Pat Fitzgerald's fate at Northwestern was sealed when the school confirmed that "hazing was systemic dating back many years."
The rest of the PR mess is immaterial at this point. If this can happen under a coach like Fitzgerald – who up until last week had a stand-up reputation as the longtime coach for the Wildcats – then it can happen anywhere where the idea of hazing is tolerated.
That is going to strike a chord with those who rallied to support Fitzgerald. Current players and former players voiced support for their coach on Sunday. ESPN reported that a former Northwestern player said he had never heard of some of the allegations that were made and noted that, "Fitzgerald stays out of the locker room, telling players it belongs to them."
Yet that is how Fitzgerald lost it. The locker room belongs to the coaches, the players, the program and, most importantly, the school. If there were alleged hazing incidents of any kind going on in that locker room, then the coach has to be the one to stop it first.
MORE: Northwestern fires Fitzgerald after investigation into hazing
The Daily Northwestern reported the extent of those hazing allegations on Sunday, and those went far beyond the scope of any acceptable practices by an FBS program. Once the details of those allegations were out — complete with absurd practices such as "running" and at-best ridiculous concepts like a "Shrek's list" – then it was clear the university erred when it opted to give Fitzgerald a two-week suspension in July without pay.
The idea of a "Shrek's list" does not just sound stupid.
"Every single player in this program from 2020 to 2023 knows what Shrek is and knows about the hazing that occurs," a Northwestern former player said via ESPN.com.
Once anybody read about players with "Purge-like masks dry-humping a victim in a dark locker room," then it was over. Allegations that "some players would stand naked at the entrance to showers and spin around" just made it worse.
The details are lurid enough that Fitzgerald does not have a valid defense either way. What if he did know about it? Coaches are control freaks, right? What if he did know? Why didn't stop it? That is where the logic traps hit. Had Fitzgerald known and put a stop to it, then he still has a job.
Is that easy to navigate? Of course not, but it's easier when you have control of the locker room. Once the Penn State scandal broke in 2011, any Big Ten coach had to know that hazing of any kind – especially one that "included forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature" per the university findings – cannot happen. There has to be a hyper-sensitivity to anything involving sexual misconduct, however minor it is perceived to be. The allegations are more than just a couple players being immature college kids, and that kind of behavior won't play in 2023 no matter what the viewpoint.
The fact this happened at Northwestern remains a stunner.
Fitzgerald was the ultimate Wildcats icon. He was a linebacker for the Rose Bowl team. He took over at Northwestern in 2006 at 31 years old after the death of Randy Walker, and he spent the last 17 seasons as one of the leading voices of stability within the Big Ten. He was the AFCA president in 2021 – one year after leading the Wildcats to their second Big Ten championship game appearance. Anybody who heard Fitzgerald at a Media Day could see the passion and maximum effort he put into winning at one of the toughest places to win.
Yet the allegations are nowhere near reflective of a winning culture. In fact, a second Daily Northwestern story made allegations of a racist culture within the program. Among the allegations were: "Pat Fitzgerald would ask Black players and coaches to cut off longer hairstyles — including dreadlocks — so that they were more in line with what Fitzgerald called the "Wildcat Way." That's also a message that misses the mark. A successful program develops talent. It does not demean it under the guise of a program-exclusive way.
Some cynics might simply look at the record as the finishing touch. Northwestern was 4-20 the last two seasons, and Fitzgerald – despite that life-long commitment to the university – entered 2022 on the hot seat. That made it easier, no doubt, for Northwestern president Michael Schill to pivot from suspension to firing.
Now, the university will be a cautionary tale for FBS coaches everywhere. If it can happen at Northwestern …
The transfer portal will make it easier for players to come and go and detail the good, bad and ugly out of any major program. Any allegations have to be taken seriously – even the ones that are proven false.
The smartest play will be to make the college locker room more like the NFL locker room, a professional environment where the chances for incidents like this will not happen.
With NIL in the picture now, maybe that is what the locker room should be -- a professional workplace, where coaches and players are held to the highest standard before they get to the field. If you want that place to be sacred, then that is how it has to be.
In that place, hazing of any kind cannot be part of the game plan.
It is surprising Northwestern – of all places – did not figure that out.
