Northwestern Fires Pat Fitzgerald Amid Hazing Allegations

The former Wildcats linebacker is the winningest coach in program history.

Northwestern has fired coach Pat Fitzgerald, in a move initially reported by Matt Fortuna of The Athletic and confirmed by the school later Monday night.

The move comes three days after Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks following an investigation into hazing within the Wildcats’ football program. The investigation found that allegations made by a whistleblower in November 2022 were “largely corroborated.”

On Saturday, Nicole Markus, Alyce Brown, Cole Reynolds and Divya Bhardwaj of The Daily Northwestern—the university’s student newspaper—reported details uncovered by the investigation, including allegations of coerced sexual acts. Later reports from ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and Bradley Locker of Inside NU corroborated such claims.

The Daily Northwestern later reported allegations of racism within the program by several former players.

On Monday night, Fitzgerald informed ESPN in a statement that he had retained legal counsel from Dan Webb of Winston & Strain LLP in Chicago.

"I was surprised when I learned that the president of Northwestern unilaterally revoked our agreement without any prior notification and subsequently terminated my employment," Fitzgerald said, indicating he would "take the necessary steps to protect my rights in accordance with the law."

Statement attached from former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald to ESPN, which includes that he's hired a high-profile attorney to "take the necessary steps to protect my rights in accordance with the law." Fitzgerald: "I was surprised when I learned that the president of… pic.twitter.com/zPNTAkr2xn

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 11, 2023

Fitzgerald, 48, is the winningest coach in the history of the program with a record of 110–101. As a player, he won the Nagurski and Bednarik Awards in 1995 and ’96, helping lead the program to the ’96 Rose Bowl for the first time since ’48.