With Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, who has in the past rebuffed NFL interest, currently serving a meaningless two-week suspension over bullying allegations against the program, more details about the alleged incidents have come to light. And Fitzgerald’s players have spoken out in unison in his and their own defense.
A lengthy article in the Daily Northwestern – the school’s newspaper – describes the practice of “evicting” players who other players felt should be punished. Usually the penalty was given to young players for mistakes made during training.
“I’ve seen it with my own eyes and it’s just outrageous, despicable and inhumane behavior,” an unnamed former player told the Daily Northwestern. The player said he reported the situation to the school in November 2022.
“Run” involves being held down by a group of masked high school students who then begin “dry hobbling” the player in a dark locker room.
“As a freshman, it’s a shocking experience to see the freshmen’s team-mates running but then you saw everyone in the dressing room watching,” said the player. “It’s just a really aggressive and barbaric culture that has permeated this program for years. . . . It’s done under the guise of ‘oh, that’s team spirit’, but no, that’s sexual abuse.”
The article details other incidents of a sexual nature, including players being forced to participate in naked center-quarterback swaps and an annual tradition known as a “car wash” in which “some players stood naked at the entrance to the showers and…” They turn around and force those entering the shower to “basically rub up against a naked man,” followed by painful hosing down.
Northwestern football players on Saturday issued an opinion
He denied any harassment, calling the allegations “exaggerated and twisted into lies” made “with intent to damage our program and damage the reputation of our dedicated players and coaching staff”. The statement also notes that the school has “engaged an independent third party” to investigate the situation.
“It is important to note that our head coach Pat Fitzgerald was in no way, shape or form involved in any of the alleged incidents,” the statement said. “Coach Fitzgerald was unaware of these allegations until brought to his attention during the investigation. Throughout his tenure, Coach Fitzgerald has always made the welfare and development of his players a priority and we stand behind him with his unwavering commitment to our team.”
Even at the high intelligence level of the average Northwest student, this statement does not read as if it was written by someone who is 19, 20, or 21 years old. It has the not-so-subtle hints of knowledge and experience when it comes to crafting effective PR messages. The true story of its creation could be very interesting and revealing.
Despite the testimony, the Daily Northwestern newspaper revealed in its story the possibility that Fitzgerald knew about the “running” ritual and that he used a signal during practice to designate the players who should receive the penalty. While the official version states that Fitzgerald knew nothing, he was nevertheless suspended for two weeks without pay.
And as for the independent nature of third-party investigations, what we have learned from coverage of the NFL is that these investigations are often not truly independent. Typically this is done by an outside attorney who gets a specific assignment from the client and who, if smart and willing to get more work from that client, finds out how the company paying him or her is doing it result wishes.
Here, for Fitzgerald, the result amounts to a largely symbolic (if not cheap) gesture. Whether that impacts his status in the program or potential NFL prospects remains to be seen.