Source: Michael Reaves / Getty
Northwestern’s head football coach Pat Fitzgerald has been fired amid widespread allegations of hazing within the football team.
University president Michael Schill released a statement on the matter stating that as a leader of the football program, he was aware of the hazing, and it was his responsibility to nip it in the bud.
“The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team,” Schill
wrote in an open letter to the school community. “The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening. Either way, the culture in Northwestern Football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others.”
David Braun, the defensive coordinator, has been promoted to acting head coach in the wake of the sudden firing.
Fitzgerald’s dismissal comes just days after the school initially suspended him without pay for two weeks after an investigation of the hazing allegations made by a former player. According to
ESPN, the investigation began in January after the university hired an outside law firm and revealed that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that the staff knew about the hazing but had “significant opportunities” to find out about it.
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However, the school had an about-face about the two-week punishment after the school’s newspaper,
The Daily Northwestern, published a story where the former player detailed allegations of hazing and sexual abuse.
The player, who asked to remain anonymous, says players wore “Purge-like” masks while dry humping each other, forcing players to drink as much Gatorade as possible in 10 minutes, forcing other players to nakedly rub past them to take showers, and more instances that the player said caused some teammates to have suicidal thoughts.
Read more of his terrifying experience on the Northwestern football team
here. See how Twitter’s reacting to the hazing allegations below.
