EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Northwestern fired coach Pat Fitzgerald amid a hazing scandal that questioned his leadership of the program and damaged the university’s reputation after it mishandled its response to the allegations.
Fitzgerald’s firing on Monday completed a swift fall from grace for the former Northwestern linebacker. Fitzgerald, 48, was firmly entrenched in his alma mater, an annual fixture on any list of college coaches with the most job security.
“The head coach is ultimately responsible for his team’s culture,” Northwestern president Michael Schill said in an open letter. “The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, giving Coach Fitzgerald a chance to find out what was going on. Anyway, the culture in Northwestern Football, while incredible in some ways, was fractured in others.
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Fitzgerald began a two-week suspension on Friday after the school said an investigation by a law firm found no “sufficient” evidence that coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing — though there were “considerable opportunities” to find out.
The Daily Northwestern then published a story on Saturday detailing allegations from a former player who described specific instances of hazing and sexual abuse. The report also indicated that Fitzgerald “might have known that hazing was taking place”.
That prompted Schill to write an open letter to the university community acknowledging that he focused too much on what the report concluded (Fitzgerald) didn’t know and not enough on what he should have known. Schill went on to say he planned to speak with university leadership, members of the board of trustees and faculty senate leaders to determine his next steps.
Schill was the president of the University of Oregon before acquiring Northwestern in September. He also teaches at Northwestern law school.
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