Frostburg State University Athletics

DeLane Fitzgerald enters his fourth season at the helm of the Frostburg State University football program after being selected from a national search in January of 2014. Fitzgerald is the program’s 13th head coach in 56 years as a varsity sport.

Through three seasons, Fitzgerald has an overall record of 20-11 (.645), including a 15-11 (.576) slate in conference play between the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and Empire 8. He has a 10-5 (.667) record at home, 9-6 (.600) record on the road and is 1-0 (1.000) in games played at a neutral site.

The 2016 team concluded one of the best seasons in school history with nine-straight wins and a 10-1 overall record. FSU recorded 10 wins for just the second time in program history while the nine-consecutive wins tie a school record that dates back to the 1990 season.

Frostburg concluded the ‘16 regular season with a 21-17 win over in-state rival Salisbury in the 18th Annual Regents Cup Game on Senior Day at Bobcat Stadium. The win also earned the Bobcats a share of the NJAC title after finishing the year at 8-1 in the league.

Frostburg earned a spot in the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s (ECAC) Asa S. Bushnell Bowl Game against 22nd-ranked St. John Fisher on November 19, 2016 at historic Franklin Field. The 24th-ranked Bobcats dominated the contest, earning a 38-14 victory and limiting St. John Fisher to -26 yards on the ground.

Fitzgerald, who was named the NJAC Coach of the Year, had two players earn D3football.com All-American honors – William Sewell (first team) and Niles Scott (honorable mention). The Bobcats also placed 14 members on the All-NJAC teams, which tied for the most selections in the conference. Sewell was named the 2016 NJAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Frostburg ended the year ranked in a pair of Top 25 polls, finishing at No. 23 in the D3football.com Top 25 poll and No. 24 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll.

The Bobcats finished the year as the national leader in team tackles for loss (10.7). They also finished sixth in the country in scoring defense (12.9), seventh in team sacks (3.73), eighth in team passing efficiency defense (93.69) and ninth in total defense (240.6). FSU was ranked 11th in the country and paced the NJAC with six blocked kicks.

Fitzgerald continued the upward trend of his program in 2015 after he led his Bobcats to a 6-4 overall record last fall, including a 5-4 mark in their first year in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. The six wins mark the most for Frostburg in a season since 2005 and the five-game winning streak during the middle part of the season is the longest for the program since the 1999 team started 6-0.
 
Fitzgerald’s emphasis on special teams was once again a strong point for the Bobcats as they finished 11^th in the nation in punt returns (15.63), 15^th in kickoff return defense (14.95), 18^th in the nation in blocked kicks (6), 40^th in net punting (34.41) and 58^th in blocked punts.
 
Frostburg was also 40^th in the country in total defense (313.4) and 51^st in completion percentage behind a school record 61.1 percent.
 
FSU totaled nine All-NJAC honorees, including the league’s Special Teams and Rookie of the Year awards. Frostburg also collected numerous D3football.com All-Region and ECAC All-Star honors.
 
In his first season, Fitzgerald led the Bobcats to a 4-6 overall record, the most wins since 2011. Frostburg finished 2-6 in its final season as a member of the Empire 8 Athletic Conference that included a 38-37 double overtime upset of 25th-ranked Ithaca at Bobcat Stadium on Homecoming.
 
Frostburg didn’t just improve in the win/loss column in Fitzgerald’s first season, but statically all over the field. The Bobcats finished fifth in the Empire 8 in scoring defense (27.3) and fifth in total defense (359.6). When compared to the final statistics of the 2013 season, the Bobcats allowed 66 fewer first downs, improved their overall total defense by 104.3 yards per contest, allowed 57.3 fewer yards rushing per game and cut opponents' scoring by 17.4 points per game. Frostburg also led the Empire 8 and finished 12th in the nation for fewest turnovers with 12.
 
Fitzgerald also placed an emphasis on blocked kicks where the Bobcats finished 17th in the country and led the Empire 8 with six.
 
The Bobcats capped the season with four All-Empire 8 selections, three on defense, and a USA College Football All-American.
 
Fitzgerald was a speaker for the American Football Coaches Association (ACFC) in 2014 and was an AFCA Coaching Mentor in both 2014 and 2015.

Fitzgerald came to Frostburg after coaching at Southern Virginia University for eight years from 2006-2013, 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 had 24 wins in five seasons at the helm of Southern Virginia, helped the Knights set the single-season school record for wins twice. In 2013, he led SVU to a program-best 8-2 record behind a six-game winning streak. The Knights finished the season ranked No. 1 in the final United States Collegiate Athletic Association coaches' poll.
 
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 University (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 University of 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 College 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 and was the John David Kraus Award Winner as a senior at JMU.
 
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 University.

Fitzgerald and his wife Kim have three daughters - Mattie (16), Afton (7) and Laila (5).