Subscribe
Follow Us
Northwestern football has been suddenly embroiled in controversy in the last week, after shocking hazing allegations were released from an independent investigation, and implicating long time head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
The allegations detailed abuse and harassment occurring in the football locker room, and claim that coach Fitzgerald was aware and complicit in these incidents.
Fitzgerald was initially suspended for two weeks by Northwestern University president Michael Schill, following the findings of the investigation. Now, Schill believes he ‘may have erred' in his judgement with the brief suspension, as it has faced waves of criticism from the media and those around the league.
“In determining an appropriate penalty for the head coach, I focused too much on what the report concluded he didn't know and not enough on what he should have known,” Schill wrote in an email to the Northwestern community, per the Daily Northwestern.
“Coach Fitzgerald is not only responsible for what happens within the program but also must take great care to uphold our institutional commitment to the student experience and our priority to ensure all students — undergraduate and graduate — can thrive.”
“Clearly, he failed to uphold that commitment, and I failed to sufficiently consider that failure in levying a sanction,” Schill concluded.
The Northwestern Wildcats are coming off of an atrocious 1-11 season, the worst of Fitzgerald's 17-year tenure. Their only win came in a miracle comeback against struggling Nebraska in the first game of the season in London, after which they did not win a single game on American soil.
It is unknown whether the suspension length will be modified following the new revelations from former players, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that Fitzgerald will not be on the sidelines in the season opener against Rutgers.
