Northwestern fired longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday amid allegations of widespread hazing within the football program.

"The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team," university president Michael 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."

Defensive coordinator David Braun is expected to be named the Wildcats' acting coach, sources told ESPN.

The firing of Fitzgerald, 48, comes after the school announced Friday that he'd be suspended without pay for two weeks this summer following the conclusion of a university-commissioned investigation into allegations made by a former Northwestern football player. The school said the investigation, which was initiated in January and conducted by an outside law firm, did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing -- though there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it.

Northwestern fires football coach Pat Fitzgerald amid hazing claims - ESPN

What a bunch of idiots. He should hold out a year then go to Michigan State or Iowa. Would love to see what he could do at a place that could attract more talent.

Higher rated recruits probably wouldn't buy into the shenanigans, so I'm not sure he'd do better in a place with higher expectations and more scrutiny.

Microwave Onions said:

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Higher rated recruits probably wouldn't buy into the shenanigans, so I'm not sure he'd do better in a place with higher expectations and more scrutiny.

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That assumes he not only knew about it but all but put it into place. He denies even knowing about it. NW isn't releasing the report, so unless it gets released in litigation or is leaked, we'll never really know what IT says. Other things might come out, however.

I'm wondering if NW was looking for a way out of his contract after last season.

I don't really know what the pressure is at a school like that. It makes sense that this would give them an excuse if they were looking for cause.

I am sure that it is unrelated that they went 1-11 this year after going 3-9 last year and are 2-16 in the big 10 that last two years.

No way he didn't know about it. Of course he's going to deny it.

This entire scenario reeks of donor involvement.
And, the President gets to go big game hunting..

mjhhawk said:

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I am sure that it is unrelated that they went 1-11 this year after going 3-9 last year and are 2-16 in the big 10 that last two years.

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He has 5 seasons of 9+ wins there. He was as good as they're ever going to get…

I can't even imagine what they would have done to our HS football staff with the institutionalized hazing. Something like that would have led to prison today.

Buford T. Justice said:

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This entire scenario reeks of donor involvement.
And, the President gets to go big game hunting..

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It's Northwestern so it'll be more like snipe hunting.

Yep.

Quote:

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Fitzgerald went 110-101 over 17 seasons and is by far the most successful football coach in school history. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

Fitzgerald spent over 26 total seasons with the program -- four as a player, five as an assistant and 17 as head coach. He also led the school to five of its six bowl wins in program history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

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Buford T. Justice said:

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This entire scenario reeks of donor involvement.
And, the President gets to go big game hunting..

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Maybe he made Pat Ryan mad? Ryan's name is on the current football stadium and basketball arena. They are looking for donors to pay for the new stadium.

I'll see what I can find out.

Illini football up, NW football down. Time to find a way out of the head coach contract...

Just like the secret fran newsletter was a big deal when we wanted him canned.

Joe Paterno didn't know either…

Northwestern should have taken a lesson from A&M. Hazing was abolished in 1911. It says so right there in the yearbook.

If the hazing was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, wouldn't have the defensive coordinator also known about it? and it doesn't sound like he stopped it either... sounds like Northwestern just wanted to can the coach. If they wanted to keep the coach the investigation would have drawn different conclusions and school's story would be different, lol.

91AggieLawyer said:

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Microwave Onions said:

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Higher rated recruits probably wouldn't buy into the shenanigans, so I'm not sure he'd do better in a place with higher expectations and more scrutiny.

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That assumes he not only knew about it but all but put it into place. He denies even knowing about it. NW isn't releasing the report, so unless it gets released in litigation or is leaked, we'll never really know what IT says. Other things might come out, however.

I'm wondering if NW was looking for a way out of his contract after last season.

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I honestly don't think they wanted to fire him. He was a North Western lifer and was able to make the competitive in the B1G on occasion. When the first part of this story broke, it was a 2 week suspension. The student newspaper went wild and aired everything out in public, that's when he was fired. Will be curious to see what else comes out of this, but I really think NW only fired him to avoid more public backlash.

aggiejim70 said:

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Northwestern should have taken a lesson from A&M. Hazing was abolished in 1911. It says so right there in the yearbook.

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Well done sir

Buford T. Justice said:

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This entire scenario reeks of donor involvement.
And, the President gets to go big game hunting..

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I think it reeks of, holy sh** our program was fostering a culture of bizarre homosexual hazing and now that the world knows about it we have to act even thought it involves a coach we like and didn't really want to fire.

Didn't another player state that the accuser confided in him that he was simply looking to take down Fitzgerald and the accusations were false? I'm thinking this is about playing time and the accuser simply scripted what went down at NMSU basketball. Just a hunch

Does Jimbo have a hazing program? Asking for a friend.

mjhhawk said:

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I am sure that it is unrelated that they went 1-11 this year after going 3-9 last year and are 2-16 in the big 10 that last two years.

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Yup. Totally unrelated.

leftlane4passing said:

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91AggieLawyer said:

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Microwave Onions said:

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Higher rated recruits probably wouldn't buy into the shenanigans, so I'm not sure he'd do better in a place with higher expectations and more scrutiny.

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That assumes he not only knew about it but all but put it into place. He denies even knowing about it. NW isn't releasing the report, so unless it gets released in litigation or is leaked, we'll never really know what IT says. Other things might come out, however.

I'm wondering if NW was looking for a way out of his contract after last season.

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I honestly don't think they wanted to fire him. He was a North Western lifer and was able to make the competitive in the B1G on occasion. When the first part of this story broke, it was a 2 week suspension. The student newspaper went wild and aired everything out in public, that's when he was fired. Will be curious to see what else comes out of this, but I really think NW only fired him to avoid more public backlash.

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Depends on who "they" are. When you see the term, "university leadership," you know its an oxymoron. There's no such thing. Leadership implies doing some unpopular things and having a backbone. The university President in this case cut bait upon the first sign of trouble. He's a coward.

But I stand by my comment: there's a good chance that in the big scheme of things those who actually run things on campus, including the football program (the President just got there in the last few months), PROBABLY were taking another look at the contract and with the new stadium up in the air were wondering if this was who they wanted at the helm -- regardless of his ties to NW or past results. I don't have any evidence or inside knowledge of that, but these are relatively minor issues to fire someone who, objectively, is probably the best fit right now. The idea behind the grass being greener can be very tempting, however.

91AggieLawyer said:

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leftlane4passing said:

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91AggieLawyer said:

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Microwave Onions said:

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Higher rated recruits probably wouldn't buy into the shenanigans, so I'm not sure he'd do better in a place with higher expectations and more scrutiny.

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That assumes he not only knew about it but all but put it into place. He denies even knowing about it. NW isn't releasing the report, so unless it gets released in litigation or is leaked, we'll never really know what IT says. Other things might come out, however.

I'm wondering if NW was looking for a way out of his contract after last season.

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I honestly don't think they wanted to fire him. He was a North Western lifer and was able to make the competitive in the B1G on occasion. When the first part of this story broke, it was a 2 week suspension. The student newspaper went wild and aired everything out in public, that's when he was fired. Will be curious to see what else comes out of this, but I really think NW only fired him to avoid more public backlash.

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Depends on who "they" are. When you see the term, "university leadership," you know its an oxymoron. There's no such thing. Leadership implies doing some unpopular things and having a backbone. The university President in this case cut bait upon the first sign of trouble. He's a coward.

But I stand by my comment: there's a good chance that in the big scheme of things those who actually run things on campus, including the football program (the President just got there in the last few months), PROBABLY were taking another look at the contract and with the new stadium up in the air were wondering if this was who they wanted at the helm -- regardless of his ties to NW or past results. I don't have any evidence or inside knowledge of that, but these are relatively minor issues to fire someone who, objectively, is probably the best fit right now. The idea behind the grass being greener can be very tempting, however.

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You are joking right. There are at least 11 players who corroborate the same story and all believe the coach not only knew about the abuse but condoned it and even participated in it like it was some part of a regular discipline action.

He will be a head coach in the MAC within 2 years

The Green Dragon said:

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I can't even imagine what they would have done to our HS football staff with the institutionalized hazing. Something like that would have led to prison today.

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yep. the wussification of America is on full display. I can't even imagine what level of vaginitis is necessary before any so called man will complain about hazing.

I came from a school where a kid was almost killed- literally. but his and our attitude was "it's all good man".

Yeah, some of you will read that and think we were crazy, but the tradeoff in quality of life was amazing.

A_Gang_Ag_06 said:

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Does Jimbo have a hazing program? Asking for a friend.

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Yes with his offensive system.

It's Northwestern. They are exponentially more concerned about indoctrinating the next wave of Lil' Marxists than they care about having a competitive football program.

Divining Rod said:

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The Green Dragon said:

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I can't even imagine what they would have done to our HS football staff with the institutionalized hazing. Something like that would have led to prison today.

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yep. the wussification of America is on full display. I can't even imagine what level of vaginitis is necessary before any so called man will complain about hazing.

I came from a school where a kid was almost killed- literally. but his and our attitude was "it's all good man".

Yeah, some of you will read that and think we were crazy, but the tradeoff in quality of life was amazing.

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Maybe some dudes just want to play some sports instead of dealing with homoerotica 1990s locker room bull*****

So your locker room had gay sex activities.... good for you.

Divining Rod said:

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So your locker room had gay sex activities.... good for you.

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You are the one who is making the argument that getting dry humped by a linebacker is no big deal. I'm sorry, but maybe you are not the best judge of locker room etiquette.

Or NIL deals