Pat Fitzgerald Fires Back At Lawsuit Implicating Him In Northwestern Hazing Scandal

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Pat Fitzgerald was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a former Northwestern football player over allegations of hazing.

He, university president Michael Schill, athletic director Derrick Gragg, the university, its board of trustees, and former president Morton Schapiro were all named in the lawsuit filed by an anonymous member of the Wildcats football team from 2018 through 2022.

Another attorney, Ben Crump, and the law firm Levin & Perconti also announced that they would be representing eight former Northwestern football players in a separate lawsuit.

Tuesday night, Fitzgerald fired back at the lawsuit that was filed by the anonymous player over the program’s hazing scandal.

Fitzgerald’s attorney Dan Webb issued a statement which read, “The Complaint recites the same anonymous allegations set forth in a July 8, 2023 newspaper article. Instead of making actual detailed factual allegations about Coach Fitzgerald’s conduct, the complaint makes a variety of broad-based and sweeping allegations ‘upon information and belief,’ without citing any specific facts or evidence.”

Webb added that “the complaint has no validity as to Coach Fitzgerald and we will aggressively defend against these allegations with facts and evidence.”

He then reiterated, “Nothing in the John Doe complaint comes close to contradiction the conclusions of the months-long investigation led by Attorney Maggie Hickey – that Coach Fitzgerald had no knowledge whatsoever of any form of hazing within the Northwestern Football Program. Again, we look forward to defending Coach Fitzgerald and taking all steps necessary to protect his legal rights, name, and reputation.”

Fitzgerald initially only received a two-week suspension from Northwestern over the hazing allegations.

In a press release, Northwestern claimed their investigation revealed, “The hazing was well-known by many in the program, though the investigator failed to find any credible evidence that Coach Fitzgerald himself knew about it.”

Despite that, Fitzgerald went from being suspended for two week to being fired, leading to much confusion in the media and with fans.

On Tuesday, in a press release from Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, the law firm representing the John Doe, they claimed, “Fitzgerald knew, enabled, and encouraged this behavior and created a culture of abuse within the football program that carried over throughout the athletic department.”

Who actually knew what and when will be up for debate until all of these lawsuits are settled, including one that could potentially be filed by Pat Fitzgerald himself.