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Pat Fitzgerald has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a former Northwestern football player over allegations of hazing.
The recently fired Northwestern football coach, university president Michael Schill, athletic director Derrick Gragg, the university, its board of trustees, and former president Morton Schapiro are all named in the lawsuit, according to ESPN.
The lawsuit, filed by an anonymous former player, states that he was a member of the Wildcats football team from 2018 through 2022.
His attorneys, Patrick Salvi and Parker Stinar of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, say they expect to add more football players to the lawsuit in the coming weeks. They also may add ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, who previously served as Northwestern’s athletic director to the suit.
They stated that they had spoken to around a dozen players who played football at Northwestern over the past 15 years.
“It seems like the athletic department as a whole was culturally tainted in a way that permitted hazing, sexual harassment, [and] racial discrimination,” Stinar said.
The lawsuit alleges that Pat Fitzgerald took “part in the harassment, hazing, bullying, assault, and/or abuse of athletes,” Crain’s Chicago Business reports.
“From 2018 until 2022, members of the football team would watch as Defendant Patrick Fitzgerald harassed, hazed, bullied, assaulted and/or abused athletes, including but not limited to plaintiff,” the lawsuit claims.
A press release from Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard claims, “Fitzgerald knew, enabled, and encouraged this behavior and created a culture of abuse within the football program that carried over throughout the athletic department.
“We intend to hold the defendants, including Fitzgerald, accountable for the alleged actions and seek justice for victims of abuse, hazing, and discrimination.”
Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard is currently running an ad on Google searches with a link to the allegations looking for more victims.
Attorney Ben Crump and the law firm Levin & Perconti announced on Monday that his firm will also be representing eight former Northwestern football players in a separate lawsuit.