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Purple Pile Driver said:

His incompetence has nothing to do with protecting that clown Gregg from besmirching his reputation with equal or greater incompetence by how he didn’t handle the situation.

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What reputation? His reputation as a bad OC? The reason he couldn't find another gig is because of bad performance on the field. If he was great at his job, he would still be at NU, or any other number of programs. Him suing the University does not hurt Gragg, it hurts the University.

Wearing the shirt given the circumstances was tone deaf.

His incompetence has nothing to do with protecting that clown Gregg from besmirching his reputation with equal or greater incompetence by how he didn’t handle the situation.

F this guy. With the exception of JON, he is the number one reason Fitz should have been fired. He let this guy coast for way too long. His ability to squander the great Hank defenses is really a shame.

Darren72 said:

unless you are Gragg, I guess you are saying.

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No. Gragg spoke as NU's representative and publicly impugned the character of a member of the football staff, not for the team's performance, but directly linking him to hazing / misconduct.
And (apparently) lied about the circumstances.
He didnt issue the statement until the Daily ran the photo of Bajakian wearing the shirt.

Bajakian has every right to sue and might win.

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Juyongguan Great Wall Pass is the first of three impregnable passes in The Great Wall of China. The below video was filmed last month in conjunction with climbing The Great Wall of China at this north pass to Beijing.

Positioned 37 miles north of Beijing’s center The Great Wall of China at this juncture protected the city from Mongol invasions during the Ming Dynasty when it was built in its present form by the first Ming Emperor who had moved the Capital of China from Nanking a/k/a Nanjing to Peking a/k/a Beijing in the early 1400s prior to Columbus's discovery of America.

Even before China was united by its first Emperor Qin circa 200 BC who is given credit for first building The Great Wall of China by linking together many smaller walls, a form of the wall at this location had been erected centuries prior.

In this below video I am standing at one of the Eastern Wall’s vantage points and looking across to the Western portion of the wall which is the most treacherous to climb. The highest point is on top of the Western Wall and designated as Fortress 13.

(In a companion video filmed 6 years ago I share the view from Fortress 13 looking to the Eastern wall as I viewed it then after climbing to the highest point.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viu4B-0n9Lk

Below is the companion video from 6 years ago.

Standing at Fortress 13 of The Great Wall of China’s challenging Western Section located at Juyongguan Pass, this video records the spectacular view looking across the valley to the Eastern portion of The Great Wall of China.

Fortress 13 is the highest point. Six years ago I climbed to this point. Last month I returned and climbed the Eastern portion of the wall from where in a companion video I filmed the opposite view looking back to the Western portion.

On this prior visit I was motivated to climb the more difficult Western route when my guide advised that it was the route that Michael Jordan and Nicolas Cage chose on their visits to The Great Wall of China when he had guided them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eR1_VodB9I

Once again, the Purple also made it to the Great Wall of China:



And these from six years ago when climbing the more challenging West Side with its steeper steps and higher heights:

T_Levine said:

Per ESPN.

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I can fight this case for NU and I don't have a law degree.

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Since Bajakian is suing for defamation / reputational damage, I think he has a case.

It is pretty clear to me that Schill, Gragg and the kids at the Daily Northwestern were trying to paint him as a bad human being.
And they implied that he knew about the alleged hazing and did nothing.

Bajakian's claim that he wore the "Cats against the world" shirt while talking to Gragg (who said nothing about it) stands in sharp contrast to the later statement (after the Daily ran photos)

"I am extremely disappointed that a few members of our football program staff decided to wear 'Cats Against the World' shirts," Gragg said in a statement. "Neither I nor the university was aware that they owned or would wear these shirts today. The shirts are inappropriate, offensive and tone deaf. Let me be crystal clear: Hazing has no place at Northwestern, and we are committed to do whatever is necessary to address hazing-related issues, including thoroughly investigating any incidents or allegations of hazing or any other misconduct."

This statement links Bajakian to the hazing. Logic tells you that the shirts were NOT offensive and were NOT defending "hazing." They were defending themselves against unwarranted reputational smears and defending Fitzgerald. Free speech is (supposedly) protected...

The “Cats against the world” t-shirt and Gragg’s ensuing statement are specifically identified.

Northwestern: [shows highlights of Cole Freeman game versus Illinois and Andrew Marty versus Wisconsin]. “We rest our case.”

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DaCat said:

It can be argued the other way too. Would we have improved the second half the season under Fitz? Come back vs Minny? Beaten Bert? All hypothetical.

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Of course, Lots of things can be argued.

People like to believe that "there was nothing the coach could do" or "injuries happen" or whatever...
But my mindset is that whatever happens is influenced by all sorts of things - decisions the coach makes impact the likelihood of a player getting injured, for example. The talent on the team is the same, regardless of who is coaching. How they perform is largely influenced by the coaches.

Just using logic, it seems to me that NU would have been much more prepared to start the season with Fitzgerald at the helm.
So we start (much) better and finish roughly the same.

The key to the season was Bryant getting injured against Penn State and missing 4 games. We lost to Iowa and Nebraska and almost lost to Howard with Sullivan at the helm. I think we win all 4 of those games with Bryant at QB. Guessing we blow Maryland and Howard out.

Having seen the impact first hand, I'll guess David Braun does more next year to try to keep his top QB healthy.

curdog said:

Well the trials will be starting in a few months (assuming no settlement). It will be in the news but you don’t have to read it….

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It seemed to me the prospective defendants are those with oversight responsibility.

I'm around NU news too much to miss the headlines - that's having to read it for me.

For the sickos, Boo makes his Suns debut against Spencer and the Warriors on ESPN2 at 10 Central tonight.

Audige and the Bulls play at 330 Central against Milwaukee on NBA TV.

Frank Solich had a remarkable career. Raised in Ohio, went to Nebraska to play football, and stayed for four decades. Starring for the Huskers, coaching high school football in Lincoln, assisting at Nebraska, leading at Nebraska, getting unceremoniously dumped at Nebraska.

After a year off, returned to his home state and stayed forever, becoming the winningest coach in MAC history. (Herb Deromedi, of whom I’d never heard until reading all the way to the bottom of Cappy’s message, is second.)

Solich’s final season was 2020, so he didn’t get a proper sendoff. But he closed his career with a 52-10 win, in front of 1,182 fans in Athens the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

His suit claims that the administration has defamed him and so he’s unable to get comparable work. What a laugh.

Northwestern ranked 120th nationally in yards and 129th in scoring during Bajakian's tenure.

That probably had something to do with his inability to get comparable work.

People talk about JON being Fitz’s worst hire, but it’s all relative. We just think so because the gap with Hank was so wide and obvious. But the reality is our offense under Bajakian was even worse than JON’s defenses statistically. Bajakian benefited from hiding behind Hank’s stellar defenses for a couple years and then when you add JON defenses you really get a shit show reflected in 4-20 over two years. 1-10. And people think the program was never better when Fitz left. What a hoot.

DarkSide576 said:

Getting on the gravy train? Does he really have a case?
According to ESPN: 'According to the lawsuit, Bajakian lost the chance to have his contract renewed, could not land comparable employment and suffered reputational damage.' and 'Northwestern ranked 120th nationally in yards and 129th in scoring during Bajakian's tenure.' Seems to me that all the university needs to do is point to the stats to answer all of allegations in the lawsuit.

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Why not sue? Everyone else is doing it to NU and they typically fold like a tent. If there was a ranking for most lawsuits against a University, NU would be world class!