The Bison offense has bee an I formation, two back power offense. It truly is a complementary offense to their defensive prowess. Two backs and two TEs. But they have thrown it very well. Is this where we are headed for 2023? Does it fit Ben and/or our other QBs? Interesting decision for our interim.

To the tune of Fins (Jimmy Buffett)

He arrived from Willamette Valley
He was the backup in the plan.
Looking for a legal scholar,
The trustees gave him full command.

And now he’s drowning in a shitstorm.
Plaintiff lawyers pounding on the door.
They hang outside the locker room,
And they look for kids who feel sore.

Can't you feel them circling, Schilly?
Can't you feel them swimming around?
You got fins to the left, fins to the right,
And they aim to steal your crown.
Oh-whoa, oh-whoa
You got fins to the left, fins to the right,
And the deepest pockets to be found.

This is gonna cost lots of money,
Now that Crump is on the way.
Salvi’s the man with the bright spray-on tan
Hanging out on Randy Walker Way

But the money's good when the papers
Help to hype up the shame,
Boys went awry as the years went by
Now it’s time to assign the blame.

Can't you feel 'em closing in, Schilly?
Can't you feel 'em schooling around?
You got fins to the left, fins to the right,
And allegations all around.

Pissed off Purple fandom
Disagree on who’s the goat.
They couldn’t just keep it quiet.
Now Richardson gets to gloat.

And it feels like things are over
With our laundry hung out to dry.
Each new day brings a different claim
From the sharks that wear the cheap ties.

Can't you feel 'em circling, Wildcats?
Can't you feel 'em schoolin' around?
You got fins to the left, fins to the right,
And you're the only bait in town.
You got fins to the left, fins to the right,
And you're the biggest bait in town.


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The fans should have known that hazing was going on, but they turned a blind eye and continued to fund and consume the football entertainment product for their own enjoyment. The fans surely should have known that there was hazing going on given how pervasive it apparently was. We can see from the comments on this board that many fans accepted that hazing was part of the culture. Most fans were happy to ride the Fitz chain during the streak of bowl years, but now that the team won a total of 4 games in two seasons, things are different.

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Matt and I will be heading down to Indy very early tomorrow morning for Day 1 of Big Ten Media Days. The Northwestern contingent is up on Day 1, so we'll be driving back tomorrow night. It's going to be a long day.

Coach David Braun is up on the dais from 11:45 am to noon Eastern Time to begin his media baptism by fire. Here is the schedule of coaches for Wednesday:


We will also have access to three Northwestern players -- who probably thought when this was announced that it would be a fun event. They are:

LB Bryce Gallagher, Jr. (Raynham, Mass.)
DB Rod Heard II, Jr. (Farmington, Mich.)
WR Bryce Kirtz, Jr. (Brownsburg, Ind.)

Athletic Director David Gragg will also be there, according to school president Michael Schill. He's not scheduled to address the media, so we'll see how much access they allow with him.

As usual, this will all be broadcast on BTN.

As I explained in another thread, I imagine the pending lawsuits will provide cover for the NU representatives. We'll probably hear a lot of "no comment" or "due to the pending litigation, we cannot discuss hazing at this time" in response to targeted questions. I suppose that will help them survive what is sure to be an onslaught. But there are still a ton of storylines swirling around the program, so look for a string of stories from WR.

Matt and I are both looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.

The whole scandal and off-the-field issues have been discussed at length and rightfully will continue to be discussed. So I thought it may be interesting to discuss the on-the-field effect a little bit since there hasn't been much of that so far.

If we get past the fact that Fitz was a perfect guy for the program, was incredibly instrumental in getting the lakeside facility built (and the new stadium to the stage it's at now), etc., the reality is that there were a lot of things going on on the field that left a lot to be desired. His very conservative approach to game plans provided us with some success when we had good defenses, but in the years we didn't, our teams were generally pretty awful and hard to watch. We've talked the last two years about how not only weren't we winning, but we were so painful to watch too. Zero offense and a defense that couldn't stop anyone, whether that be on long plays, or teams like Minnesota just running it down our throat at will.

So, when we strictly look at the football team and the game that they play and what will happen on the field, I'll admit I'm actually sorta excited to see how a different coach may handle things. With the rest of the coaching staff still in place and being so close to the season, we may not see much of a change this year (understandably), but as we go forward into 2024 and beyond, especially if they bring in a new head coach from the outside, it will be pretty exciting to see how someone else strategizes and what their approach will be.

Wondering how others feel about this and what are some other things that you may be thinking/looking forward to with a different coach in charge? Or maybe you just aren't there yet to have this conversation, and if so, that's totally understandable too.

OK, this was posted initially on the pay board, but seems to have generated some thoughtful responses there so maybe there will be more here too. Some of the responsive comments regard whether an attorney looking for clients to join in on a 40% contingency fee lawsuit somehow alters Coach Fitzgerald's otherwise lack of culpability. I do note that the statement of the attorney soliciting clients is revealing. He states, "This is not a case about Coach Fitzgerald." This suggests two things. First, the potential claimants already contacted are not accusing Coach Fitzgerald of having knowledge of the "hazing;" and two, that to get other players to consider joining, the assurance is being implied that "we won't be suing your coach." Instead the quoted narrative from the law firm makes reference to some unnamed administrator(s) who may have known.

(As to the 40% contingency I don't know where that came from but at least in my practice I only charge a 40% fee for cases that have a high degrees of risk and difficulty. Of course, not practicing in Illinois I don't know what the norm is there.)


Anyway, here is my posting from over on the other board:


Now that it is has become abundantly clear through Lou's impressive efforts reaching out to past and current players that there was no personal involvement by Coach Fitzgerald in the "hazing" and that asserted clapping by him at games to signal needed punishment was a made up lie by Mr. "Whistleblower" perpetuated by a student newspaper article that even one of the trustees initially endorsed, the case for reinstatement of Coach Fitzgerald emerges.

Apart from being a viable alternative to a likely 50 million plus payout to resolve a wrongful firing lawsuit, it could actually result in some degree of confidence in a University administration that has already demonstrated its ability to modify positions and even save the University President himself being let go by the Board of Trustees.

The fact that Coach Fitzgerald's supporting staff remains in place also makes reinstatement pragmatically possible. We might even see some of those portal players opting back into the program, not to mention how united the team will likely be as they play to win under a coach they clearly revered and respected and recognize to have been wronged.

Gragg will stay as AD for the time being, "there is no conversation ongoing about his employment"

Been so caught up in the drama unfolding higher up I haven’t been paying much attention to the incoming class.

Twenty years ago the #1 movie in the country was a film by the name of Old School.

This movie romanticized hazing in a male setting as a coming of age experience.
Much of the hazing prevalent in this movie was sexual in nature.

The late 90s to early 2000s was the American Pie era. It helped shaped the concept of masculinity for the millennial male. Notice how you don’t see those types of “sex comedy’s” made anymore. Teen movies are often dramatic and depressing in todays cinema. It’s not surprising that this stuff finally came to a boiling point as we move further and further away from that era. I’d reckon that the vast majority of current Northwestern players have never seen Old School or American Pie.

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Because it is so difficult to differentiate between allegations, claims, facts, opinions and theories, I thought I'd try a different approach.
I would very much like to know the facts.
Hopefully folks will contribute other facts to help establish the truth.

Fact set #1. Northwestern investigated misconduct in the football program after backup quarterback Carl Richardson made allegations to the university. The investigation was conducted by an outside firm and took place over approximately 6 months from January 2023 to June 2023. The player's identity was kept confidential and Fitzgerald did not know the source of the allegations. After making his allegations and being informed of the investigation, Richardson entered the transfer portal in February of 2023.

Fact set #2. Northwestern officials read the report and suspended head coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay. Northwestern put forward a plan to mitigate the (alleged) problematic behavior. Fitzgerald agreed to the mitigation plan. Fitzgerald denied knowledge of hazing in the football program. Northwestern made a public announcement on Friday July 7th, announcing the results of the investigation.

Fact set #3. After learning of the two week suspension for Fitzgerald, Richardson immediately took his allegations to the Daily Northwestern, who published the allegations on July 8th.

Fact set #4. Some people who were not part of the 6 month investigation read the allegations in the Daily Northwestern and pressured Northwestern president Michael Schill to punish Fitzgerald more severely. Schill has been associated with Northwestern for approximately 9 months. He is regarded as a legal scholar. He was inaugurated as the university president on June 2, 2023. On July 10th, Schill put out a statement saying "I may have erred in weighing the appropriate sanction. In determining an appropriate penalty for the head coach, I focused too much on what the report concluded he didn't know and not enough on what he should have known."

Fact set #5. Schill terminated Fitzgerald "for cause" on July 11th. Fitzgerald has stated that his last contact with Schill was on or before July 7th, when he was informed of his suspension and the mitigation plan. Schill has not denied that.

Fact set #6. Northwestern informed each assistant on the football coaching staff that he would be retained. Northwestern also stated that head coach Fitzgerald was fired because he should have known about "widespread hazing" within the program and should have acted to protect the players. "The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team," Northwestern President Michael Schill wrote in an open letter to the university community. "The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening."

I understand that some people don't really care about facts. For those who do, I'm hoping that we can add them here and establish a reasonable representation of the truth, without the clutter of outraged opinion. I would appreciate your help!

Nothing revs my engine for a productive work week like mulling over the state of athletics at my favorite B1G university. As I was thinking this morning, about the conflicting ideas of what our coaches knew, and whether hazing is acceptable in some degree, or what even rises to the level of hazing, a parallel struck me I hadn't considered before.

I wonder if, in setting up the leadership councils the way that he did, as student led, self-policing groups, with no direct coach oversight, if our football program and perhaps others didn't happen to create a Stanford Prison scenario.

It sits right with me in a lot of ways. It explains why the coaches ought to be accountable, while also not necessarily making them responsible for condoning or participating in hazing.

Rather, it might make them responsible for something potentially worse.

I remember participating in the thread about Rico Tarver's name, and looking at some old details about the Randy Walker era. Whether the hazing goes back that far, or further, my impression is that with Walker, the buck stopped with him in a very strong way. Players knew he was harsh, and kept in line because coach demanded it. Not a council of peers. And frankly, think our team character has been on a downward trajectory since the passing of Walker.

I think the conclusion that I'm settling on is that the mechanisms put in place to keep players in line backfired spectacularly. There's a degree of separation between that and hazing, and yes, any manager of a team should know if their organizational structure is failing. And say what you want about hazing, I think its now clear that ours was failing. I think, maybe, we created a situation that any freshman in a Psych 101 elective learns about. And really, I think that's why the attempt to seek restitution for hazing sits uneasy with me - because, if you agree that there was a problem, the both the lawsuit and the administrative response are just addressing a symptom and doing nothing to even speak the root cause of the problem within organizational structure.

There's no need to eliminate sports. The counterintuitive conclusion is that we need stronger, more direct leaders in our coaching positions. I suppose this might rankle some of the pro-Fitz lot, but you have to admit, he delegated quite a bit of responsibility to his kids. And that might not have been the most responsible thing to do...

Just thoughts I'm mulling over today. I need some basketball games to get my mind on other things ASAP.

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Crump and Levin & Perconti represent 15 former football players.

NU's attorneys are going to be busy.

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Here are @lou v's takeaways from the hazing press conferences this morning.

Anyone "in the know" know what the plan is for parking? I assume east lot will be no more with RF construction and possibly might be affect west lot as well??

I just renewed and parking not currently part of the process.

Class action lawyer Pat Salvi was on the radio yesterday, trying to win in the court of public opinion before having to actually put out facts.

Most importantly, he is trying to re-define hazing:

1) Hazing can be any emotional uncertainty felt by the victim, regardless of what others perceive (so if 29 of 30 players feel there was no hazing, doesn't matter, the outlier was still hazed).

2) Hazing doesn't have to be on-going. If you get made to feel uncomfortable once, then you were hazed.

3) Hazing doesn't need to affect the person in the moment. You can have repressed feelings that come out decades later, you can change your mind, and if you say so, you were hazed. There is no statute-of-limitations, so it's completely acceptable to go back in time and drag others through lawsuits.

4) Hazing is not an individual activity, conducted by individual players. Rather, hazing is an institutional activity. Salvi, of course, refuses to name names or bring action against individuals because that's not where the money is.

5) Coaches, administrators, staff, etc. must accept a player's version of events and react accordingly. There is no such thing as tough love, come-to-jesus, get-over-it, maybe-you're-crazy, or give-the-other-person-the-benefit-of-the-doubt. If a player claims to be a victim, then everyone must accept he/she was a victim, and everyone else must adjust their actions.

- Is this the world we want to live in?
- Aren't the majority of 17-22 year-olds hormone-laced idiots trying to figure out their way in the world?
- Does encouraging people to think of themselves as victims make them any healthier?
- We all saw Kain Colter be used by Class Action Lawyers, have his friendships with his teammates fray, and then have his life spiral out of control. The one guy who always stood by Kain is Coach Fitzgerald.

Listen to class action lawyer Pat Salvi for yourself below. Note: the radio host is NU alum Dan Proft, who was very skeptical of Salvi's motives.

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Here's @lou v's story on the lawsuits filed today.

Here's @lou v's story on the lawsuits filed today.

This is No. 4 for those of you scoring at home.

Here's the latest in our Ten Questions series before the start of the season.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...st-challenge-turning-stanford-football-around

Good read on the new coach at Stanford. Seems to be an innovative mind who understands the unique challenges at a high level academic institution. Would be awesome if NU could find a similar guy with a Midwest background.