Pat Fitzgerald is fired as Northwestern football coach in the wake of a hazing scandal: ‘The culture ... was broken’

Pat Fitzgerald was fired as Northwestern football coach Monday after a hazing scandal tarnished the program he helped build.

In a statement emailed to the university community, President Michael Schill said he told Fitzgerald on Monday afternoon “he was being relieved of his duties effective immediately,” citing a “broken” culture in the program.

“The damage done to our institution is significant,” Schill said, “as is the harm to some of our students.”

Fitzgerald originally received a two-week, unpaid suspension from the university Friday after an outside investigation confirmed a former player’s account of hazing by teammates. The report said the coaching staff had “significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct,” which it did not detail.

After the student paper, The Daily Northwestern, on Saturday published the former player’s account of sexualized hazing activities, Schill said in a letter to the Northwestern community he erred in judgment and would revisit the sanctions against Fitzgerald.

Two days later, Fitzgerald was out.

Fitzgerald, in a statement sent to ESPN on Monday night, said he was “surprised” that Schill “unilaterally revoked our agreement” to the two-week suspension “without any prior notification.” He said attorney Dan Webb and agent Bryan Harlan will “take the necessary steps to protect my rights in accordance with the law.”

Fitzgerald said the external investigation “reaffirmed what I have always maintained — that I had no knowledge whatsoever of any form of hazing within the Northwestern football program.”

In his statement Monday, Schill said he reached his decision “after a difficult and complex evaluation” of his initial punishment for Fitzgerald’s “failure to know and prevent significant hazing in the football program.”

“Over the last 72 hours, I have spent a great deal of time in thought and in discussions with people who love our University — the Chair and members of our Board of Trustees, faculty leadership, students, alumni and Coach Fitzgerald himself,” Schill said. “I have also received many phone calls, text messages and emails from those I know, and those I don’t, sharing their thoughts.

“While I am appreciative of the feedback and considered it in my decision-making, ultimately, the decision to originally suspend Coach Fitzgerald was mine and mine alone, as is the decision to part ways with him.”

The external investigation found 11 current or former players who corroborated the hazing allegations, according to Schill’s statement, and subsequent media reporting revealed other former players who “confirmed that hazing was systemic dating back many years.”

While Schill said the investigator found no “credible evidence” that Fitzgerald knew about the hazing, it was “well-known by many in the program.”

“The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team,” Schill said. “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.”

First-year defensive coordinator David Braun is expected to be named acting head coach, ESPN reported Monday night. Braun was hired in January from North Dakota State.

Fitzgerald ends his Northwestern career as the winningest football coach in school history with a 110-101 record in 17 seasons. A former star linebacker on the Wildcats’ 1995 team that played in the Rose Bowl, Fitzgerald became the youngest head coach in the nation when he took over for Randy Walker in 2006 at age 31 after Walker died of a heart attack.

Walker had hired Fitzgerald as a secondary coach in 2001, and Fitzgerald was moved to linebackers coach the next year.

“This would have been Randy’s choice,” Walker’s widow, Tammy, said at the time. “(Fitzgerald) becoming the head coach will keep all of the positive things at NU going in the same direction.”

When former athletic director Mark Murphy came to Fitzgerald’s house to offer him the job, Fitzgerald called it “the most bittersweet moment I’ve ever had. It was a dream of mine to be head coach here, but not under these circumstances.”

Before his first season he told the Tribune: “I’ve learned that life is extremely fragile and you need to live life every day like it may be your last, and to really, truly love the people who are close to you and that they know that you love them. And communicate to the people around you how important they are in your life because you never know when that’s not going to be there.”

Over the years, Fitzgerald frequently was the subject of job rumors, with NFL teams and other power conference schools reportedly interested in hiring him away.

But he stayed at his alma mater, and after the Wildcats made the Big Ten title game for the second time in three years during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he was rewarded with a 10-year contract through 2030 worth a reported $57 million.

The Wildcats suffered through a 3-9 season in 2021 and hit rock bottom the next year, going 1-11 with their only victory coming in the opener against Nebraska in Ireland. Still, there was no talk of Fitzgerald’s job being in jeopardy until the external report on the hazing scandal was released Friday.

The university and Fitzgerald declined to comment as details of the reported hazing became public, adding to the scrutiny over his future. By Monday, it was no longer tenable for Fitzgerald to continue.

Sports marketing consultant Marc Ganis said he expects Fitzgerald will find other employment very quickly.

“Pat Fitzgerald,” Ganis said, “has just become the most sought-after free agent in all of college football.”

Tribune reporter Robert Channick contributed.