Fallout at Northwestern: What to know about the football hazing scandal, firing of Pat Fitzgerald — and what’s next for the university

Reports of football player hazing have sent shockwaves across Northwestern University, resulting in the firing of head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Here’s what to know about reaction from former players and students, as well as other issues in the athletic department and what’s next for the university.

Lawsuits filed

A fourth lawsuit was filed July 24 against Northwestern as the school grapples with allegations of a pervasive hazing culture and a toxic environment that extended beyond the football team and into other sports including baseball, softball and volleyball.

The hazing scandal that has rocked the school this month includes allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The plaintiff, 26-year-old former Northwestern quarterback Lloyd Yates, recently told the Tribune in an exclusive interview he has been haunted by nightmares and anxiety since he joined the Wildcats in 2015 and graduated in 2018.

The first lawsuit against the university, which was filed in Cook County court July 18, alleged that former football coach Pat Fitzgerald and other university higher-ups knew about and covered up sexual misconduct as well as racial discrimination. The anonymous plaintiff, a Black former player, is being represented by attorneys Patrick Salvi Jr. and Parker Stinar.

• ‘Degrading, dehumanizing, embarrassing’: Former Northwestern football player first to open up about alleged hazing ahead of planned lawsuit
• Racist watermelon-eating contest alleged as more Northwestern football hazing lawsuits mount
• Former Northwestern football player alleges racist ‘Cinco de Mayo’ head-shaving in 10th hazing lawsuit
• Former Northwestern AD Jim Phillips says he will ‘vigorously defend myself’ after being named in 2 lawsuits
• Column: Former Northwestern players speak up about a ‘rampant’ hazing culture that has tarnished the university
• As 2nd Northwestern football hazing suit is filed, Pat Fitzgerald’s attorney asks: Where’s the evidence? Meanwhile, other sports under scrutiny.
• 1st lawsuit filed against Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern leaders stemming from hazing scandal

Pat Fitzgerald fired

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Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald jogs off the field after a 21-7 loss to Duke on Sept. 8, 2018, at Ryan Field in Evanston. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Pat Fitzgerald was fired as Northwestern football coach July 10 after a hazing scandal tarnished the program he helped build.

In a statement emailed to the university community, President Michael Schill said he told Fitzgerald on Monday afternoon “he was being relieved of his duties effective immediately,” citing a “broken” culture in the program.

“The damage done to our institution is significant,” Schill said, “as is the harm to some of our students.”

Fitzgerald originally received a two-week, unpaid suspension from the university July 7 after an outside investigation confirmed a former player’s account of hazing by teammates. The report said the coaching staff had “significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct,” which the report did not detail.

After the student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, published a former player’s account of sexualized hazing activities the following day, Schill said in a letter to the Northwestern community he erred in judgment and would revisit the sanctions against Fitzgerald. Two days later, Fitzgerald was out.

The external investigation found 11 current or former players who corroborated the hazing allegations, according to Schill’s statement, and subsequent media reporting revealed other former players who “confirmed that hazing was systemic dating back many years.”

• Column: Pat Fitzgerald’s coaching legacy is tarnished after a Northwestern hazing scandal he refused to publicly acknowledge
• Timeline: Pat Fitzgerald’s Northwestern football career as a player and coach
• Fired Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald exploring breach-of-contract claims, lawyer Dan Webb says

Harsh drills raise question of when practice crosses the line into abuse

A female volleyball player at Northwestern claims that her head coach punished her by singling her out for harsh drills in front of the team and coaches.

The drills in question are common. But in both cases, the player was the only one forced to participate as alleged punishment, while the rest of the team and coaches watched. The allegations raise questions about when hard or harsh practice drills cross the line into harmful or abusive behavior.

One prominent retired coach, former U.S. women’s Olympics coach Terry Liskevych, said it’s hard to judge the situation without knowing all the facts. But such drills are commonplace, he said, and typically, “It’s not a punishment.”

• Northwestern, amid hazing fallout, taps former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch to review athletics programs

What has been the AD’s role during this tumultuous period?

The turmoil surrounding the football and baseball programs has thrown a spotlight on one key administrator: Athletic Director Derrick Gragg.

Gragg was hired as athletic director after initially turning down the opportunity in spring 2021. But after Mike Polisky’s hiring earned immediate backlash due to his position as one of four defendants along with the university in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a Northwestern cheerleader, Gragg changed his mind. He was named to the position June 4, just three weeks after Polisky’s exit.

With his new role, Gragg became the first Black athletic director in university history.

By the time Gragg arrived in Evanston in 2021, Fitzgerald had already been a mainstay of the Northwestern football program for two decades and had signed a 10-year extension months before Gragg’s hiring.

• Northwestern AD Derrick Gragg, under scrutiny for hazing scandal, offers questionable advice about women — ‘man’s greatest distraction’ — in book
• ‘Infuriating.’ Northwestern students, former players and Illinois leaders react to football program hazing reports.
• Northwestern had many anti-hazing tools in place before the football scandal. So what went wrong?

Who is the new football coach?

Northwestern elevated David Braun from defensive coordinator to interim coach for the upcoming season, replacing Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired in the wake of a hazing scandal.

Braun was hired as defensive coordinator six months ago. He spent the previous four seasons in the same position at North Dakota State, helping lead the Bison to FCS national championships in 2019 and 2021.

• Northwestern said interim football coach David Braun has a master’s degree. He doesn’t, school says after questions from Tribune.
• Will Northwestern football recruits stay or decommit? ‘College football coaches and teams are opportunistic.’

Jim Foster and the baseball program

Head baseball coach Jim Foster was removed by the university July 13. Foster’s removal was announced to players on a video call with Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg, sources told the Tribune. Assistant coach Brian Anderson will replace Foster at the helm.

Current and former players, alumni and people close to the baseball program told the Chicago Tribune that they alerted university administration — including Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg — of problematic behavior from first-year head baseball coach Jim Foster starting last fall before the team kicked off its 2023 season. At least some of those complaints spurred a human resources investigation.

The university’s investigation found “sufficient evidence” that Foster “engaged in bullying and abusive behavior,” according to an internal HR document obtained by the Tribune. The probe went on to conclude that Foster “made an inappropriate comment regarding a female staff member, and spoke negatively about his staff to other staff members.”

The HR document says the results of the investigation were shared with leaders in the Department of Athletics and Recreation “to take appropriate remedial action.” It’s unclear what action the university took against Foster, who joined Northwestern after six years at Army West Point.

Anderson was a 2003 first-round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox and a member of the 2005 World Series championship team.

Reaction from fans

The day Northwestern fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald in response to the team’s hazing scandal, alums Jim Nugent and Vicki Olivera Nugent immediately decided to cancel their football season tickets and requested a refund in protest.

“We simply believe the president of the university caved in to political correctness and wrongly fired a distinguished leader on the Northwestern campus without cause,” Jim Nugent said.

The couple from north suburban Glenview said they had paid roughly $800 for tickets this season, and have been season ticket holders for several years. They said they contacted Northwestern’s ticket office and were told the refund would be processed “but to be patient, because a lot of people are canceling tickets,” Olivera Nugent recalled.

More fallout

Many questions remain unanswered in Evanston.

Fitzgerald is exploring potential breach-of-contract claims against the school, his attorney confirmed.

“Northwestern University made some unusual, bizarre decisions in the past week that seriously have damaged Pat Fitzgerald’s reputation,” attorney Dan Webb told the Tribune.

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The firing was a violation of Fitzgerald’s employment contract, Webb said. The initial suspension was the result of an agreement between the school and Fitzgerald — which was also breached when the school fired him, Webb said.

Webb, a former U.S. attorney, brings significant profile to the matter. His cases make headlines: he recently defended Fox News in a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. The hiring of such a significant figure led to speculation in legal circles that Fitzgerald could be trying to hedge against lawsuits or even criminal liability.

The scandal has also brought calls to temporarily halt the proposed $800 million rebuild of Ryan Field.

“If we invest $800 million in a new football stadium, that will distract university leaders’ attention from the most urgent problem that is in front of them, which is what seems to be a culture problem in Northwestern athletics,” Caitlin Fitz, a Northwestern history professor, said on July 11. “I think we need to get our own house in order first, before we put $800 million into building a new one.”

Fitz is one of six faculty members who sent a letter July 10 to Schill, Gragg and board chair Peter Barris, asking the stadium rebuild be put on hold. Community groups, students and others have expressed similar sentiments.

The long-term ramifications of the public relations crisis remain to be seen — from potentially marring the reputation of the prestigious research university to galvanizing opposition against a planned $800 million football stadium rebuild in the wake of so much athletic program controversy.

“I’d like to think this will not hurt our academics reputation. But it’s concerning,” said Ceci Rodgers, Northwestern’s faculty senate president. “The question it could raise in prospective students’ parents’ minds is, does this university respond adequately to concerns or allegations that impact the safety of my child, not just the athletic students, but all students?”