Packers expected to request interview with Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald for head-coaching job

The Green Bay Packers are expected to request an interview with Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald for their vacant head-coaching job after he coaches the  Wildcats in the Holiday Bowl against  Utah on Monday, a league source told ESPN.

It is unclear whether Fitzgerald would interview, according to the source, but he certainly would be comfortable with the man leading the interview for the Packers. Packers CEO and president Mark Murphy was Northwestern's athletic director when Fitzgerald was hired as the head coach at his alma mater in 2006.

Murphy and Fitzgerald have great respect and admiration for each other and will have the chance to discuss a reunion that would be a radical shift for Fitzgerald, who has been widely regarded as one of college football's top coaches.

Green Bay already has begun interviewing candidates for its next head coach, speaking with former  Detroit Lions and  Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell and former Colts head coach Chuck Pagano.

The Packers are seeking a replacement for Mike McCarthy, who was fired on Dec. 2 after Green Bay lost at home in stunning fashion to the last-place Cardinals.