Fitz Gets Blitzed

07/11/2023

By: Jeff Yoder

Northwestern Fires Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald After Reports of Hazing & Team Culture

Just days after Pat Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks following Northwestern’s hazing allegations, the school fired the 48-year-old football coach on Monday. A former Northwestern player reported the program’s hazing activities geared toward underclassmen within the football program. The initial report was made in 2022, and a private six-month investigation concluded last week. A story by The Daily Northwestern revealed the details that included sexualized locker room behavior and an unsafe culture that, the former player says, Fitzgerald was aware of.

What Changed? Suspension vs. Firing

The initial reports (last Friday) found little evidence to back up that Fitzgerald was aware of the hazing and behaviors that frequently occurred despite the former player’s allegations, ultimately resulting in a two-week suspension as a minor slap on the wrist. That changed when university president Michael Schill made a decision based not on what Fitzgerald knew, but what he should have known as the leader of his program.

Fitzgerald spent 26 total seasons with NU amassing a record of 110-101 over 17 years as the head coach. He was set to be the fifth-longest-tenured coach in college football this season, and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

Yahoo! Sports: Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern’s Rapid Fall From Grace Appears to be a Lesson in How Not to Handle Modern Crisis

Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images