More than six months after Northwestern began investigating allegations of hazing within its football team, and two days after announcing that coach Pat Fitzgerald had been suspended for two weeks without pay, the program remains shrouded in uncertainty even with the start of fall practices just weeks away.
The school said Friday that Fitzgerald, a onetime star player and now the Wildcats' winningest coach, was suspended after an investigation led by attorney Maggie Hickey of law firm ArentFox Schiff did not find"sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing -- though there were"significant opportunities" to find out about it.
"As the head coach of one of our athletics programs," Schill wrote,"Coach Fitzgerald is not only responsible for what happens within the program but also must take great care to uphold our institutional commitment to the student experience and our priority to ensure all students -- undergraduate and graduate -- can thrive during their time at Northwestern.
The school first learned of the hazing allegations in late 2022, and the former player who brought the complaint spoke to investigators earlier this year as part of a six-month probe launched by the university. The report concluded the claims could be"largely supported by the evidence" but could not determine whether the coaching staff was aware of the incidents.
Then-Aggies coach Greg Heiar, who was fired in February, was recently hired to coach Mineral Area College in Missouri.
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