Reflecting on Dan Fitzgerald: 'A real, real special one'

“I think this was a real, real special one.”

Dan Fitzgerald affirmed that to media after his team walked-off Oklahoma State in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.  The 2025 Big 12 Coach of the Year had just celebrated he and his team’s 26th come-from-behind victory of the season, a year in which Kansas has enjoyed a plethora of ‘special ones’ along the way.  In Fitzgerald’s third season at the helm, KU has collected over 40 wins for just the fourth time in program history, setting a new school record for regular season wins in the process. 

Rome wasn’t built in a day and the Edina, MN native didn’t want, or expect, it to be, at least not when building his program in Lawrence.  “I really identify as a builder, I want to build, I want to be a part of something special for a really really long time, and I want something to be home”, Fitzgerald told reporters during his introductory press conference at Kansas.  Fitzgerald admitted Kansas checked all of his boxes, and if he was looking to build a program, he would certainly have the opportunity.  Fitzgerald took the helm on June 15th, 2022, following Ritch Price’s Jayhawks netting a 20-35 record on the back of just four Big 12 conference victories.

Prior to Fitzgerald’s arrival, the Jayhawk baseball program had not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2014.  Kansas had reached the College World Series in Omaha one time in program history, in 1993, the same year they last won a regional.  

Still, Fitzgerald didn’t balk at the circumstances, “To me, the challenges are fun, they’re everywhere, but you can out-team someone, you can out-together someone, and that’s what I care about.”  Fitzgerald identified this approach as one that can’t happen alone, especially at a place like Kansas. “When I think of my career, and really my life, it’s so people-centered,” Fitzgerald gushed. “Every stop I’ve had, head coaches, assistant coaches, administrators, my players, I’ve been surrounded by incredible people.”

Fitzgerald began his coaching career as an assistant at Iowa, working under Head Coach Scott Broghamer.  In Iowa City, Fitzgerald was joined by Travis Wyckoff, the former Wichita State two-way player who was later inducted into the Shocker Hall of Fame. 

Wyckoff still remembers working a camp with Fitzgerald, who was hoping to earn the volunteer coach gig with the Hawkeyes.  When Fitzgerald was brought on, he and Wyckoff quickly became friends, spending multiple evenings together, forging a friendship and industry connection that would soon prove instrumental for both.

After one year in the Hawkeye program, Fitzgerald interned with the Minnesota Twins prior to a return to the collegiate ranks, spending two years as an assistant at North Iowa Area Community College and Division Two Flagler College.  It was 2007 when Fitzgerald made his first multi-year stop at a program, following Wyckoff to Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC).  Wyckoff felt bringing Fitzgerald onto his staff at the time was a ‘no brainer’, though he credits Fitzgerald’s father for the final push to get him to DMACC, even for a job guaranteeing minimal pay and benefits.  

Fitzgerald got emotional at the podium during his introduction at Kansas, likely paying verbal dues to his time with Wyckoff, “You start thinking back to some of the decisions you made early in your career like, did I really do that? Did I really move there and work for basically free, and you think about all of those stops”.  

What may have been a life of cheap living, and grabbing an extra meal with Wyckoff at DMACC, quickly turned to Fitzgerald’s livelihood, with a few more perks.  In 2008, after one year working under Wyckoff, Fitzgerald was promoted to Head Coach of the DMAAC Bears, a position he would hold until 2012.  In Des Moines, Fitzgerald and the Bears won five straight conference championships and advanced to the Junior College World Series four times.  

In his time at DMAAC,  Fitzgerald netted at least 40 wins each season, producing nine Junior College All-Americans. Fitzgerald had 36 players sign with Division One programs over his five years at DMAAC, including current Minnesota Pitching Coach Alec Crawford.  Crawford enjoyed two outstanding seasons under Fitzgerald’s tutelage, as Crawford was named ICCAC Player of the Year in 2012.  Today, Crawford owns the DMACC records for lowest career ERA, most career strikeouts, innings pitched, and wins.  

Also on Fitzgerald’s 2012 team, Paul Voelker made 26 appearances that season.  Voelker says while playing at DMACC, “Fitz instilled work ethic and playing your part on the team, You can have only 9 players on the field at a time in baseball, but what the fans don’t see are the other 15-20, sitting on the bench or in the bullpen, the impact they can have any given day.”  Voelker adds, “His success as mentor and father figure to so many players will outweigh any success he has on a diamond… Fitz, simply put, is a winner.”

Crawford went on to play for Minnesota in 2013, prior to being drafted by the Colorado Rockies.  Now coaching pitchers for the Gophers under Head Coach Ty McDevitt, Crawford still thinks fondly of Fitzgerald, aiming to coach in the way Fitzgerald coached him.  “He’s a leader of men…more than a baseball coach, he was coaching us to be well-rounded people.”  Crawford gushed of Fitzgerald’s “quiet confidence,” a culture felt by a program that enjoyed so much success.  Crawford commends Fitzgerald for loyalty, not only to a school but to his staff, praising then DMACC and current Kansas Pitching Coach Brandon Scott as well.

“Authentic culture is felt,” Fitzgerald explained in answering a “Why Kansas?” centric question in 2022.  Fitzgerald recognizes culture has become a buzzword that has almost lost meaning through its usage.  Still, though, when Fitzgerald was offered an opportunity to join good friend Dan Heefner at Dallas Baptist, he knew the recruiting coordinator position was the right one for he and his family. 

From 2012-2021, while on staff under Heefner, Fitzgerald helped the program find and develop 57 Major League Baseball Draft picks, including 9 All-Americans, 80 All-Conference selections and 2 conference players of the year.  Reflecting, Heefner sees how beneficial Fitzgerald’s experience at DMACC helped him see the “big picture” of the whole program.  “You could tell early on he was a good assistant coach, but he had head coach abilities and mindset.”

Heefner knew Fitzgerald’s career goal was clear, he wanted to hone those skills as a Division 1 head coach.  Still, Fitzgerald prioritized the right timing and the right destination.  “He was really wise how he would go about those (head coaching opportunities) and how he was patient, even though he knew he wanted to be a head coach and had head coach traits to him, he didn’t just jump at the first opportunity, he wanted to make sure it was the right opportunity.”

Albeit not a head coaching opportunity, it was the interest of Jay Johnson at LSU that drew Fitzgerald from the comfort at Dallas Baptist.  Johnson says Fitzgerald always impressed him, even saving him for his last interview for the position on his first-year staff in Baton Rouge.  “When I hire coaches, they have to recruit well, they have to be experts at what their area of development is for the team, but the person they are is always the top criterion for me.  There aren’t a lot of guys that have the complete skill set of great recruiter, great developer, and A+ human being, and that’s who Dan is to me.”

With the power of relationships, Heefner holds no ill-will towards Fitzgerald for leaving for LSU.  “I had a blast coaching with him…it felt like the next thing he needed, to get a position at a really good school, to be associated with Jay, and being in the SEC gave him some experience that probably opened the door for him at Kansas.”  Fitzgerald and Heefner remain close as Heefner shares that the two head coaches stay in constant contact, and both families spent time together when the Jayhawks were in the area for the Big 12 Tournament.  

Johnson felt the luxury of having Fitzgerald on staff, knowing it wouldn’t last long.  “I had a feeling he was past due, that it was his time to be a head coach,” Johnson said.  Still, when speaking to media ahead of his first day on the job at Kansas, Fitzgerald offered oceans of respect to his most recent bosses “I think you could make a case that Dan Heefner and Jay Johnson are two of the finest coaches in college athletics period, not just college baseball”.

Johnson heralds Fitzgerald for getting the build of his program at LSU off the ground, crediting him for the recruitment of Nate Ackenhausen, a player that filled the need of a mature, left-handed arm who could make an immediate impact.  When Ackenhausen made his first career start in a Men's College World Series elimination game against Tennessee, Fitzgerald’s impact was felt.  The feeling was magnified when Ackenhausen delivered six shutout innings against one of the top offenses in the country.  Eventually, Johnson and the Tigers celebrated a National Championship one year after Fitzgerald had accepted the Head Coaching job in Lawrence. 

Now, as Fitzgerald gears up to coach in the NCAA Tournament as the Head Coach at Kansas, his former bosses aren’t the least bit surprised by his success.  

“I knew we were losing someone of great importance, but it was his time, and he’s proven it was the right place and the right decision for him,” Johnson said of Fitzgerald leaving LSU after one season.  Wyckoff gushed of Fitzgerald’s lifelong skill with words, “He’s an elite communicator, both on the micro and macro level, with a recruit, Mom and Dad, or in front of a crowd,” though the Wichita State product also sees how experience with Heefner and Johnson fostered additional skills that help Fitzgerald today.  

“He’s all of the sudden this organized, way more detailed coach than he once was,” a skill Wyckoff credits to Heefner.  He adds, “He just sees the whole room, he sees around corners, as opposed to most people who see just a quarter of the room.  I know he learned a ton under Jay”.

Today, all parties who have been touched by Fitzgerald throughout his rise through the coaching ranks keep tabs on Fitzgerald and his Jayhawk team.  “They’re one of the first scores I look at after one of our games, and I give a fist pump every time I see a Jayhawk win”, Johnson admitted.  Wyckoff, the former Wichita State star, even identifies himself as a KU fan following his friend’s program.  

At Kansas, Fitzgerald has begun crafting the program he sought out, one with the opportunity to lay a foundation and make his own.  In year three, Jayhawk players have identified themselves as the “Never Say Die” Jayhawks, performing with a quiet confidence, despite a lack of national success in the program’s history. 

Jayhawk infielder Michael Brooks reflects on his three years with Fitzgerald, “The things he preaches to us about leadership, you know, just being great teammates, we’ve had our ups and downs the past three years, but this year has just been awesome to be around, and he’s really preached about building a great culture and being great teammates.”

The quiet confidence, identified early by Crawford and perhaps honed in by the uber-successful Heefner and Johnson, has led the Jayhawks to the best season in program history, earning him the title of Big 12 Coach of the Year. 

Still, though, Fitzgerald routinely credits his players for their success.  When asked to reflect on the year he and his team have enjoyed, Fitzgerald beams. “I’m really proud, I’m incredibly proud of this team. There are guys on this team that have, they’ve just sacrificed so much, and they’ve worked incredibly hard, I think it’s moments like these, right? I just sit back, think, what a blessing it is to coach guys like that because of how selfless they are.”

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