O'Donnell's misplaced support for Fitzgerald

I usually enjoy reading Jim O'Donnell's column in the Daily Herald, although sometimes it has too many "inside" references for those of us that are not gung-ho sports fans, and there are times that you see it from a different perspective that makes me review and or re-evaluate my position.

However, your Pat Fitzgerald column of Thursday July 20, 2023, is one that requires O'Donnell to re-evaluate his position. He couldn't be more wrong. The truth is, Coach Fitzgerald is 100% guilty of "should have known" what was going on under his nose and O'Donnell's defense of him is tantamount to sanctioning hazing and all of its ugliness and perpetrating the ongoing hazing culture O'Donnell's kind obviously thinks is "demonstrably nothing."

Then he tries to be funny by comparing Coach Fitzgerald's "should have known" about the sick hazing at Northwestern to his "should have known" if his players brushed their teeth. Not funny at all, and not a good analogy, unless of course you think hazing is comparable to ordering pizza and dental hygiene.

On the other hand, a person who is paid almost $6 million annually to be head coach probably should know the personal habits of his players, and be smart enough to listen to the background noise that most certainly was circulating and pointed to the possibility of a big hazing problem.

O'Donnell's boohoo, get out the hankie for poor Pat is sickening, and his concern for poor Pat's reputation shows how blind O'Donnell is to the celebrity of the guy.

Absolutely "Let justice be done though the heavens fall" for the players Fitzgerald failed to protect.

Phyllis O'Neill

Elgin