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Northwestern’s football team is still bouncing back from the hazing scandal that surfaced over the summer, and it appears the school has a new headache on its hands now that two former players have come forward with allegations of the racism they say they were subjected to during their time with the program.
Earlier this year, now-former Northwestern Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald was hit with a two-week suspension stemming from an investigation into hazing that transpired under his watch. However, it didn’t take long for the university’s student newspaper to publish an explosive exposé detailing some of the disturbing behavior that was initially punished with a slap of the wrist.
That article was a major reason Northwestern opted to dismiss Fitzgerald just a couple of days after it was published. It was arguably already time for a changing of the guard when you consider the team went 1-11 in 2022 a year after posting a 3-9 record, but based on the information that surfaced, it was pretty clear Northwestern made the right call.
Fitzgerald was initially promoted in 2006 after former Northwestern coach Randy Walker died of a heart attack at the age of 52, and it appears his predecessor may have also engaged in some problematic behavior during his time at the helm.
According to the Chicago Tribune, former Northwestern football players Noah Herron and Rico Lamitte held a press conference on Friday to discuss another disturbing pattern of behavior they say Black players were subjected to during Walker’s tenure while asserting they were purposely treated more harshly than their white counterparts.
Herron (a running back who played for the Wildcats between 2000 and 2004) said the program instituted rules concerning the length and styling of their hair. According to Lamitte (who went as “Rico Tarver” while playing WR and safety between 2001 and 2005), if they were considered in violation, “staff would instruct upperclassmen to hold them down and forcibly cut it.”
The former RB also stated Walker explicitly targeted the color of their skin while doling out discipline in the form of conditioning drills, saying:
“The head coach told two white position coaches that if these two Black players were able to walk off the field after their punishment, that they themselves would be fired.
The physical punishment was so severe that one of my brothers, a grown man, defecated himself and needed to be carried off the field.”
A spokesperson for the school acknowledged the accusations and stated it plans to conduct an independent investigation into the matter.
The press conference in question was organized by a law firm representing dozens of other players who’ve already filed lawsuits against the school over other forms of hazing, and while it said neither Herron nor Lamitte have taken legal action, it appears their claims will be used to supplement other cases concerning the toxic culture the football team has been accused of fostering.