I am going with #1 because I don’t believe their account reconciles with the report. Their account is Carl Richardson unfiltered account. Richardson had this coordinated with them ahead of time.
Hankwitz is laying out the truth on Twitter right now
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This is where student journalists have the advantage. They know the players, they know the team, and they were likely aware of Richardson's accusations and agenda. When the report was issued, they knew the person to contact, and the nature of the allegations allowed them to publish behind anonymity as the "real story they don't want you to know." Of course we know that he had his story, and the coaches and many other players had their own story. But only one of those sides ever went public. Only the report could have protected the other players and coaches, but of course releasing the report would cause Schill and Gragg much bigger problems, so it's never been published.
This is why I think their conduct was reprehensible and driven by an agenda. They had to know Richardson had an axe to grind and had access to other players/staff members who could have given them another perspective to consider before deciding to run with the story. They chose to print a one sided story.
They got corroboration and ran with the story. If the Richardson / axe situation was as bad as you say, they would have been excoriated by the mainstream media.
Fitz got what he deserved, albeit belatedly and in stupid fashion that will cost the university 10s of millions. I believe the victims
really ? The mainstream media would have excoriated them for lack of integrity ? On what planet do you live ?
the Mainstream Media has less integrity than your average crack dealer. The mainstream media worked hand In glove with the student Newspaper to hang Fitz without ever hearing his side of the story. His trial was held on Twitter over a weekend.
They got corroboration of what? Of Richardson’s story? Corroborated by what/whom? The reality is that you don’t know Jack shit about what they did or did not know. At this stage of the story that is a problem.
LOL, to claim Richardson’s axe to grind angle must not have been a real issue because the main stream media would have picked up on that is rich. Not only do they not have any incentive to do so but don’t forget Richardson’s identity has not been publicly acknowledged. No mainstream media entity is going to out him.
Believe what you want. Be sure to secure that tooth under your pillow tonight.
I don't know what happened, but something happened that made Carl Richardson decide to seek revenge against Pat Fitzgerald.
Richardson got a chance to play in the Minnesota game on Nov 12th and looked pretty bad.
Fitzgerald opted to use two raw freshmen QBs in the 2 remaining games.
Richardson made his allegations to the school "in November."
Was he benched because he made the allegations or did he make the allegations because he was benched?
Either way, once NU had started its investigation, Richardson left the university.
Thats not a whistleblower. Thats Bob Ford shooting Jesse James in the back to collect a $5000 bounty.
Hankwitz does not refute anyone's hazing allegation, thus the following inferences:
Fitz didn't have full awareness of the program (yes, a lot to ask but a bad look)
His zero tolerance policy was ignored.
No one trusted his open door policy.
The reactions have been very Penn State-y here
Fitz didn't have full awareness of the program (yes, a lot to ask but a bad look)
His zero tolerance policy was ignored.
No one trusted his open door policy.
The reactions have been very Penn State-y here
Give me a break. Not remotely close to Penn State. Shame on you for making that comparison.
Your three points might be true. My concern has always been with the president and AD firing the coach to cover up for their lack of due diligence in the original report. We'll never know the full story of what happened and what Fitz should have done because they concealed the report and then forced every side into contentious litigation.
Not the scandal, but your reaction to the discipline of the coach and blanket support of him
Throwing out penn state , Sandusky and the horrible abuse of children at anyone who has the temerity to try to get at the truth of a good man who was very likely railroaded is nothing more than a smear, and seems to be a talking point of some dead Enders trying to defend Schill.
Why not bring up Jeffrey Dahmer ? It’s just as irrelevant to the current situation.
Its a sign of desperation, as more truth comes to light.
Why not bring up Jeffrey Dahmer ? It’s just as irrelevant to the current situation.
Its a sign of desperation, as more truth comes to light.
This x 1000. Schill could not have screwed this up anymore.
Lot of interesting points here. Still not sure an outright denial from Hank re: car washes, naked calisthenics, and other and other hazing allegations. I am beginning to think there is a bigger money grab factor to the situation that was instigated by actual abusive hazing practices, known or unknown in locker room and Kenosha dorms.
Still no excuse for not policing those “player-only” areas as that’s just turning a blind eye to risk management. Maybe that’s not on Fitz but bad AD policy? No parent I know, including myself, would ever let my kids have that kind of freedom _under my roof_. Especially when that locker room is a mix of just 18-22 y.o. BMOC athletes.
It’s all well and good Fitz had these Hank enumerated preventative measures in place, but the system never had its efficacy verified. In corporate America that’s willful negligence and you can go to jail for it if customers are adversely affected.
Some horrible teammates and Fitz’s ego, coupled with terrible AD / admin leadership plus a BoT flailing in deep water has exacerbated the situation into a worst case outcome. Hope we get to stick around to enjoy this new MegaB1G.
Still no excuse for not policing those “player-only” areas as that’s just turning a blind eye to risk management. Maybe that’s not on Fitz but bad AD policy? No parent I know, including myself, would ever let my kids have that kind of freedom _under my roof_. Especially when that locker room is a mix of just 18-22 y.o. BMOC athletes.
It’s all well and good Fitz had these Hank enumerated preventative measures in place, but the system never had its efficacy verified. In corporate America that’s willful negligence and you can go to jail for it if customers are adversely affected.
Some horrible teammates and Fitz’s ego, coupled with terrible AD / admin leadership plus a BoT flailing in deep water has exacerbated the situation into a worst case outcome. Hope we get to stick around to enjoy this new MegaB1G.
You are presenting the allegations as Fact, when we can see every day many of the allegations are proving to be 100% bovine excrement
Nobody has denied the existence of the carwash, ‘running’, or naked pullups.
And none of these players ever reported any of these incidents to anyone despite a system set up to provide them ample opportunity to do so.
Very valid point made in this tweet. Why did the media not cover Coach Hank's information release?
That isn’t true many former players have denied ever seeing anything of the sort
Ramon Diaz even said he CHOSE not to.
This all has me thinking I should sue my old college coaches. It seems easy.
The fact that I knew about Fitz's player leadership council years ago (and considered the possibility that the council could go "rogue") tells me that the administration and the AD also knew about Fitzgerald's approach and did nothing to correct it. Or maybe they were the ones who suggested the anonymous polling of the players...
Regardless, the leadership council was condoned and implicitly supported by the AD and the administration.
Huh. Every parent I know has/had rules or expectations for their 18 year olds. However, NO parent I know can totally control what their child does when they go off to college. If they did, they would be a horse crap parent.
It’s amazing to me that some people read between the line of every denial from Coaches, Former Player, Current players, but accept their allegations as facts. The media throws out the trigger words, like car wash, running, and naked and we rush to be horrified. There are grown ass experienced men that have been doing this job for decades like Fitz, Hank, and Brown would get painted as out of touch dinosaurs and yet their statements are brushed aside and we believe a series of disgruntled players as if they have no motivation to make these allegations!
At least the "sexual assault" smears seem to have been rejected by anyone who is thinking clearly.
Would be interesting to do an analysis of the players gender identities to learn if some people react very differently to things that happen in a locker room, compared to other, more prevalent groups.
Demos has said he never witnessed car washing or heard of it.
Question because I don't know the answer for sure...didn't players of all races participate in the watermelon eating contest? I don't recall the watermelon eating contest ever being a secret, but if it was something that just African-American players were put up for, that would be very bad.
all players on the roster have been doing it for years, it’s hot out you have a watermelon eating contest
Not just who participated, but under what circumstances? What things were said? What names might people have been called?
Well, he was a Punter (or was it kicker?). Either way, he wasn’t really a full member of the team.
All I know is this is going to get ugly once depositions and discovery start. I would bet on an attempt at settlements once that starts to avoid further embarrassment to all parties. If any of the plaintiffs have evidence or witness corroboration beyond what’s already known or dug up in the new Lynch investigation, then even if there was vindictive motivation to get Fitz in trouble, it’s based on the occurrence of actual abuse.
Saying, “see, hear, speak no evil” doesn’t absolve all leadership of their responsibility to protect student athletes even if student athletes aren’t willing to protect themselves. That’s just decency and how protective laws are written. Doesn’t matter if there were systems in place for reporting. These “kids” are older than 18, but laws still don’t allow for abusive or discriminating “workplaces” (but let’s not discuss player unionization).
We all know what’s posted on internet and media are different once it’s in the court record and the questions aren’t coming from The Daily but expert litigators. Aren’t there at least 11 people according to the initial university investigation who’ve corroborated a lot of these complaints? Truth gonna set a lot of people free on this board and in the athletic department.
When it comes to potential victims, the law is usually on their side and it’s NU’s responsibility to make sure stuff like this never happens. That includes Fitz, Gragg, and Schill and we wouldn’t be where we are if they all didn’t fail to some degree.
Saying, “see, hear, speak no evil” doesn’t absolve all leadership of their responsibility to protect student athletes even if student athletes aren’t willing to protect themselves. That’s just decency and how protective laws are written. Doesn’t matter if there were systems in place for reporting. These “kids” are older than 18, but laws still don’t allow for abusive or discriminating “workplaces” (but let’s not discuss player unionization).
We all know what’s posted on internet and media are different once it’s in the court record and the questions aren’t coming from The Daily but expert litigators. Aren’t there at least 11 people according to the initial university investigation who’ve corroborated a lot of these complaints? Truth gonna set a lot of people free on this board and in the athletic department.
When it comes to potential victims, the law is usually on their side and it’s NU’s responsibility to make sure stuff like this never happens. That includes Fitz, Gragg, and Schill and we wouldn’t be where we are if they all didn’t fail to some degree.
Of course the allegations of “abuse” may be largely exaggerated bs, in which case it’s going to get very ugly for Schill and company. I believe Fitz will walk away with something much more than salary owed. Again, it would have been infinitely
cheaper to fire the man for on field performance and pay his buyout, which at this point would have been a pittance.
cheaper to fire the man for on field performance and pay his buyout, which at this point would have been a pittance.
I and a lot of others probably didn’t want Fitz fired, but the initial NU report, Daily reporting, and even Lou’s confirmations, painted a pretty damning portrait that ended with no other PR acceptable outcome. I’m sure some of these abuse claims are overblown, but there’s a track record of some type of hazing back to Walker that seems pretty undeniable. Not sure if Lynch will clear it up. I’m not as biased against her as some, but this needs aired out ASAP if recruiting and the program are to recover no matter who’s coach. Hopefully Braun gets a fair shake.
I think something telling will come from the identities of some of the John does. The guys that are out don’t seem to have much to lose. So makes me wonder who are those nameless plaintiffs.
The mainstream media never investigated the plaintiffs or their deposition in the CU/Barnett scandal either, even though their behavior was horrible (hosting drunken sex parties) and the real cause of the entire scandal. They blamed others for predictably negative outcomes from their own reckless irresponsibility.
If you have a ‘No strikes policy’ and corroborated evidence of hazing, Fitz’s firing is the only logical conclusion
Are there extenuating circumstances as evidence is somewhat circumspect? Apparently, but Fitz was in charge, and some forms of hazing occurred on his watch
Interesting that seems like incident has brought up issues directly associated with media bias / culture wars / polarization of our society.
I have respect for Fitz and limited history with Shill and Gragg so perhaps my bias reflects on my understanding / reading of situation but black and white policy appears to dictate his firing.
Does the firing make NU institutions and athletics stronger? Debatable but definitely not in short term
Are there extenuating circumstances as evidence is somewhat circumspect? Apparently, but Fitz was in charge, and some forms of hazing occurred on his watch
Interesting that seems like incident has brought up issues directly associated with media bias / culture wars / polarization of our society.
I have respect for Fitz and limited history with Shill and Gragg so perhaps my bias reflects on my understanding / reading of situation but black and white policy appears to dictate his firing.
Does the firing make NU institutions and athletics stronger? Debatable but definitely not in short term
Yes, NU will settle and pay out a lot of money to both the players and Fitz. I wish it went to trial and all of it came out. NU doesn’t have the stomach for it as the media will continue to tear it apart. Based on the diverse viewpoints in this board, jury selection could be the most important portion of a trial.
Maybe the plaintiff’s John Does are players that had a good experience on the football field rather than no experience. Maybe the John Does were only victims but never participated. Maybe they can should evidence that the HC and dozens of Assistant coaches through 20+ years endorsed or allowed this behavior as part of self discipline. Maybe the players will show other players they were physically abused when they resisted. Boy I wish everything came out.
You’ve read the investigative report? Please share. Release the report!
