Northwestern head football coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired on Monday after several former players revealed details of hazing within the football program, and days after an independent investigation confirmed hazing activities “widespread among football players.” University president Michael Schill announced Fitzgerald’s firing in a statement to the Northwestern community posted online.
While Schill said the details of the investigation would remain confidential, he revealed some new information as he explained his decision to fire Fitzgerald:
He said that 11 current or former players told investigators hazing had been ongoing, and he mentioned a new report from Monday, where more former players confirmed hazing “was systemic dating back many years.”
Schill said nudity, forced participation and “sexualized acts of a degrading nature” were part of the hazing.
While he said some players didn’t think the hazing was harmful, he said others “viewed it as causing significant harm with long-term consequences.”
Finally, Schill explained what led to his decision, writing: “The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team. The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening. Either way, the culture in Northwestern Football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others.”
On Friday, the school had announced that Fitzgerald had been suspended for two weeks without pay after an independent investigation led by Maggie Hickey, former Illinois inspector general, found hazing claims “largely supported” by evidence. Her investigation began last December after the university received a complaint in November claiming that hazing had taken place in the locker room and at “Camp Kenosha” in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the program has held preseason camp.
According to an executive summary released Friday, the “investigation team determined that the complainant’s claims were largely supported by the evidence gathered during the investigation, including separate and consistent first-person accounts from current and former players.”
The investigation “did not uncover evidence pointing to specific misconduct by any individual football player or coach” but found that “participation in or knowledge of the hazing activities was widespread across football players.”
Fitzgerald said in a statement Friday that he “was not aware of the alleged incidents.”
In a story published Saturday in The Daily Northwestern, a former Northwestern football player alleged that some of the hazing was sexual in nature, and he provided disturbing details. He claimed that upperclassmen punished younger players who made mistakes in games and practices. The ritual was called “running.”
“It’s a shocking experience as a freshman to see your fellow freshman teammates get ran, but then you see everybody bystanding in the locker room,” the unidentified former player told The Daily Northwestern. “It’s just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now.” Another unnamed former player corroborated the claims with the Daily.
In another report in The Daily Northwestern on Monday, three players alleged that there was a racist culture within the football program.
The National College Players Association, which worked with Northwestern football players in an effort to unionize, is calling for more investigations into the allegations of hazing and racism.
Ramogi Huma, the Founder and President of the College Athletes Players Association, said he was not aware of any of the allegations or related allegations when he worked with Northwestern’s football players in the effort to unionize the team in 2014.
Fitzgerald, 48, spent 17 seasons as the Wildcats’ head coach. He won five bowls and had three 10-win seasons, something virtually unheard of at Northwestern when he got the job before the 2006 season, after the death of head coach Randy Walker.
Fitzgerald is the winningest coach in the program’s history and had agreed to a 10-year contract extension with Northwestern through the 2030 season.
The Wildcats went 1-11 last season, ranking last in the Big 10 in scoring offense and turnover margin, and it was one of four FBS schools to win one game in 2022. Colorado, South Florida and UMass were the others.
Fitzgerald, who won the 2018 Big Ten Coach of the Year award, finishes his Northwestern career with a 110-101 record. He also was a decorated player during his time with the Wildcats, winning two Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year awards, and being named a consensus All-American in 1995 and 1996, leading Northwestern to a pair of conference championships and a Rose Bowl appearance.