This is a story that should not be ignored.
Props to the student journalists.
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Sad. Hazing is definitely still an issue at many schools.
Not sure Fitzgerald will be able to keep his job. Time will tell. If Jim Phillips were still NUâs AD no way Fitzgerald stays. Not sure about the new AD, but a big test of his leadership.
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Edited to add one more update to the evolving story.
Why again do we think itâs so important that athletes receive special consideration during college admissions? Oh yeah, because athletics are important for developing the moral character of our youth. Itâs OK for their academic credentials to be substantially lower on average than for unhooked candidates, because athletes are our future leaders.
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As more details emerge, I donât see how Fitzgerald keeps his job.
The university is currently trying to negotiate with the community to build a new stadium and increase non athletic events and is being met with a lot of a push back. This doesnât help their image.
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I am actually surprised being local to the school and the school he represents, He would be the last coach I would think would participate in something like this.
But I only know him through the TV and local news reports.
I am sure many sport college teams have things they do to freshman as a matter of âtraditionâ. But there needs to be a line drawn on what that is.
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Yeah, and that line needs to be drawn at NOTHING done to them. Athletes need to grow up already.
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Itâs the culture their in. Even pro athleteâs have the rookies carry their bags and such for them until they âproveâ themselves. I am not in agreement with it. What happened to running additional laps or push ups or the like?
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Itâs interesting - they discipline, now are stepping back.
Iâm not sure heâd get fired because they canât connect him (it seems). Some are trying to use a hand gesture he makes to connect him.
I wonder if this behavior goes back to his playing days ?
Iâve never been on a football team but why would someone try to dry hump or agree as a player to mash up naked vs another ?
And then thereâs Huggins - more sports leadership we entrust our kids with - fighting for his job. Did he or didnât he resign ? If he didnât, why didnât he say that weeks ago when everyone said he did ?
Itâs amazing the power athletics has in the academic world.
Yes - money !! And not just cash now but increased applications for those who succeed.
Why else would Coach Prime, as an example, exist.
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Hazing is not unique to football and is still a problem in other sports, and in fraternities.
It wonât change until no one tolerates it anymore, at any level of any organization.
Regarding football, there is so much money in football (and college ball functions as the minor league for pro football), that I donât see change in admission preferences, or hazing or other bad behaviors any time soon.
We know how entrenched football is when the known risk of CTE, or the significantly greater risk of ALS in football players didnât harm the game.
The game wonât change until parents stop letting their kids play football. Thatâs happening in some relatively more affluent communities now, but thatâs just a tiny ripple in the ocean.
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This is absolutely sickening. Sadly, itâs stuff like this that makes me wary of boys wanting to play varsity team sports, join fraternities, or enlist in certain groups that also have some known hazing issues. Although there are certainly good actors out there (and probably the majority in team sports & enlistment groups), the trauma and its long-term effects on the victims is horrifying.
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I mean it certainly has at the local, younger levels. Peewee/Pop Warner type leagues with lower enrollment and fewer teams, leagues switching to flag-only, teams/towns combining to field a HS team, etc. Enough to meaningfully impact the NFL and NCAA? Not yet.
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Unfortunately, sexual abuse is often covered up and sexual abusers are often shuffled around in amateur sports as much as it has been in the Boy Scouts of America, USA Gymnastics, other Olympic organizations, and the Catholic Church.
Calling it hazing is a way to tame the language around it.
Those who look the other way and excuse/cover up for sexual abusers must be held to account as much as the abusers are to eradicate the culture of sexual abuse, not just the abuse itself.
It will take decades of more consistent and more widespread public consequences for athletic talent and ability to be purged of this social disease.
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Cut the football program. This type of behavior is the same as frat behavior, for the same reason, inherent in male single sex organizations, especially young males. To stop this you would have to place football team monitors at all times in all places. Just cut the team and staff, cut the entire program.
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I donât think that this behavior is âinherentâ in male single sex organizations. But yes, it is common in male single sex organizations where the men have been given the message they are entitled to act this way.
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And I believe that would bounce them from the Big 10 for all sports, so you are punishing all the teams because of the football team. Theyâd also lose a lot of money as Big 10 splits TV revenue equally.
Not going to happen.
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As Northwestern football has been struggling of late, I think heâs more vulnerable now. Sad to see because I like him personally but I think he is ultimately responsible.
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Here is a statement from the NU football team. It doesnât say the allegations arenât true, but that they were âexaggerated and twistedâ. Those two words were reiterated, adding the allegations were âexaggerated and twisted into liesâ. And later, they support the findings of the third party revies, and if said allegations did happen, Coach Fitzgerald didnât know.
The following article cites a current player who suggests the original accuser had a premeditated plan of taking down Pat Fitzgerald.
It also goes on to cite a second unnamed former player that claims he saw the âGatorade shake challengeâ, the âcar washâ as well as âother incidents in which players were coerced to do naked pullups and other things in a gym during preseason camp in Wisconsin.â
There are some who will focus on the coach. People may take sides for whatever reasons. However Iâm hoping we continue to address the culture that may contribute to hazing incidents in its many forms. Holding people and institutions accountable may prevent (though not eliminate completely) future occurrences.
This article outlines possible legal consequences.
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I would tend to believe the accusers, since it is extremely uncomfortable for the victims to come forward, and because sexually based hazing in male high school and college aged sport teams and frats is not all that unusual.
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