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Dan Patrick suggests what tipped the scales ahead of Pat Fitzgerald’s firing

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Dan Patrick believes the hazing scandal that ultimately led to the departure of Pat Fitzgerald “feels like Northwestern was not able to handle itself.” Usually, Patrick said, universities and big-time football programs keep things like this in-house, but Northwestern didn’t do a good job of that at all.

Looking ahead, the syndicated radio host said he wants accountability for everyone involved, and added that there are questions for the remaining players and coaching staff moving forward. Specifically, how much did they know about the alleged hazing found in the investigation.

“You’re going to fire a head coach? Fine,” he said. “What about the assistant coaches. Now, I know that there’s pressure to not come forward because you don’t want to usurp your head coach, go around him. And then somebody might say, ‘Oh, now, what do you do with the locker room, you’ve got rats in there.’ I go, they’re not rats, whistleblowers, OK. They came forward, they didn’t want to put up with this.”

Even after Fitzgerald was suspended for 2 weeks, Patrick said, “The reaction from the public is the reason why Pat Fitzgerald got fired.”

Patrick also added that if Fitzgerald wanted to find out, he could’ve learned easily.

Keith Farner

Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.