Zarnell Stephen Fitch (born July 6, 1983) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2006, spent time with two other NFL teams and played in several other professional leagues. He is currently the Defensive Line Coach at

Texas Tech Red Raiders football The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University (variously "Texas Tech" or "TTU"). The team competes as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a NCAA Division I, Division I NCAA D ...

Early life

Fitch was born and raised by a single mother in

Spencer, Oklahoma Spencer is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 3,912 at the 2010 census. Established in 1903, the City of Spencer is a historic community located just east of ...

, a suburb of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. He graduated from

Star Spencer High School Star Spencer High School is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1901 a group of people from Spencer County, Indiana relocated in Oklahoma. They built an elevator and mill, a grocery store and later a hardware store. They named their new town Spe ...

in 2001.

Playing career

College

The first two seasons of Fitch's

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

career came at

Navarro College Navarro College is a public community college in Texas with its main campus in Corsicana and branches in Fairfield, Mexia, Midlothian, and Waxahachie. The college has an annual student enrollment of more than 9,000 students. The Corsicana ...

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-busines ...

, where he was a two-year starter playing

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

for the Bulldogs. As a sophomore in 2002, he totalled 48 tackles, 2 sacks, a forced fumble and 2 fumble recoveries. He signed a national letter of intent to play at

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 2003, but returned to Navarro that fall to completed his junior college academic requirements while not participating in football. Following his one-year hiatus from competitive football, Fitch enrolled at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

in January 2004. That fall, he played in eight games for the Horned Frogs, registering 10 tackles. In the first game of his senior season, Fitch registered a tackle for loss as TCU upset #5

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, 17-10 in

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

. He went on to start three games that season, helping the Frogs win a conference title in their first year as members of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

. He registered 24 tackles for the season to go along with 1.5 sacks and 2 interceptions - including one in a 27-24 victory over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

in the 2005 Houston Bowl. Fitch graduated from TCU in May 2006 with a degree in communication and a minor in social work.

Professional

After going undrafted in the

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with ad ...

and sitting out the majority of that season, Fitch signed with the

in December and assigned to their practice squad. In the spring of 2007, the Jets assigned Fitch to the

Frankfurt Galaxy Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Frankfurt Galaxy: * Frankfurt Galaxy (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2007 * Frankfurt Galaxy (ELF) The Frankfurt Galaxy is an American football team in Frankfurt, ...

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

where he started five games and helped lead the Galaxy to a berth in

World Bowl XV World Bowl XV, officially known as Yello Strom World Bowl XV, was NFL Europa's 2007 championship game, and the final game in the league's history. It was played at Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday, June 23, 2007. The defending ...

. Following an appearance in one preseason game for the Jets in 2007, Fitch was waived on August 28. He then signed with the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

, spending the majority of the 2007 season with their practice squad but also being promoted to the active roster for 4 games. He signed with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

on July 27, 2008, but was waived two days later. Fitch spent the 2009 season with the

Green Bay Blizzard Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combina ...

of the now-defunct

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

, earning second-team All-AF2 honors He then spent the 2010 season with the

Milwaukee Iron Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, registering one sack in 9 games.

Coaching career

The seeds of Fitch's coaching career were sewn during his playing days, as his academic hiatus at Navarro JC in 2003 led to a battlefield promotion to serve as the Bulldogs' defensive line coach at age 19, and he served as a graduate assistant at TCU for part of the 2006 season prior to his signing with the Jets. In 2011, Fitch became an assistant coach at Lincoln High School in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. After two seasons, he was promoted to become the Tigers' head coach, leading them to a 7-4 record in 2013 that included a win over Dallas Carter in the Texas Class 4A State Playoffs. Fitch returned to TCU in 2014, when his former coach

Gary Patterson Gary Allen Patterson (born February 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the special assistant to the head coach at the University of Texas. He is the former head football coach at Texas Christian University ...

hired him to become the Director of High School Relations on his staff, a position that placed him at the center of the Frogs' recruiting operation. Two seasons later, Fitch was promoted to the on-field coaching staff as TCU's Defensive Line Coach. Under Fitch's watch, five different TCU defensive linemen have earned 1st Team All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

honors: *

Josh Carraway Josh Carraway (born April 13, 1994) is a former American football outside linebacker. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He played college football at TCU. College career Carraway was named All-B ...

(2016) * Mat Boesen (2017) *

Ben Banogu Benjamin Chinomso Banogu (born January 19, 1996) is a Nigerian professional American football defensive end for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisiana-Monroe and TCU. Early years Bo ...

(2017, 2018) *

L. J. Collier Lawrence Edward "L. J." Collier Jr. (born September 12, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at TCU Horned Frogs football, TCU, and was drafted by ...

(2018) *

Ross Blacklock Ross Blacklock (born July 9, 1998) is an American football defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at TCU. Early years Blacklock's father, Jimmy, played for and later served a ...

(2019) Additionally, current Horned Frog defensive tackle Corey Bethley was named a Freshman All-American in 2017.

References

External links

Baltimore Ravens bioWashington Redskins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitch, Zarnell 1983 births Living people Players of American football from Texas American football defensive tackles Navarro Bulldogs football players TCU Horned Frogs football players New York Jets players Frankfurt Galaxy players Baltimore Ravens players Washington Redskins players Green Bay Blizzard players Milwaukee Iron players