Ad Disclosure
Former Northwestern players allege program had ‘culture of enabling racism’
Published:
Northwestern had a “culture of enabling racism” under head coach Pat Fitzgerald, according to 3 former players from the late-2000s who spoke to The Daily Northwestern in a new report on Monday.
Those 3 players also corroborated some of the hazing allegations reported by The Daily on Sunday. Two of the former players asked to remain anonymous. A third went on record with their name — Ramon Diaz Jr., a Latino offensive lineman who played for Northwestern from 2005 to 2008.
Diaz, now working as a clinical therapist, told The Daily he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after graduating from Northwestern and said his time with the football program was a major factor in that diagnosis. He recalled having flashbacks and nightmares of things that occurred in the football locker room, according to the report.
From The Daily’s report:
“I didn’t feel like I could be anything other than white,” Diaz told The Daily. “We never felt like we could be ourselves. We had to fit in by being white or acting white or laughing at our own people.”
Another player, who asked to remain anonymous and played through the 2009 season, said racism on the team was often blatant. He alleged head coach Pat Fitzgerald would ask Black players and coaches to cut off longer hairstyles — including dreadlocks — so that they were more in line with what Fitzgerald called the “Wildcat Way.”
…
The first anonymous player said that white players who had long hairstyles were not asked to alter their appearances.
According to the report, all 3 former players confirmed the existence of a hazing tradition called the “car wash,” and that it was part of a larger system of hazing on the team.
On Friday, Pat Fitzgerald was suspended for 2 weeks without pay after an investigation into the football program deemed allegations of hazing to be credible. The school, however, said it did not find sufficient evidence to determine whether Fitzgerald or any other member of the staff knew about the conduct.
One day later, The Daily reported allegations from an anonymous player that hazing was widespread throughout the program. Then, on Sunday, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg reported that ESPN had received a screenshot of a whiteboard that included punishments for players such as “naked slingshot” and “naked bear crawls.” The anonymous former player claimed the whiteboard was in the locker room throughout his entire time in the program “for all eyes to see.”
Northwestern players issued a statement to Rittenberg on Saturday — attributed to “the ENTIRE Northwestern Football Team” — that staunchly denied the program engaged in hazing and said recent allegations have been “exaggerated and twisted.” That statement also said Fitzgerald had no knowledge of or involvement in the alleged incidents.
The same evening that statement was delivered, Northwestern President Michael Schill posted a letter to the university community saying, in part, that “upon reflection, I believe I may have erred in weighing the appropriate sanction for Coach Fitzgerald.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.