Former Northwestern football head coach Pat Fitzgerald is taking legal action against the program. Fitzgerald is filing a lawful termination lawsuit against the school, per ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenberg.

“The attorneys for former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald have scheduled a news conference Thursday morning in Chicago. Attorneys Dan Webb and Matthew Carter are expected to announce a wrongful termination lawsuit against the university on behalf of Fitzgerald, fired July 10,” Rittenberg tweeted on Wednesday.

The university fired Pat Fitzgerald amid scandalous hazing allegations surrounding the Northwestern football program on July 10. An anonymous former Northwestern football player forward came forward and described some of the disturbing details. He maintained some of the older players made the younger ones do “naked bear crawls” and “naked slingshots” in the locker room.

Dan Webb, one of the attorneys Rittenberg mentioned in his tweet, cited lack of evidence against Pat Fitzgerald back then. Webb reiterated that point again in an interview with ESPN (via CBS Sports' Dean Straka) this week.

“I cannot understand how you could terminate someone for cause when they (Northwestern) admit their own lawyer does not have any evidence that my client ever knew anything at all, about any of the alleged hazing behavior. If I present that to a jury someday, a jury is going to have a hard time believing that you can terminate someone for cause when they didn't know anything about (the incidents),” Webb said.

Pat Fitzgerald coached Northwestern football for 17 years and had a 110-101 overall win-loss record. Former Northwestern football defensive coordinator David Braun has been acting as the team's interim head coach in 2023.