Dennis Fitzgerald Joseph Dennis Fitzgerald ( March 13 , 1936 – January 14 , 2001 ) was an American Freestyle wrestler and football player and coach . Fitzgerald played college football as a halfback at the University of Michigan and was selected as named the most valuable player on the 1960 Michigan Wolverines football team . He holds the University of Michigan record for the longest kickoff return at 99 yards . Fitgerald also competed as a wrestler , winning Big Ten Conference championships in 1960 and 1961 and winning a gold medal representing the United States as the 1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo , Brazil . Fitzgerald spent more than 35 years working as a football coach for several university and professional football teams . He held assistant coaching positions at , among others , the University of Michigan , University of Kentucky , Syracuse University , Tulane University and Grand Valley State University . He was the head football coach at Kent State University from 1975 to 1977 and spent seven years ( 1982 – 1988 ) as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Chuck Noll . His final coaching position was as the defensive coordinator for the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League . Early years . A native of Ann Arbor , Michigan , Fitzgerald graduated from St . Thomas High School in 1954 . He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1957 . He was a member of the Camp LeJeune wrestling team in 1956 and 1957 . University of Michigan . Football . After being discharged from the Marines , Fitzgerald enrolled at the University of Michigan where he walked on as a 5 foot , 9 inch halfback . He was a starting halfback for Michigan in 1959 and 1960 . In October 1960 , Fitzgerald had a 99 - yard kickoff return against Michigan State . He set the record for the longest kickoff return in University of Michigan history , though Tyrone Wheatley tied the record in September 1992 against Houston . Fitzgerald was among the last American football players to play the game wearing a leather helmet with no face guard . He also ran five miles a day to warm up and developed a reputation as " Michigan ' s hardest working football player . " In October 1960 , he came down with a sudden illness that reduced his efficiency in Michigan ' s 1960 victory over Duke . He caught a touchdown pass in the game but reported that he was not feeling well . The team doctor , Dr . A . W . Coxon , told head coach Bump Elliott , " Denny is just plain tired , and that may have made him more susceptible to the virus . ' " Elliott noted at the time , " I can understand it . He never gives anything less than all he ' s got . It ' s hard to keep up a pace like that and not suffer . " Fitzgerald was named the most valuable player on the 1960 Michigan Wolverines football team . He was a member of the Michigan Wolverines football and wrestling teams . Wrestling . Fitzgerald was also a member of the Michigan Wolverines wrestling team from 1959 to 1961 . In 1960 and 1961 , he was also the Big Ten wrestling champion at 177 pounds . He was also the runner up in the 1959 Big Ten championship at 167 pounds , an NCAA semifinalist in 1960 and 1961 , an AAU national finalist in 1961 , and the AAU runner up in 1963 . He was captain of Michigan ' s wrestling team during his junior and senior years . He continued to participate in amateur wrestling even after receiving his degree at Michigan . He won a gold medal representing the United States as the 1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo , and also participated in the 1963 World Games in Bulgaria . Fitzgerald received his master ' s degree from the University of Michigan in 1963 . Coaching career . Fitzgerald was an assistant football coach at Michigan ( 1963 – 1968 ) , the University of Kentucky ( 1969 – 1970 ) , and Kent State University ( 1971 – 1974 ) . In January 1975 , Fitzgerald replaced Don James as Kent State ' s head football coach . In three years as head coach , Fitzgerald compiled a record of 18 – 16 which is the 3rd best winning percentage of any coach in Kent State football history . The highlight of his brief head coaching tenure was rebounding from a difficult 4 - 7 transitional year to an unpredicted 8 - 4 season in 1976 after being picked by most prognosticators to finish well below . 500 that season . The Kent State players responded well to his passion , honesty , and toughness . " He ' s a man ' s man " was one of his highest compliments and fit him perfectly . In March 1978 , Fitzgerald resigned his position at Kent State to become an assistant coach at Syracuse University . Fitzgerald remained with Syracuse as linebackers coach and defensive coordinator for three years from 1978 to 1980 . In March 1981 , Fitzgerald was hired as the defensive coordinator for Tulane University . In July 1982 , Fitzgerald was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers following an interview with head coach Chuck Noll . " The Pittsburgh Press " described the hiring as follows : " Noll interviewed Dennis Fitzgerald , a 46 - year - old coach from Tulane with 21 years of experience in the college ranks , at 9 a . m . , hired him on the spot , and put him immediately to work . He ' s to coach the linebackers , one of whom , All - Pro Jack Lambert when Fitzgerald was an assistant at Kent State . " Fitzgerald spent nine years as an assistant coach under Noll , serving as the linebackers coach from 1982 to 1986 and special tams coach from 1987 to 1988 . He came within one game of the Super Bowl in 1984 , when the Steelers lost to the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game . After the Steelers gave up six blocked punts in the 1988 NFL season , Fitzgerald was fired from the Steelers ' coaching staff in January 1989 . When Jack Lambert was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990 , he asked Fitzgerald to present him at the induction ceremony . Lambert said , " I chose coach Fitzgerald because I felt he , more than anyone else , taught me the techniques and the fundamentals that I used throughout college and professional football . But even more importantly , he took a raw talent and raw toughness in me and refined them into a mental discipline ; a discipline that is necessary to excel . " After leaving the Steelers , Fitzgerald was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Las Vegas Aces in the Professional Spring Football League starting in 1992 , and the Cleveland Thunderbolts in the Arena Football League . In 1994 , Fitzgerald served as the defensive line coach at Grand Valley State University . He continued to coach at Grand Valley through the 1996 season . Fitzgerald was the defensive coordinator for the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League from 1995 to 1996 and 1998 to 1999 . During the 1995 and 1996 seasons , Fitzgerald continued to coach at Grand Valley in the fall while coaching with the Firebirds during the spring and summer . In between stints with the Firebirds , Fitzgerald spent the 1997 season as defensive coordinator for the James Madison Dukes . Shortly after he was hired at James Madison , the " Richmond Times - Dispatch " wrote , " So last winter , when James Madison coach Alex Wood sought a zero - tolerance coordinator who could firm up a defense that turned flaccid over the past two seasons , he called Fitzgerald , who ' s 61 going on 35 . " Death and family . He was diagnosed with lymphoma before the 1999 season , but remained with the team as he underwent chemotherapy treatments . The Firebirds won the Arena Bowl in 1999 , Fitzgerald ' s last year as a coach . His wife later said , " It was his last year of coaching , and he underwent radiation treatment and never missed a day of practice . When he retired in 1999 , he already had lymphoma for eight months . " Due to his illness , Fitzgerald was forced to retire before the 2000 season . He died in January 2001 at his home in Allison Park , Pennsylvania . He was survived by his wife , Elizabeth , five daughters ( Maureen , Molly , Margaret , Katharine and Eileen ) , and a son , Timothy .