I have intentionally avoided this board last few days bc I knew it would prob be toxic and just make me more angry. So sorry if I’m repeating ground that has already been covered elsewhere. First a mea culpa, long time ago in galaxy far before the Daily article I said a friend who volunteered at the program 10-12 years said he thought it was normal stuff that every program does. Turns out it probably wasn’t! I guess the program has changed since then…
Next this is obviously a huge embarrassment to the university and all of us. The process that has played out has been incoherent and incompetent. Our President does not appear to have the slightest clue how to manage anything or do proper communication / PR. If the information in the Daily article was new information to them (sounds like it wasn’t) - after the 6 month investigation in which the lawyers saw no discernible evidence that Fitz knew about the hazing culture - then they should have suspended him indefinitely and re-opened a new investigation to determine best course of action. If it wasn’t new information to them, then what the heck changed? If they had evidence he knew, or suspected that he knew, then the original 2 week unpaid vacation was a laughably bad decision. They had all this information, decided a 2 week unpaid vacation, then based on an article in a student newspaper (from 2 sources that must have been included in the investigative report) they completely flipped around from slap on the wrist to fire him? That is not something that a serious person does. Instead he just acquiesced to the media mob and tried to cover his rear end. Schill has bungled this 10 ways to Sunday.
Seems like at this point (far too late) the obvious course of action is to release the full report from the investigation with names redacted. It’s too little too late in terms of transparency on process but it’ll help a bit. The Jenner Block report for the Blackhawks was released with Player A and Coach B etc. The best logical defense I suppose is that the information there could give context that identifies the whistleblower to anyone paying attention? But presumably most of us on this board already have figured out or heard who that was (though I am obviously not going to disclose that!). The fact that the kid had an assertion that has been documented and audio recorded that he was “going to take down Fitz”, I mean, I dunno… at this point transparency is better for people to move forward.
For Fitz, I appreciate all the great contributions to the program you gave as a player and coach over ~30 years. I sincerely hope (and maybe even tentatively believe) that you didn’t know about this stuff. If you did either know / support this culture of weird and pretty sick hazing, or willingly turned a blind eye to it - then shame on you and I guess you got what you deserved (though maybe not in this way). Hard to know what is true in this morass of anonymously sourced media articles. At this point I kinda hope he and Dan Webb sue the university for all they can and at least bring some additional transparency to this process through judicial discovery.
I already outlined my thoughts on Schill above. He is a shill, is clearly incompetent, and should go ASAP, even if solely because of how poorly he has handled this situation. He has brought extreme embarrassment to the university through his inconsistency and incompetence.
For Gragg, I wasn’t initially as mad at him as Schill but the more that comes out the worse it looks. He either must have had some part in this decision making along the way, or from the sounds of it more likely he just dodged all accountability and responsibility for it and deferred to others. He seems like a total shirker and dodger to me at this point. He decided that a good time to release the investigation results and actions was while he was on vacation in Italy? And he was the one who hired this reportedly abusive baseball coach (or allowed a couple key donors to do it for him) despite the guy having a horrible record of forcing transfers at his prior place? He wouldn’t face the team, he hasn’t made a public comment the entire time, he basically seems to be in hiding. That’s not leadership. That’s cowardice. He should be gone too.
The whole administration and board maybe just hoped to shove this under the rug and move forward? That’s embarrassing on their part too. With the new stadium renovation on hold have to wonder if Mr Ryan has said he is pulling his check from that. Fitz does happen to be using Pat Ryan’s lawyer in Dan Webb… I mean clearly this will damage the program severely for at least 2-3 years, but that’s not even the worst of it - the worst is we still have very little idea of the facts of the matter and whether Fitz deserved to be fired!
Lastly (I could say about 100 more things about this disaster but this is very long already)- does anyone else find it funny that they already said they are keeping all assistant coaches and staff on for this year? I guess we don’t need to investigate them either, just arbitrarily make a decision and roll with it. If they actually cared about the culture and players’ mental health, wouldn’t they want to make some changes there? I mean clearly not, I guess they are worried about the practical issue of running a fall camp and fielding a team next year. It’s just a hypocritical exercise in scapegoating and trying to cover their backsides.
I never in my life thought I’d say this as a diehard fan since the age of 6, but at this point I’m debating whether I want to boycott the team (and frankly the entire university to the extent that would be a thing) for the upcoming season. Just disgusting behavior and actions all around. I know for a fact that I won’t be donating a dollar to NU as long as Schill (or probably Gragg) is still around. Not that my miniscule donations make the tiniest bit of difference. But based on people I’ve talked to I’m not the only one. I think there are gonna be some pretty small crowds for the near future. And who knows what our team will look like this upcoming season. I don’t envy David Braun trying to step into this.
Go Cats? Kind of, maybe, not sure anymore
Rick
PS just to be perfectly clear if Fitz knew about / supported / or even could have known but turned a blind eye toward those hazing actions I fully believe he should be gone. It’s not him being let go in itself that has made me so mad, it’s the process and sheer incompetence along the path to get there that is infuriating to me.
Next this is obviously a huge embarrassment to the university and all of us. The process that has played out has been incoherent and incompetent. Our President does not appear to have the slightest clue how to manage anything or do proper communication / PR. If the information in the Daily article was new information to them (sounds like it wasn’t) - after the 6 month investigation in which the lawyers saw no discernible evidence that Fitz knew about the hazing culture - then they should have suspended him indefinitely and re-opened a new investigation to determine best course of action. If it wasn’t new information to them, then what the heck changed? If they had evidence he knew, or suspected that he knew, then the original 2 week unpaid vacation was a laughably bad decision. They had all this information, decided a 2 week unpaid vacation, then based on an article in a student newspaper (from 2 sources that must have been included in the investigative report) they completely flipped around from slap on the wrist to fire him? That is not something that a serious person does. Instead he just acquiesced to the media mob and tried to cover his rear end. Schill has bungled this 10 ways to Sunday.
Seems like at this point (far too late) the obvious course of action is to release the full report from the investigation with names redacted. It’s too little too late in terms of transparency on process but it’ll help a bit. The Jenner Block report for the Blackhawks was released with Player A and Coach B etc. The best logical defense I suppose is that the information there could give context that identifies the whistleblower to anyone paying attention? But presumably most of us on this board already have figured out or heard who that was (though I am obviously not going to disclose that!). The fact that the kid had an assertion that has been documented and audio recorded that he was “going to take down Fitz”, I mean, I dunno… at this point transparency is better for people to move forward.
For Fitz, I appreciate all the great contributions to the program you gave as a player and coach over ~30 years. I sincerely hope (and maybe even tentatively believe) that you didn’t know about this stuff. If you did either know / support this culture of weird and pretty sick hazing, or willingly turned a blind eye to it - then shame on you and I guess you got what you deserved (though maybe not in this way). Hard to know what is true in this morass of anonymously sourced media articles. At this point I kinda hope he and Dan Webb sue the university for all they can and at least bring some additional transparency to this process through judicial discovery.
I already outlined my thoughts on Schill above. He is a shill, is clearly incompetent, and should go ASAP, even if solely because of how poorly he has handled this situation. He has brought extreme embarrassment to the university through his inconsistency and incompetence.
For Gragg, I wasn’t initially as mad at him as Schill but the more that comes out the worse it looks. He either must have had some part in this decision making along the way, or from the sounds of it more likely he just dodged all accountability and responsibility for it and deferred to others. He seems like a total shirker and dodger to me at this point. He decided that a good time to release the investigation results and actions was while he was on vacation in Italy? And he was the one who hired this reportedly abusive baseball coach (or allowed a couple key donors to do it for him) despite the guy having a horrible record of forcing transfers at his prior place? He wouldn’t face the team, he hasn’t made a public comment the entire time, he basically seems to be in hiding. That’s not leadership. That’s cowardice. He should be gone too.
The whole administration and board maybe just hoped to shove this under the rug and move forward? That’s embarrassing on their part too. With the new stadium renovation on hold have to wonder if Mr Ryan has said he is pulling his check from that. Fitz does happen to be using Pat Ryan’s lawyer in Dan Webb… I mean clearly this will damage the program severely for at least 2-3 years, but that’s not even the worst of it - the worst is we still have very little idea of the facts of the matter and whether Fitz deserved to be fired!
Lastly (I could say about 100 more things about this disaster but this is very long already)- does anyone else find it funny that they already said they are keeping all assistant coaches and staff on for this year? I guess we don’t need to investigate them either, just arbitrarily make a decision and roll with it. If they actually cared about the culture and players’ mental health, wouldn’t they want to make some changes there? I mean clearly not, I guess they are worried about the practical issue of running a fall camp and fielding a team next year. It’s just a hypocritical exercise in scapegoating and trying to cover their backsides.
I never in my life thought I’d say this as a diehard fan since the age of 6, but at this point I’m debating whether I want to boycott the team (and frankly the entire university to the extent that would be a thing) for the upcoming season. Just disgusting behavior and actions all around. I know for a fact that I won’t be donating a dollar to NU as long as Schill (or probably Gragg) is still around. Not that my miniscule donations make the tiniest bit of difference. But based on people I’ve talked to I’m not the only one. I think there are gonna be some pretty small crowds for the near future. And who knows what our team will look like this upcoming season. I don’t envy David Braun trying to step into this.
Go Cats? Kind of, maybe, not sure anymore
Rick
PS just to be perfectly clear if Fitz knew about / supported / or even could have known but turned a blind eye toward those hazing actions I fully believe he should be gone. It’s not him being let go in itself that has made me so mad, it’s the process and sheer incompetence along the path to get there that is infuriating to me.
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