Former Northwestern football head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired on July 10 in the wake of the Northwestern football hazing scandal. Now, dozens of former athletes are coming to the former coach’s defense, saying that the school did not give Fitzgerald his due process before it let him go.

“By willfully ignoring due process, Northwestern University's administration has left a welcome mat out for the weaponization of sexual harassment, hazing, and racism accusations to run rampant at Northwestern University,” former players wrote in a letter obtained by ESPN. “Any allegation, true or not, will be allowed to cancel anyone's career and destroy their reputation depending upon popular opinion, while simultaneously allowing the censorship of free speech.”

There were 86 former Northwestern Wildcats who signed the letter, including several of Fitzgerald’s teammates who played with him from 1993-96 when he was a two-time Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year as a linebacker.

The letter also defended Fitzgerald's character and career, saying, “The collective gains of Northwestern's Athletic Department over the last three decades, along with Pat Fitzgerald's legacy and character, have almost been wiped out without any proof of guilt or, much less, even a thorough and proper investigation.”

It also accuses university president Michael Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg — who fired the Northwestern head coach — of “a clear failure of unbiased and principled leadership.”

After Pat Fitzgerald was fired due to the Northwestern football hazing scandal, the university named newly-hired defensive coordinator David Braun as the interim head coach for the upcoming season.

Fitzgerald is currently helping out his son’s high school football team as a volunteer assistant for the 2023 season.