Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald was issued an unpaid two-week suspension, effective Friday, following an investigation into hazing allegations within the program. The investigation, led by former Illinois inspector general Maggie Hickey, found "evidence to corroborate claims made by an anonymous whistleblower regarding hazing activities and events."
The investigation began in December following allegations that football players participated in locker room hazing as part of rituals that may have started at the team's preseason training camp referred to as "Camp Kenosha" in Wisconsin. On Saturday, a day after the investigation findings were revealed, The Daily Northwestern spoke with two former players who claimed the hazing often involved coerced sexual acts.
A common form of hazing, known as "running," was often used as a punishment for team members -- mostly freshmen -- that made a mistake in practice or another football setting. A player who spoke with the Daily said that an athlete selected for "running" would be restrained by a group of upperclassmen and "dry-humped" in a dark locker room.
"It's done under this smoke and mirror of 'oh, this is team bonding,' but no, this is sexual abuse," the player said.
According to the Daily, teammates commonly identified players for "running" by clapping their hands above their heads around that player, a motion Fitzgerald allegedly made repeatedly during practices. One player who spoke with the Daily believes that other players interpreted that as Fitzgerald "encouraging" the hazing.
ESPN followed up with the former player on Sunday, who confirmed that he and his family had spoken to Schill, describing the school president as "extremely receptive." The ex-player also detailed another aspect of the hazing known as "SHREK'S LIST," where players names would be written on a whiteboard bulleted under categories such as "naked bear crawls" and "naked slingshot."
"The investigation team did not discover sufficient evidence to believe that coaching staff knew about the ongoing hazing conduct," read an executive summary of the investigation. "They determined, however, that there had been significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct. "
Fitzgerald is entering his 18th season as Northwestern's coach and is coming off his worst season after the Wildcats struggled to a 1-11 record in 2022. The 48-year-old former Wildcats linebacker also worked as an assistant for five seasons with the program before taking over as head coach ahead of the 2006 season.
"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. We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward."
In addition to Fitzgerald's two-week suspension, practices at Camp Kenosha will be permanently discontinued following the investigation. Other measures the program is adopting following the investigation include:
- The University will require monitoring of the football locker room by someone who doesn't report to the football coaching staff.
- The University will create an online reporting tool specifically for student athletes to anonymously report incidents of potential hazing or hazing-related concerns.
- The University will provide and require annual mandatory anti-hazing training for all coaches, staff members and student-athletes, with an emphasis on reporting options, the duties to report, discipline for future violations and the fact that hazing is not acceptable regardless of consent.
- The University will form an internal working group comprising Northwestern leaders across various disciplines to create a report on policy development, organizational culture, communication, training and enforcement. The group will solicit input from external experts and will make their report open to the entire community.
- Northwestern Athletics will better utilize the annual student-athlete-survey process to ensure coaches are aware of and act on student concerns.
- Northwestern Athletics will work with the NCAA and Big Ten Conference to ensure all processes and rules are followed.
Investigators interviewed more than 50 people associated with the football program, reviewing emails and player survey data dating back to 2014, according to the summary. The Wildcats are scheduled to open the 2023 season on Sunday, Sept. 3 at Rutgers.
