(Note: The articles upon which this post is based contain mentions of hazing, sexual assault and suicidal ideation).
On July 7, Northwestern University placed football head coach Pat Fitzgerald on a two-week suspension based on an anonymous claim of hazing last November that launched a full investigation by the school in January.
The investigation revealed that “the complainant’s claims were largely supported by evidence gathered during the investigation, including separate and consistent first-person accounts,” per the investigation summary.
Those involved in the investigation were unable to prove that the coaching staff was aware of the incidents, but according to a story from the Daily Northwestern, “there had been significant opportunities [for coaches] to discover and report the hazing conduct.”
“I was very disappointed when I heard about the allegations of hazing on our football teams,” Fitzgerald said in a Friday statement. “We hold out student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward.”
But according to a follow-up story, Fitzgerald displayed more awareness of the hazing incidents than he let on — and those incidents were far more troubling than originally thought. A former Northwestern football player, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed this to The Daily:
He alleges that much of the team’s hazing centered around a practice dubbed “running,” which was used to punish team members, primarily freshman, for mistakes made on the field and in practice.
If a player was selected for “running,” the player who spoke to The Daily said, they would be restrained by a group of 8-10 upperclassmen dressed in various “Purge-like” masks, who would then begin “dry-humping” the victim in a dark locker room.
“It’s a shocking experience as a freshman to see your fellow freshman teammates get ran, but then you see everybody bystanding in the locker room,” the player said. “It’s just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now.”
The Daily obtained images of whiteboards labeled “Runsgiving” and “Shrek’s List,” containing a list of names indicating players that the player said needed to be “ran.”
The Daily talked to a second former player, who corroborated these allegation.
According to the [first] former player, team members allegedly identified players for “running” by clapping their hands above their heads around that player. The practice, the player said, was known within the team as “the Shrek clap.”
The Daily obtained a video of a player clapping his hands during a game, which the anonymous player said was the same motion taken to signify “running.”
According to the player who spoke with The Daily, Fitzgerald repeatedly made the signal during practices when players, specifically freshmen, made a mistake.
The player believes some players interpreted Fitzgerald making these signals as knowingly “encouraging” the hazing to continue.
“Everyone would just be looking at each other and be like ‘bro, Fitz knows about this,’ because you wouldn’t take that action otherwise,” the player said. “Everyone joins in, because he’s the head coach.”
According to the allegations, players were also forced to “participate in what he called a naked center-quarterback exchange, wherein a freshman quarterback was forced to take an under-center snap from a freshman center, while both players were naked.” One player who refused to take part was told that if he didn’t, other players would “run him,” and that there was no other option. Players were also told to take part in a hazing practice called a “Gatorade Shake Challenge,” in which they were forced to drink as many Gatorade shakes as possible in a 10-minute period. The player who spoke to The Daily said that he had seen this happen on two separate occasions, and that those who took part threw up during and after the “challenges.” The player said that one of his friends took part and was sick for several days after,
Northwestern’s hazing policy forbids any action taken “to produce mental, physical, or emotional discomfort; servitude; degradation; embarrassment; harassment; or ridicule for the purpose of initiation into, affiliation with, or admission to, or as a condition for continued membership in a group, team, or other organization, regardless of an individual’s willingness to participate.”
That Fitzgerald was suspended for just two weeks on the basis of a widespread and firmly-established structure of hazing is unacceptable. To whatever degree he knew or did not know about each individual incident, and encouraged or did not encourage his players to take part, he’s in charge of the culture in the facility. Either he was part of the problem, he refused to be part of the solution, or he was blissfully unaware of what was going on.
No matter the truth, there’s no way to an acceptable answer. That hazing has become so widespread on Fitzgerald’s watch is especially galling, as he has long been a stringent and vocal opponent of the kinds of unions for college athletes that might help to maintain proper standards.
In 2014, when a group of Northwestern players, led by former quarterback Kain Colter, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize, Fitzgerald did all he could do to stop it.
“I believe it’s in their best interests to vote no,” Fitzgerald said in April 2014, per ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. “With the research that I’ve done, I’m going to stick to the facts and I’m going to do everything in my power to educate our guys. Our university is going to do that. We’ll give them all the resources they need to get the facts.
“Right now, we have great protocols in place, and we haven’t been forced to do that by any third party. I know our guys trust me. I’ve been pretty clear with my support.”
That kind of paternal insistence, encouraging “student-athletes” (as the NCAA would forever like them to be known) can be a slippery slope, where the players believe that they’re treated as well as they can be because they know no other option at the collegiate level, and those in charge hold all the cards.
Clearly, the protocols in place that Fitzgerald called “great” back then are not so great now.
Whether Fitzgerald is successful on the field or not — he has a 110-101 record over 17 seasons, and the Wildcats finished with a 1-11 record in 2022 — is no longer the point. Northwestern can and should do better when it comes to the CEO of its football program not because of the Xs and Os, but because Fitzgerald appears to have either lost control of the ship, or — and far worse — he is supplying tacit encouragement of these outdated and vile tactics.
It could be time to make a much bigger change than a two-week suspension would indicate. Fitzgerald, who currently enjoys a 10-year, $57 million contract that carries him through the 2030 season, probably shouldn’t be able to see that deal through.
