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The Northwestern baseball team is the latest within the Wildcats’ athletic department to be under fire. A new report alleges that head coach Jim Foster created a “toxic workplace environment.”
That environment is said to have caused half the team to end up in therapy while seeing a pair of coaches leave at season’s start. It’s the latest black eye on the university, which is in the midst of a football controversy, as well.
On Monday, longtime head football coach Pat Fitzgerald was relieved of his duties amid serious hazing accusations and claims that he created a culture that enabled racism.
The school conducted its own investigation into the football program, which couldn’t prove that Fitzgerald had direct knowledge of the situation, resulting in an initial two-week suspension.
While those findings didn’t change over the weekend, outrage from the college football community grew. That suspension became a dismissal by Monday with Northwestern saying the leader is “ultimately responsible for the culture of his team.”
Fitzgerald then released a statement of his own, which hinted at legal recourse.
But apparently, it wasn’t the only investigation being conducted within the athletic department. The Northwestern baseball team is now being cited as cultivating a toxic culture of its own, and one that reportedly led a number of players to seek therapy.
Northwestern baseball coach Jim Foster created a toxic workplace environment that was so bad, it caused half of the team to end up in therapy.
Our @gjdorsey7 spoke with athletes, staffers, managers and more who shared their nightmarish year under Foster: https://t.co/yQmtfvfANy
— Inside NU (@insidenu) July 11, 2023
Inside NU quotes a report from The Score 670 and The Chicago Tribune which claims first-year head coach Jim Foster created an environment that was “harmful to everyone involved.” Sixteen players have entered the transfer portal since season’s end.
“Unlike the situation with Fitz, you without a doubt will not be seeing any support for him being signed off on by our team, which speaks volumes,” a transferring player said about Foster.
The reports states that the Northwestern baseball coach was often disengaged or absent altogether throughout the year, and when he was present, he was “abrasive” to players and fellow staff.
That relationship with co-workers led to an HR complaint being filed describing Foster’s “bullying and abusive behavior.”
Making things worse, there were also allegations of inappropriate comments made towards a female staffer.
Despite confirming the claims from the HR report before season’s start, Northwestern did nothing to protect its players and assistant coaches. As a result, two coaches left the team in February.
The Wildcats went just 10-40 in Foster’s first season, and now, they’re being hit with this off-field controversy. Things are getting worse before they get better in Evanston.