When Pat Fitzgerald signed a 10-year extension in 2021 to continue coaching Northwestern football, the program was riding high.
The Wildcats made it into the Big Ten title game during the pandemic-shortended 2020 season and multiple NFL teams reportedly inquired about him, according to ESPN. Fitzgerald was the school’s most prominent figure and cheerleader, usually ending his interviews with the same two-word phrase: “Go Cats!”
But a 1-11 season in 2022 brought Northwestern back down to earth. And Friday, the school’s legendary coach was suspended without pay for two weeks after an outside investigation confirmed an anonymous report of hazing by Wildcat players.
The report did not implicate Fitzgerald in the incidents, which the university described in an executive summary as “hazing activities” by players that often occurred in the locker room and “may have started at “Camp Kenosha,” where the team trained.
Citing confidentiality reasons, the summary did not detail the findings of outside investigator Maggie Hickey, but said there was no “sufficient evidence to believe the coaching staff knew about the ongoing hazing conduct.”
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“They determined, however, that there had been significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct,” the report said.
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The university also announced the discontinuation of practices at Camp Kenosha, along with monitoring of the program and anti-hazing measures to be implemented to deter such activities in the future.
Northwestern included a statement from Fitzgerald in which he said he was “very disappointed” when he heard of the hazing allegations and was not aware of the incidents.
“We hold our student-athletes to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward,” Fitzgerald said.
NU president Michael Schill in a statement repeated the narrative about the school holding its athletic program to the “highest standards.” He said hazing is “unacceptable” and the university’s actions would “prevent this from ever happening again.”
Schill made no mention of Fitzgerald or the coaching staff, but the slap on the wrist for Fitzgerald — suspending him in the summer instead of sidelining him for actual games — was an indication of the university’s unwavering support for their veteran coach.
All that was missing in the statement was a “Go Cats!” reference at the end.
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