Northwestern fires football coach Fitzgerald after hazing allegations; baseball coach also accused

Northwestern fired coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday amid a hazing scandal that called into question his leadership of the program and damaged the university's reputation in light of its response to the allegations.

And Northwestern baseball coach Jim Foster has been accused in two reports of mistreating players.

Fitzgerald's dismissal completed a rapid fall from grace for the former Northwestern linebacker. The 48-year-old Fitzgerald had been firmly entrenched at his alma mater, an annual fixture on any list of college coaches with the most job security.

"The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team," Northwestern President Michael Schill wrote in an open letter to the university community. "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."

Fitzgerald went 110-101 in 17 seasons as Northwestern's head coach. He led the Wildcats to Big Ten West championships in 2018 and 2020, plus five bowl victories. But they went 4-20 over his last two seasons.

Schill wrote in his letter that athletic director Derrick Gragg will announce "the leadership for this upcoming football season" in the next couple days. The opener is Sept. 3 at Rutgers.

"I recognize that my decision will not be universally applauded, and there will be those in our community who may vehemently disagree with it," Schill wrote. "Ultimately, I am charged with acting in the best interests of the entire University, and this decision is reflective of that. The damage done to our institution is significant, as is the harm to some of our students."

Fitzgerald had been serving a two-week suspension after the school said Friday that an investigation by a law firm did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing - though there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it.

Schill, who was the president of the University of Oregon before taking over Northwestern in September, said in his Monday letter that the report from ArentFox Schiff will remain confidential. But he wrote that, during the investigation, 11 current or former players acknowledged the hazing within the program.

"The hazing included forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature, in clear violation of Northwestern policies and values," Schill wrote.

On Monday night, Fitzgerald continued to deny knowing about any hazing, saying in a statement that a monthslong investigation concluded so, and he and the university had agreed on the two-week suspension.

"Therefore I was surprised when I learned that the president of Northwestern unilaterally revoked our agreement without any prior notification and subsequently terminated my employment," he wrote.

He said that "given this unexpected turn of events," his agent and legal counsel, Dan Webb, will "take the necessary steps to protect my rights in accordance with the law."

Baseball team

Both the WSCR 670-AM, The Score and the Chicago Tribune reported on sources and documentation accusing Northwestern baseball coach Jim Foster of creating a toxic environment that included bullying as well as racist and sexist remarks.

Foster discouraged players from seeking medical attention for their injuries, made racially insensitive comments and made an inappropriate comment to a female staff member, The Score reported, citing nine sources.

Both The Score and Tribune reported that there was a human resources investigation. The Tribune reported that former players, alumni and others close to the program alerted Northwestern officials, including Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg as early as last fall. Northwestern found "sufficient evidence" that Foster "engaged in bullying and abusive behavior," according to an HR document the Tribune obtained. That document said the investigation was shared with athletic department leaders so they could "take appropriate remedial action," but it's unclear if any was taken.

In a phone conversation with The Score, Foster called the allegations of racism "ridiculous" and the station's report "a hit piece."

"Maybe the players aren't good enough and are just making excuses or are disgruntled," Foster told The Score. "Maybe it's how they're raised, could be any of that stuff."

Hazing allegations

After Northwestern announced its suspension for Fitzgerald, The Daily Northwestern published a story on Saturday detailing allegations from a former player who described specific instances of hazing and sexual abuse.

The former player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Daily Northwestern, said sexualized hazing activities took place in the locker room, including an activity known as "running," which involved restraining a younger player while eight to 10 older ones took part in a sexualized act.

"It's done under this smoke and mirror of, 'Oh, this is team bonding,' but no, this is sexual abuse," the former player said in the student publication's report. A second player told the paper that he also saw the occurrences.

The report also indicated that Fitzgerald "may have known that hazing took place."

That led Schill to write a letter to the university community in which he acknowledged focusing "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 that he planned to speak with university leadership, members of the board of trustees and leaders of the faculty senate to determine his next steps.

"Since Friday, I have kept going back to what we should reasonably expect from our head coaches, our faculty and our campus leaders," Schill wrote in Monday's letter. "And that is what led me to make this decision."

Whether Fitzgerald knew

The former football player who raised hazing accusations alleged team members identified players for "running" by clapping their hands above their heads around the player, a gesture known by players as "the Shrek clap." Fitzgerald, he said, made the signal during practice when players, especially freshmen, made mistakes.

In an interview with ESPN on Sunday recounted in The Washington Post, the former player, again granted anonymity, said he told Schill about the hazing, much of which he said was sexualized. "Fitz absolutely knew about hazing in this program," he said.

Because the six-month investigation was confidential, Schill said in Monday's letter that he learned many of the details recently. He said he spoke with the complainant on Sunday after talking to the student's parents on Friday.

Fitzgerald, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008, was hired to coach his alma mater in 2006 after the sudden death of then-coach Randy Walker.

Many current and former players rushed to Fitzgerald's defense after the suspension was announced. A letter circulated on social media, signed by "The ENTIRE Northwestern Football Team" but without disclosing an author, said that "throughout his tenure, Coach Fitzgerald has consistently prioritized the well-being and development of his players, and we stand behind him in his unwavering commitment to our team."

And a current player told ESPN that the former player whose allegations sparked the investigation told him of a plan to take down Fitzgerald, and "the sole goal was to see Coach Fitz rot in jail." "None of that stuff happened in our locker room," the current player said But the former player said he wanted to "absolutely seek action to get Fitz out of the program" but that he had other objectives, including to "shed light on this heinous, illegal behavior."