Former Northwestern Player: Pat Fitzgerald 'Absolutely Failed' by Not Ending Hazing

An anonymous former Northwestern football player said Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald "absolutely failed" his duties by not stopping a hazing program among players on the team.

"Fitz absolutely knew about hazing in this program," the former player told Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. "Fitz absolutely failed by not intervening. Fitz knew, and he should have made it stop; and if he truly did not know, he should not be the head coach. Either way, he should not be the head coach, because he is not monitoring and protecting the safety and well-being of student-athletes."

The player met with Northwestern president Michael Schill on Sunday to discuss his knowledge of the program. Schill released a statement Saturday saying he is reassessing Fitzgerald's two-week unpaid suspension as more information comes to light about the hazing program.

A former player detailed what he described as "egregious and vile and inhumane behavior" that took place while he was at the program in an interview with Nicole Markus, Alyce Brown, Cole Reynolds, and Divya Bhardwaj of the Daily Northwestern. The alleged hazing was often sexual in nature according to the player and included players violently dry-humping their teammates in a process called "running."

According to the player, Fitzgerald knew about the practice and would make a hand signal known as a "Shrek clap" as a way to inform members of the locker room which players needed to get "ran."

"Everyone would just be looking at each other and be like 'bro, Fitz knows about this,' because you wouldn't take that action otherwise," the player said. "Everyone joins in, because he's the head coach."

The allegations of the former player, who reported his findings to Northwestern officials, were "largely supported by evidence" uncovered in a university investigation. While the details of the behavior "varied" based on the perspectives of current and former players, the investigation found "widespread" hazing and suspended Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay.

Fitzgerald has denied any knowledge of the behavior.

"I was very disappointed when I heard about the allegations of hazing on our football team," Fitzgerald said. "Although I was not aware of the alleged incidents, I have spoken to University officials, and they informed me of a two-week suspension, effective immediately.

"Northwestern football prides itself on producing not just athletes, but fine young men with character befitting the program and our University," Fitzgerald said. "We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward."

The current Northwestern football team released a statement Saturday in support of Fitzgerald and pushed back on the hazing allegations.

"It is disheartening to see that the allegations brought forth against our team have been exaggerated and twisted into lies," the statement read. "These fabrications have been made with the intention of harming our program and tarnish the reputation of our dedicated players and coaching staff. We firmly deny the validity of these accusations and stand united in our assertion that they do not reflect the true character of our team."

A current player who spoke to Rittenhouse said the whistleblower made the accusations with the sole purpose of getting Fitzgerald fired.

"He just kept emphasizing, 'Yeah, it'll be OK. I'm just trying to get Coach Fitz fired,'" the current player told ESPN. "I don't think he ever acknowledged what he's saying is not true. It was just like, 'I might embellish or exaggerate to get Coach Fitz fired.' He said his sole goal was to see Coach Fitz rot in jail."

Fitzgerald has been Northwestern's head coach since 2006.