born July 6, 1983) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player. He was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2006, spent time with two other NFL teams and played in several other professional leagues. He is currently the Defensive Line Coach at

Texas Tech Red Raiders football The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University (variously "TTU"). The Red Raiders competes as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (for ...

Early life

Fitch was born and raised by a single mother in

Spencer, Oklahoma Spencer is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Its population was 3,978 at the 2020 census, a 1.7% increase from 2010. Established in 1903, the City of Spencer is a historic com ...

, a suburb of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. He graduated from Star Spencer High School in 2001.

Playing career

College

The first two seasons of Fitch's

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

career came at Navarro College in

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important ...

, where he was a two-year starter playing

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

for the Bulldogs. As a sophomore in 2002, he totalled 48 tackles, 2 sacks, a forced fumble and 2 fumble recoveries. He signed a national letter of intent to play at

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in 2003, but returned to Navarro that fall to completed his junior college academic requirements while not participating in football. Following his one-year hiatus from competitive football, Fitch enrolled at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

in January 2004. That fall, he played in eight games for the Horned Frogs, registering 10 tackles. In the first game of his senior season, Fitch registered a tackle for loss as TCU upset #5

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, 17-10 in

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

. He went on to start three games that season, helping the Frogs win a conference title in their first year as members of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

. He registered 24 tackles for the season to go along with 1.5 sacks and 2 interceptions - including one in a 27-24 victory over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

in the

2005 Houston Bowl The 2005 EV1.net Houston Bowl was the sixth and final edition of the college football bowl games and was played at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Houston, Texas. The game pitted the 2005 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Iowa State Cyclones from th ...

. Fitch graduated from TCU in May 2006 with a degree in communication and a minor in social work.

Professional

After going undrafted in the

2006 NFL draft The 2006 NFL draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offe ...

and sitting out the majority of that season, Fitch signed with the

in December and assigned to their practice squad. In the spring of 2007, the Jets assigned Fitch to the Frankfurt Galaxy of

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally founded ...

where he started five games and helped lead the Galaxy to a berth in

World Bowl XV World Bowl XV, officially known as Yello Strom World Bowl XV, was NFL Europa's 2007 championship game, and the final game in the league's history. It was played at Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday, June 23, 2007. The defendin ...

. Following an appearance in one preseason game for the Jets in 2007, Fitch was waived on August 28. He then signed with the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

, spending the majority of the 2007 season with their practice squad but also being promoted to the active roster for 4 games. He signed with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

on July 27, 2008, but was waived two days later. Fitch spent the 2009 season with the

Green Bay Blizzard The Green Bay Blizzard are a professional indoor football team based in the Green Bay metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The franchise was founded in 2003. The Blizzard began play in the IFL in 2010, after hav ...

of the now-defunct

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

, earning second-team All-AF2 honors He then spent the 2010 season with the Milwaukee Iron of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

, registering one sack in 9 games.

Coaching career

The seeds of Fitch's coaching career were sewn during his playing days, as his academic hiatus at Navarro JC in 2003 led to a battlefield promotion to serve as the Bulldogs' defensive line coach at age 19, and he served as a graduate assistant at TCU for part of the 2006 season prior to his signing with the Jets. In 2011, Fitch became an assistant coach at Lincoln High School in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. After two seasons, he was promoted to become the Tigers' head coach, leading them to a 7-4 record in 2013 that included a win over Dallas Carter in the Texas Class 4A State Playoffs. Fitch returned to TCU in 2014, when his former coach

Gary Patterson Gary Allen Patterson (born February 13, 1960) is an American college football coach and former player. He served as head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU) from 2000 to 2021, compiling a record of 181–79. Patterson led the TCU ...

hired him to become the Director of High School Relations on his staff, a position that placed him at the center of the Frogs' recruiting operation. Two seasons later, Fitch was promoted to the on-field coaching staff as TCU's Defensive Line Coach. Under Fitch's watch, five different TCU defensive linemen have earned 1st Team All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

honors: *

Josh Carraway Josh Carraway (born April 13, 1994) is an American former professional football linebacker. He was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft after playing college football at TCU. College career Carraway was ...

(2016) * Mat Boesen (2017) *

Ben Banogu Benjamin Chinomso Banogu (born January 19, 1996) is a Nigerian professional American football defensive end. He played college football at Louisiana-Monroe and TCU. Early life Born in Nigeria, Banogu's family moved to U.S. six months after hi ...

(2017, 2018) * L. J. Collier (2018) *

Ross Blacklock Ross Blacklock (born July 9, 1998) is an American professional football defensive end. He played college football for the TCU Horned Frogs. Early life Blacklock's father, Jimmy, played for and later served as a coach for the Harlem Globetrotters ...

(2019) Additionally, current Horned Frog defensive tackle Corey Bethley was named a Freshman All-American in 2017.

References

External links

Baltimore Ravens bioWashington Redskins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitch, Zarnell 1983 births Living people Players of American football from Texas American football defensive tackles Navarro Bulldogs football players TCU Horned Frogs football players New York Jets players Frankfurt Galaxy players Baltimore Ravens players Washington Redskins players Green Bay Blizzard players Milwaukee Iron players