Jim O'Donnell: A minority of one - without more complete facts, Pat Fitzgerald is being railroaded

IN A FORUM AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, Ted Koppel told host Marvin Kalb, "We're so enchanted with our ability to be fast that I think we've sometimes lost connection with what we're saying and why."

That gap - the modern media's herd-driven tendency to opt for speed rather than fair contextualization of provable facts - has led to the pulverization of Pat Fitzgerald.

The former Northwestern football coach is now nothing more than collateral damage after a pitchforks-and-lanterns week in which he went from hero to villain in the blink of a billion megabytes.

Despite a dearth of verifiable facts, his good name and honor have been linked to some sort of Neanderthal "hazing" that permeated the darker crevices of the Northwestern football program.

No information have been disclosed that Fitzgerald was aware of or countenanced the "hazing."

The claim that "he should have been" suggests a marked naiveté about the capacity of adolescents and young adults to create, execute and hide.

More independent analysts would label what Fitzgerald has been woke through as "railroading."

FIRST-YEAR NORTHWESTERN PRESIDENT MICHAEL SCHILL - a legal mind of impressive accomplishment - announced Fitzgerald's firing on Monday.

That dismissal came three days after Schill bannered a summary of a six-month investigation into the initial allegation of hazing.

Northwestern funded the probe. The point person was Maggie Hickey, a respected partner with the merged white-shoe firm of ArdentFox Schiff.

Upon consideration of Hickey's full report, Schill announced a two-week suspension of Fitzgerald without pay. Stricter new guidelines for the football program were also put into place.

All of that was addendum to existing anti-hazing policies at the university.

IN HIS STATEMENT LAST FRIDAY, Schill made it clear that Hickey's investigation found no link between Fitzgerald and the "hazing."

Schill's good word about the Fitzgerald suspension was good for all of roughly 72 hours.

In a move that still confounds, Schill rushed a statement Saturday night indicating that he might have "erred" in handing Fitzgerald only a two-game suspension.

Subtext: Coach Fitzgerald, your scaffold is ready. Don't ask why.

Without saying it directly, President Schill was also implying that Hickey's six-month investigation was so incomplete that its ultimate consequences could suddenly and enormously be ratcheted up by a resolute band of student journalists reporting in The Daily Northwestern on The Enchanted Lakefront.

THAT WAS QUITE A WAY FOR the president of an inordinately proud university to chose to destroy a coach's reputation.

It also begs the question for chairman Peter Barris and others on Northwestern's Board of Trustees: Is President Schill's scaffold yet complete?

And what about athletic director Derrick Gragg?

If Fitzgerald didn't have control of his football program doesn't that also mean Gragg didn't have control of his football coach?

Goodbye Gragg? Or does he get a pass?

NOW FROM THE SWEEPING TO THE MORE PERSONAL:

From 2007-09, Chicago Sun-Times sports editor Stu Courtney assigned a rather improbable bearded rover to cover Fitzgerald and the Wildcats.

Ahem.

Fitzgerald was entering only his second season as head coach in 2007. He had 15 more to go.

The relationship between coach and rover was cordial until it gently skidded off the rails in season three. Intellectually, he's not a complex fellow.

His great blind spot was excessive loyalty to staff and university.

But two things were also abundantly clear about Pat Fitzgerald:

• Unless he was the greatest NU-spawned thespian this side of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, he's not capable of lying; and,

• He would die before he would disgrace his family or Northwestern University.

LATE IN THE 2008 SEASON, an Alamo Bowl date vs. Chase Daniel and Missouri was straight ahead. The improbable beat writer told the coach: "I want to do a feature on your family and its history."

He replied: "Then call my father to get it cleared."

So the reporter did.

Pat Fitzgerald Sr. was a lifer with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134. He started with Illinois Bell at age 18. He stayed on through its subsequent corporate iterations and was ops manager for southern Illinois when he retired in 1999.

Soon in the first conversation, he said - in the direct speak of the South Side Irish: "I'll do it on three conditions. You don't embarrass Pat. You don't embarrass the family. And you don't embarrass the university. Do we have an understanding?"

The answer was "yes."

FITZ THE SON MARRIED STACY MARZ, as close to a high school sweetheart as it gets, 23 years ago. They have three sons: Jack (18), Ryan (16) and Brendan (14).

Jack Fitzgerald graduated as valedictorian of Loyola Academy's Class of '23 with an ACT score of 36 (upper 1 percentile). He was on line to fulfill a family dream - playing for his father at Northwestern this fall.

If the wavering logic of university President Schill and the braying media herd are to keynote the history of the current affair, Pat Fitzgerald was set to expose his eldest son to debasing football rituals beginning next month.

Or at least Coach Fitz wouldn't know about it.

And Grandpa Fitz was worried about embarrassing Northwestern?

TOO MUCH OF THE EVOLVED NARRATIVE doesn't make sense - and its handling by Northwestern has been abysmal.

Chairman Barris, President Schill and all others in positions of power and influence at the university would be most equitable to release the full Hickey Report immediately, complete with necessary redactions.

Fitzgerald, agent Bryan Harlan and counsel Dan Webb would be best advised to then issue a response. Fitzgerald should also stand for an open question-and-answer with credible media.

IF THE HEAD COACH DID horrendously disgrace the university, it would be consistent with Fitzgerald family character to admit it, settle remaining money with Northwestern and move on.

If not, he will hopefully battle to the shores of Lake Michigan and beyond to restore his good name and honor.

Ted Koppel warned of the dangers of the warped fingertip speed of modern media.

For close to a week now, Pat Fitzgerald has been acutely feeling its wicked train tracks.

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.