From the Alumni Magazine: New Grid Iron Coach Made for the Job
Posted: November 08, 2022 | Author: SUU Alumni Magazine | Read Time: 3 minutes
DeLane Fitzgerald’s journey to becoming the head football coach at Southern Utah University began long before the position became vacant in November 2021. Moving to Cedar City to coach football was years in the making for the newest leader of the Thunderbirds.
“The first time I ever came here on a recruiting trip, I flew into Las Vegas, drove through St. George, and when I hit Cedar City, I fell in love,” he says. “I immediately Googled who the head coach was—Ed Lamb—and I befriended him as fast as I could. I started trying to get a job here 10 years ago.”
It would be easy to understand why Fitzgerald’s enthusiasm about coaching SUU could have wavered over the years. In the 10 years since his first trip to Cedar City, Fitzgerald was busy winning football games and building one of the strongest programs in the country. After leading perennial cellar-dweller Southern Virginia University to an 8-2 record and No. 1 ranking in 2013, Fitzgerald took over the head coaching job at Frostburg State University (Maryland). In the next eight years with Fitzgerald at the helm, the Bobcats won 62 games, making him the winningest coach in school history.
Meanwhile in Cedar City, the Thunderbirds had won just six games since their last conference championship in 2017. After a 1-10 campaign in 2021, capped by a 62-0 loss to rival Weber State in the season finale, the outlook for SUU was bleak.
So why would Fitzgerald want to leave the successful program he had just built back in Maryland? After all, along with his record-setting 62 wins came three wins in three postseason appearances, three conference titles and three conference coach of the year awards.
“I have always thought that this football program can be competitive week in and week out. We can put together 10 straight winning seasons and put together conference title runs. We have a roster full of young men who want to be coached and want discipline. We have a roster full of great young men with infinite potential,” he said.
Southern Utah and Fitzgerald are a match made in heaven in more ways than one. Despite his many successes as a head coach, Fitzgerald has never inherited a winning program, and his knack of turning things around speaks to his abilities, which will be needed here.
Before arriving at Southern Virginia, the Knights had never enjoyed a winning season. When Fitzgerald took the job at Frostburg State, the Bobcats were coming off their eighth-consecutive losing season with just 18 wins over that span. That is why SUU’s new boss feels right at home and comfortable with a T-Bird team in need of a turnaround.
“The only thing I know how to do is build up a struggling program,” he says. “Whenever I take a new job, I identify 20-25 things being done wrong and then get to work turning them into things we do right. I believe whether it’s football, school, relationships, or anything else in life, if you can learn to do 20 to 25 things right, you are going to be successful. That is what we are currently working on here at SUU, is getting one percent better every day and correcting those 25 things.”
The Thunderbirds kicked off their new era under the lights of Eccles Coliseum on September 1, hosting the Tommies of the University of St. Thomas. The next opportunity for alumni and fans to watch the team is September 24, when SUU hosts Utah Tech for homecoming. While Fitzgerald knows there is plenty of work ahead to get the program where it needs to be, he also knows the future is bright.
“For the next season or two, our fans can expect to see a gritty group of young men who will fight for everything we get. We may not light up the scoreboard or the win column, but we will play a hard-nosed brand of football and compete in every game we play. Beyond that in years three and four, I fully anticipate Southern Utah Football to be competing for conference championships once again,” he says, with determination.
