SPOKANE, Wash. -- Dan Fitzgerald, the coach who built Gonzaga into a national basketball power but resigned before the school began its current run of NCAA tournaments, has died at the age of 67.
Fitzgerald collapsed Tuesday evening in a restaurant in the suburb of Airway Heights. He was pronounced dead at Deaconness Medical Center in Spokane, according to a nursing supervisor at the hospital.
The cause of death was not immediately released.
Fitzgerald recruited John Stockton to campus, took the Bulldogs to their first NCAA tournament in 1995, and built the coaching staff of Mark Few, Dan Monson and Bill Grier that has put the Bulldogs in every NCAA tournament since the 1999 season.
Fitzgerald was 252-171 as coach from 1978 to 1997, and also served as athletic director.
"He was an unforgettable personality," Stockton told The Spokesman-Review. "He was loyal -- incredibly loyal -- above all. He was there for anything and everything I've ever needed, ever asked for."
Fitzgerald took Gonzaga to its first NCAA tournament in 1995, and he recruited the players who went to the final eight in 1999. Only Hank Anderson (291) coached more victories for Gonzaga.
Fitzgerald served as head coach from 1978 to 1981, and then from 1985 to 1997. He spent four years concentrating on his duties as athletic director, including renovating the basketball arena that became known as The Kennel.
One of the legends of college basketball. This guy made Gonzaga basketball.
RIP