A list of facts pertaining to the Fitzgerald termination

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

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!

 

[Darren72]

Matthew Shelton's timeline may be useful to you: https://northwestern.rivals.com/news/timeline-of-events-in-nu-hazing-investigation

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Matthew Shelton's timeline may be useful to you: https://northwestern.rivals.com/news/timeline-of-events-in-nu-hazing-investigation

You're right, that is useful reading and certainly there are some facts, but it does contain a lot of "I think" and "So and so says he heard about."
I'm hoping that we can confine this thread to actual facts.

I don't know where else the facts might be compiled fairly.

When a "corroborating player" says "yeah I heard about how 'running' worked" and they say it is conducted in the dark in the locker room with Purge masks - thats not a lot to go on. And when the same guy says “That’s how they would bond,” the player said. “They’re all in there laughing and stuff. They could be affected, but they’re in there laughing" there's just nothing that rises to the status of fact.

 

[Colonel Kong]

The "alleged' behavior? Seems pretty well corroborated at this point. In my view, this boils down to: is the head coach responsible for players conduct while within team facilities and activities? If you say no, Fitz is being treated unfairly. If you say yes, he is deserving of termination given the evidence. The exacerbating action, as so many have pointed out, is an indecisive and hurried initial response from the University.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

The "alleged' behavior? Seems pretty well corroborated at this point. In my view, this boils down to: is the head coach responsible for players conduct while within team facilities and activities? If you say no, Fitz is being treated unfairly. If you say yes, he is deserving of termination given the evidence. The exacerbating action, as so many have pointed out, is an indecisive and hurried initial response from the University.

I don't even know exactly what was alleged.
If you can help by writing your description of "running" that would help.

I will list this as a fact and revise whatever I got wrong.

Fact set #7. According to Richardson, as cited in the Daily Northwestern, Northwestern had a form of player interaction whereby a group of upperclassmen players would restrain a teammate while wearing masks similar to those worn in the movie The Purge (released in 2013) and one or more of those upperclassmen would pretend to perform a sexual act while everyone was wearing their football gear in a dark room. It is unclear as to the level of physical contact, if any, the attitudes of those involved, who was watching etc. It is unclear how often this occurred. It is generally accepted that this interaction was an effort by team leaders to bring about improved performance or effort from the teammate who was restrained or punish the player for failing to meet some standard. It is generally accepted that no player was physically injured as a result of this treatment. It is unclear if the coaches singled out individual players for discipline in general or this treatment specifically. It is also unclear if the coaches knew about the treatment itself. Richardson is quoted as saying Pat Fitzgerald "may have known." Richardson does not say if he was subjected to this treatment. Players have subsequently confirmed that this sort of thing happened, in general, or at least that there was a punishment known as "running." Richardson stated that the practice was viewed by many of his teammates as a "team-bonding," while he considered it "sexual abuse."

 

[Hungry Jack]

Here is my fact: To save the ship from hitting the iceberg, Captain Schill sunk the ship.

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

Fact set #7. . . . It is generally accepted that this interaction was an effort by team leaders to bring about improved performance or effort from the teammate who was restrained or punish the player for failing to meet some standard.. . . Richardson does not say if he was subjected to this treatment. . . .

Speculation set #1. Richardson never saw the field (no recorded stats to his name). As the fifth quarterback (per another post), was he even involved in the practice squad? If he was subjected to hazing, then what he experienced took place after practice versus game (unless he attempted a sideline dance someone objected to or whatever), including possibly during the off-season or player organized practices. Along these lines, one wonders what performance benchmarks he missed and who made that assessment. An upper classman in the receiving corps? That would lessen the implication of team wide involvement other than as bystanders and suggest a more limited scope of active participants, a more effusive legacy of hazing (were Scream masks used prior to 2013?), and arguably a more attenuated connection with what Fitz and members of his coaching staff should have known.

 

[eastbaycat99]

Speculation set #1. Richardson never saw the field (no recorded stats to his name). As the fifth quarterback (per another post), was he even involved in the practice squad? If he was subjected to hazing, then what he experienced took place after practice versus game (unless he attempted a sideline dance someone objected to or whatever), including possibly during the off-season or player organized practices. Along these lines, one wonders what performance benchmarks he missed and who made that assessment. An upper classman in the receiving corps? That would lessen the implication of team wide involvement other than as bystanders and suggest a more limited scope of active participants, a more effusive legacy of hazing (were Scream masks used prior to 2013?), and arguably a more attenuated connection with what Fitz and members of his coaching staff should have known.

Actually, Richardson played in 2022 against Wisconsin and Minnesota, completing a few passes and being intercepted once. He also saw the field briefly in 2021.

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

Actually, Richardson played in 2022 against Wisconsin and Minnesota, completing a few passes and being intercepted once. He also saw the field briefly in 2021.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Must have tuned out at those times.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Speculation set #1. Richardson never saw the field (no recorded stats to his name). As the fifth quarterback (per another post), was he even involved in the practice squad? If he was subjected to hazing, then what he experienced took place after practice versus game (unless he attempted a sideline dance someone objected to or whatever), including possibly during the off-season or player organized practices. Along these lines, one wonders what performance benchmarks he missed and who made that assessment. An upper classman in the receiving corps? That would lessen the implication of team wide involvement other than as bystanders and suggest a more limited scope of active participants, a more effusive legacy of hazing (were Scream masks used prior to 2013?), and arguably a more attenuated connection with what Fitz and members of his coaching staff should have known.

I actually thought about the possibility of a thread devoted to speculation... Anyhow, I'm going to try to stick to facts here. There are so many aspects of this that are unproven..

Regarding your general point, though...

Fact set #8. Some individuals have asserted that Pat Fitzgerald had a policy of staying out of the locker room except on game day. He assigned (or the players elected) individuals from each academic class to form a "leadership council" which met with Fitzgerald weekly to discuss player issues in general, including locker room issues.

Again, I am looking for confirmation of these things that I am putting forward as facts.

Fact set #9. Northwestern fired Fitzgerald for the unacceptable behavior of the team's players without disciplining any of those players. This may be unprecedented. In this case no player has been publicly named as an individual who behaved inappropriately. Northwestern may be protecting student confidentiality or may not have adequate information to punish any player.

 

[peatymeanis]

Some more facts:

Former NU football player first to open up about alleged hazing

archived 18 Jul 2023 19:39:14 UTC

archive.ph

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Some more facts:

Former NU football player first to open up about alleged hazing

archived 18 Jul 2023 19:39:14 UTC

archive.ph

Thanks for posting that.

Factset #10. A former player named Lloyd Yates has made some allegations similar to Richardson's. He came forward as part of a group of former football players who intend to sue Northwestern. Yates was recruited as a quarterback, then was switched to receiver. He did not record any statistics in a game for Northwestern, although he did take the field at least once. He transferred to Washington University in Saint Louis to play football there while earning an MBA. His NU degree is in Communications. He worked briefly in the Hollywood film industry and started a fashion company. Yates states that while a freshman at Northwestern, he was required to perform a quarterback-center exchange while he and his teammate were naked. He states that groups of teammates would "run" freshmen in the dorms at the Kenosha training camp. His description of "running" says a player was restrained on all fours while teammates would pretend to sexually assault him. Apparently all the players were fully clothed. Yates states that this behavior also occurred in the locker room and that he was subjected to it once when his teammates believed he had told the coaches they were out partying the night before. After playing quarterback at Washington University Yates lost interest in football and no longer follows the sport.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Factset #11. College students who attend prestigious universities and find they cannot compete feel much worse about themselves than similarly capable students who are successful at lesser universities. (studies cited in Malcolm Gladwell's "David and Goliath"). People who fail to meet their own expectations will often seek to blame others for their resulting unhappiness.

 

[WaveJumper]

(studies cited in Malcolm Gladwell's "David and Goliath")

Great book, and even better Ted talk.

 

[IGNORE2]

Seems like even more stuff disappearing with Cappy gone 🤔

Got get up early to read the hood stuff. Rip factoid 12