Northwestern Fires Pat Fitzgerald Amid Hazing Allegations, per Report

Published 4:05 pm Monday, July 10, 2023

Northwestern has fired coach Pat Fitzgerald, according to a Monday afternoon report from Matt Fortuna of The Athletic.

The move comes three days after Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks following an investigation into hazing within the Wildcats’ football program. The investigation found that allegations made by a whistleblower in November 2022 were “largely corroborated.”

On Saturday, Nicole Markus, Alyce Brown, Cole Reynolds and Divya Bhardwaj of The Daily Northwestern—the university’s student newspaper—reported details uncovered by the investigation, including allegations of coerced sexual acts. Later reports from ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and Bradley Locker of Inside NU corroborated such claims.

The Daily Northwestern later reported allegations of racism within the program by several former players.

Fitzgerald, 48, is the winningest coach in the history of the program with a record of 110–101. As a player, he won the Nagurski and Bednarik Awards in 1995 and ’96, helping lead the program to the ’96 Rose Bowl for the first time since ’48.