Downfall of a Program: Northwestern
Where do the Wildcats turn after their massive scandal?
Content Warning: Sexual abuse
College football was just struck by its biggest scandal in years that sent a program spiraling out of control, and one of the nation’s most respected coaches out of a job in disgrace. With lawsuits and investigations still looming, what went wrong at Northwestern, and where do the Wildcats go from here?
The Scandal
Before we get into it, this is a very large scandal that has a lot of twists and turns. We don’t have time to delve too deep into details, but the links in this newsletter will help you understand what went on inside the locker room of Northwestern. This is a disturbing case, so keep that in mind as we go through it.
The first mention of scandal at Northwestern came from the student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern. A July 7 article there detailed that a university investigation into hazing within the school’s football program. The investigation found that hazing claims were “supported by evidence,” and that Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald was “‘unaware of the alleged incidents.’” Most of these allegations stemmed from off-campus offseason training programs at Camp Kenosha.
That same day, Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks without pay. The university also suspended the off-campus training programs indefinitely.
While the problem was seemingly resolved, more was to come. The next day, July 8, a former Northwestern football player gave detailed descriptions to The Daily Northwestern about the hazing. He alleged that athletes were forced to participate in “running,” which involved upperclassmen donning “Purge-like masks” and “dry humping” their younger teammates for mistakes made during practice. The anonymous player went on to allege that there was a hand signal to indicate which players would need to be subjected to “running” in the future, and that he witnessed Fitzgerald give that signal to upperclassmen multiple times. The player also detailed other sexual-abuse like circumstances where players were forced to complete embarrassing tasks while naked, and often times were physically abused during those tasks. Each of the player’s allegations were independently confirmed by ESPN.
With the new allegations, Northwestern’s president Michael Schill backpedaled on the suspension he doled out to Fitzgerald one day earlier, saying he “may have erred in weighing the appropriate sanction for Coach Fitzgerald.”
Later that day, ESPN’s Adam Rittenburg published a letter from “The ENTIRE Northwestern Football Team” coming to Fitzgerald’s defense and calling the allegations of hazing “exaggerated and twisted.”
July 9 was quiet. It would serve to be the calm before the storm. July 10 came with new allegations from football players detailed in The Daily Northwestern, this time alleging a “culture of racism” within the locker room. The group of former football players stated that Fitzgerald’s “Wildcat Way” was actually a thinly-veiled racist mantra, which included forcing non-white players to cut their hair.
Following the second string of allegations against Fitzgerald and his program, Schill announced he was firing the coach. In that statement, Northwestern’s president confirmed that 11 players spoke to the university about hazing that was currently ongoing in the program.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Chicago Tribune published another bombshell on July 10 detailing allegations of abuse in the baseball program as well. This report showed that the university was also investigation the conduct of their first-year baseball coach, Jim Foster, and found “sufficient evidence” that he “engaged in bullying and abusive behavior.” Allegations against Foster included preventing players from receiving treatment from team trainers, launching into expletive-laden tirades at players, and pressuring players into rushing their return from injuries.
Northwestern has yet to take action on Foster.
What does 2023 look like?
Northwestern has a long road ahead. Not many universities can survive allegations as serious as the ones lobbied against the football program. Toss in allegations against a second athletic team? They’re in serious trouble.
Let’s start with the short-term. On the coaching side, the fallout is obvious: the team is left without their head coach three weeks before summer camp starts. On the bright side for the team, athletic director Derrick Gragg announced that the rest of the coaching staff will remain in place. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that defensive coordinator David Braun is expected to be the acting head coach heading into 2023. Braun came to the program from FCS North Dakota State in January, and was FCS Coordinator of the Year in 2021 with the Bison.
The players’ side gets a little murkier. NCAA rules allow any player to transfer out of a program without penalty within 30 days of a coaching change. That 30 day clock started with Fitzgerald’s firing on July 10. This close to the season, I don’t know if any players will look to leave. As of writing, no Northwestern players have entered the portal.
Players, however, seem to be upset about how the investigation is being handled. When the university informed players of Fitzgerald’s dismissal, players were not happy with the handling. Reportedly, Fitzgerald spoke to the team for a short period of time, followed by Braun and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian. Gragg spoke to the group via Zoom and refused to answer questions, which has not sat well with the players. Additionally, Schill did not attend the meeting. Players told ESPN that Gragg and Schill’s actions “showed how cowardly they are.”
Will that lead to players hitting the portal? It might, but this is also the quiet part of the college football offseason. Rosters are all but set. Anyone who leave through the portal is taking a massive risk on whether or not they can land on another roster, let alone get acclimated enough to see the field.
Either way, the 2023 season is going to be difficult. Even if no players take the portal out, this is a team coming off of a 1-11 season and hasn’t won a game on American soil since October 16, 2021 against Rutgers. Now, with a coaching staff looking for answers just under two months before the season starts, the Wildcats will likely struggle once again in 2023.
What happens long-term?
Long-term is where this all gets a lot more complicated.
The most pressing issue is the lawsuit that Fitzgerald is gearing up for. Northwestern fired him for cause due to his role in the hazing scandal, which would void out any potential buyout related to his firing. This is a common clause that’s in virtually every coaching contract, so that’s not the point of contention here.
Instead, Fitzgerald’s all-star team of lawyers are focusing on how to get the disgraced coach his buyout, which amounts to roughly $40 million after his 10-year extension signed in January 2021. They are citing “two different major contract clause breaches,” as well as irreparable damage to his reputation.
The main breach that Fitzgerald will argue is that he was punished for the same violation twice. If you remember, Schill suspended the coach for two weeks on July 8 when the investigation came to a close. It was only after the public backlash and more detailed reporting by The Daily Northwestern that led to Fitzgerald’s dismissal. Additionally, the fact that Northwestern’s own investigation found that Fitzgerald had no knowledge of the hazing rituals within the program makes the claim of a for-cause firing difficult.
Northwestern does not want a lengthy legal battle here. The quicker they can move past this scandal, the better for the university and their athletic departments.
A lawsuit isn’t the only major financial issue the university is facing, though. On July 11, eight Northwestern faculty members sent a letter to Schill, Gragg and board chair Peter Barris imploring them to halt the proposed $800 million renovations to Ryan Field. Plans for the privately-funded renovations were announced in 2022 to modernize one of the Big Ten’s most decrepit stadiums.
The faculty believes that going forward with the large-scale renovations will “‘university leaders’ attention from the most urgent problem that is in front of them, which is what seems to be a culture problem in Northwestern athletics,’” according to Northwestern history professor Caitlin Fitz. The Northwestern Accountability Alliance, a coalition of community and student groups focused on social justice, said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune, “We hope university leaders reassess their approach toward students and the broader community and start to engage in a spirit of genuine respect and transparency. In the meantime, until they take appropriate action, Northwestern needs to put the Ryan Field proposals on hold.”
Historically, Northwestern is not a program that makes too many waves in the Big 10. They’ve had a few successful seasons, including two top-25 finishes under Fitzgerald, but they’re an academics-first school. The investments into the Walter Athletics Facility helped improve training, rehab, and student-athlete life as a whole, but the football program needs more to compete in the division-less Big 10. In all reality, they probably won’t.
One thing Northwestern desperately needs to keep pace with other Big 10 schools, though, is stadium upgrades. Ryan Field is old, worn down, and cold. With noise pollution from the stadium into the nearby neighborhoods being the main topic of conversation surrounding the stadium, it needs work to become an exciting venue and bring any form of pulse to Northwestern.
Delaying these renovations can have a massive impact for this program. Upgrades to this stadium were needed years ago, but Ryan Field will continue to suffer as a symptom of a broken program.
Moving away from stadium talk, we can move to a more obvious one: who is going to lead the Wildcats? There won’t be a new head coach this season, so the first job of the 2023-24 carousel is now open. But who will Schill and Gragg task with rebuilding everything relating to the football team, from the roster, to the culture, to public perception surrounding the team.
There’s been shortlists thrown around, but we won’t know. In all reality, Schill and Gragg don’t know either. They, along with Fitzgerald, were assuming they had a coach for life. Now, they’re thrust into a program-defining coaching search.
Until that head coach problem is resolved, recruiting is going to take another hit. We’ve already seen prospects decommit in the wake of the scandal. Without a head coach to lead recruiting efforts, the Wildcats’ barren roster could slip further. Throw in the stadium problems and very poor public image, and Northwestern is a tough sell.
Conclusion
Northwestern is in a very tough spot. University president Michael Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg have to make a lot of very difficult decisions that will define this program for the next decade-plus. Will they be able to save a program on the precipice of survival? That remains to be seen.
The Wildcats will struggle on the field for the next few seasons regardless of what happens off the field. The university is now dominating headlines because of a horrible scandal. Not only the athletic department, but Northwestern as a whole now needs to repair its public image. They also have to weather legal battles with Fitzgerald and whatever NCAA sanctions will come from this.
Make no mistake, this is not the end of the story for Northwestern’s scandal. This is merely the end of Part 1. How many follows will be determined on how the university proceeds from here. Do they go forward with renovations of Ryan Field? Who is the next head coach and face of the program? What does the NCAA say? What happens with the baseball program?
There are a lot of questions that Schill and Gragg have to work to answer. We’ll have to see if they can give the right answers.