Michael Schill, Northwestern President, releases statement on firing of Pat Fitzgerald

Michael Schill, President of Northwestern University, announced Monday that Pat Fitzgerald, who has coached the Wildcats football program since 2006, has been fired.

This comes following an investigation into the football program, and by extension Fitzgerald, for hazing. A report from the Daily Northwestern, the school’s student-run newspaper, yielded some disturbing details that include sexual harassment and allegations of a racist culture throughout the program.

Here’s what Schill had to say about Fitzgerald’s dismissal:

Since Friday, I have kept going back to what we should reasonably expect from our head coaches, our faculty and our campus leaders. And that is what led me to make this decision. The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team. The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening. Either way, the culture in Northwestern Football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others.

There is no doubt that Coach Fitzgerald has had a tremendous impact on our institution, well beyond the football field. For nearly thirty years, he has given himself to Northwestern as a student-athlete, assistant coach and head coach, and he has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of young men. His players have almost all graduated and represented the University with distinction. Over the last two days, I have received hundreds and hundreds of emails describing how he has transformed the lives of current and former student-athletes. However, as much as Coach Fitzgerald has meant to our institution and our student-athletes, we have an obligation — in fact a responsibility — to live by our values, even when it means making difficult and painful decisions such as this one. We must move forward.

The remainder of Schill’s statement can be found here.

Schill’s statement also revealed that 11 current or former student athletes have confirmed the hazing incidents have been ongoing in the football program. He also confirmed the reports of the graphic, degrading sexual nature of the hazing.

Finally, he revealed that there was credible evidence that Fitzgerald was aware these acts were taking place.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Tradition.