Northwestern football hazing allegations: Players claim ‘vile and inhumane’ practices as coach Pat Fitzgerald is suspended
Northwestern football has ended an 11-1 season in 2022, and now a rapidly developing scandal looms over the Big Ten program weeks before the start of the season.
Allegations of intimidation led to the school suspending coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks, and new claims published by the school newspaper The Daily Northwestern detail how brutal the rituals were said to be.
Northwestern is having some of the best seasons in program history under Fitzgerald, and despite last season’s record, there was cause for optimism in 2023 as the school pushed for state-of-the-art renovations at Ryan Field. Now the accusations are hanging over the team.
Here’s what you need to know about the Northwestern bullying scandal and what’s allegedly going on on the show. (Warning: There is sexual content in the allegations.)
Northwest Football Bullying Allegations Explained
The Daily Northwestern reported on Saturday that bullying rituals within the Northwestern football team included “forced sexual acts” in addition to physical punishment.
An anonymous player told the newspaper that the primary form of bullying was “running,” an act in which the player was “restrained” by several high school students. They then started “dry banging” him in a dark locker room.
The Daily Northwestern reported that a second anonymous player confirmed the allegations.
“It’s just absolutely outrageous, abhorrent and inhumane behaviour,” the first player told The Daily Northwestern, adding that football in the Northwest has a “rough and barbaric culture that has permeated the entire program for years. “
The player claimed that high school students would give a hand signal to a person for “running,” and claimed that Fitzgerald sometimes gave the signal himself during practice. Northwestern previously said its investigation could not conclude that Fitzgerald was aware of any harassment under the program.
The Daily Northwestern went on to report that freshmen were allegedly “forced to strip naked and perform various acts,” including a ritual called “car washing,” which the player described as “extremely painful.” During the “car wash,” players were forced to walk past other naked players before being hosed down.
Both players said they witnessed another ritual in which a freshman quarterback was forced to snap out of a center while the two were naked.
The first player said he reported what he knew to the university in November 2022.
How long is Pat Fitzgerald suspended?
Northwestern announced Friday that Fitzgerald has been suspended for two weeks without pay, effective immediately. The timing of the suspension means Fitzgerald is unlikely to miss any regular-season games and will return before the end of July, in time for fall training to begin.
The university confirmed a player’s victimization allegation but concluded that Fitzgerald was unaware of the activity.
“The investigation found no evidence pointing to any specific wrongdoing by any individual football player or coach. Participation in, or knowledge of, the intimidation activities was widespread among all football players,” Northwestern said in announcing the suspension.
Fitzgerald said in a statement he was “very disappointed” when he learned of the allegations of bullying and claimed he was unaware of the incidents.
Response to allegations of harassment in the North West
In addition to Fitzgerald’s suspension, Northwestern on Friday banned off-campus drills in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and assigned a person who does not report to Fitzgerald to monitor the team’s locker room going forward.
University President Michael Schill said harassment of any kind was “unacceptable”.
“Our athletic programs are held to the highest standards and in this case we failed to meet them. I trust today’s actions will prevent something like this from ever happening again,” he said in announcing Fitzgerald’s suspension.
The investigation concluded that bullying did indeed occur, but could not conclude that Fitzgerald was aware of it.
Northwestern spokesman Jon Yates told The Daily Northwestern on Saturday that the school wanted to “support and protect” any students who made allegations, but declined to comment specifically on the content of the newspaper report.
“Out of respect for the privacy of our student-athletes, we will not be commenting on the results beyond what we have stated in the press release and the summary of the investigation,” Yates said.
Yates told The Daily Northwestern the university took “decisive action” on Friday, but the anonymous player told the newspaper the action was a “slap on the wrist” and criticized the school for not disclosing exactly what was involved of the investigation was found.