Calls for Northwestern to fire football coach Pat Fitzgerald intensify after bombshell report says hazing including ‘coerced sexual acts’

The calls for Northwestern to cut ties with football coach Pat Fitzgerald are heating up after a report Saturday in the school’s student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, outlined disturbing and downright gross accusations made by two former players regarding hazing within the program.

Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks

Fitzgerald was suspended this week, without pay, for two weeks following an investigation into hazing within the program, but Saturday’s report by the student newspaper cited two former players who said the incidents often included coerced sexual acts.

That included a ritual called “running,” which the pair claimed was often used to punish players, most of whom were freshmen, in the program.

What is running?

Well, it’s disturbing.

Per The Daily Northwestern report, a player chosen for “running” would be restrained by upperclassmen in a dark locker room and then “dry-humped.”

“It’s done under this smoke and mirror of ‘Oh, this is team bonding,’” the player said. “But, no, this is sexual abuse.”

It gets more disturbing, particularly for Fitzgerald, because one of the players told the student newspaper that upperclassmen would mark a player for “running” by clapping their hands above their heads. The report said that Fitzgerald also made that motion “repeatedly” during practices, and one of the players told the Daily that they believed the coach was “encouraging” the practice.

“Everyone would just be looking at each other and be like ‘Bro, Fitz knows about this,’ because you wouldn’t take that action otherwise,” the player told the paper. “Everyone joins in because he’s the head coach.”

The investigation into hazing within the program reportedly “did not discover sufficient evidence to believe that the coaching staff knew about” the “ongoing” incidents. It did determine that “there had been significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct.”

Fitzgerald said he was “disappointed” when he heard about the “allegations of hazing on our football team.”

“Running” wasn’t the only hazing ritual that the players accused the program of employing.

The players described incidents in which players were forced to strip naked and bear crawl or being forced to slingshot themselves across the floor using exercise bands. They also described a naked center-quarterback exchange from a freshman center. And, per one of the whistleblowers, one of the freshman centers was “very vocally adamant” about not wanting to do it, but was threatened with a “running” by older players and gave in because there was “no other option.”

The players also described a yearly tradition called “the carwash,” in which players would stand naked at the entrance of the showers and spin around forcing players entering the showers to “basically (rub) up against a bare-naked man.” He said players also connected a hose in the showers that they sprayed players with and that it was “extremely painful.”

It’s a disturbing story and there is more there to read. It also, rightly, fired up folks on social media.

“If any of this is true, Northwestern needs to fire Pat Fitzgerald,” the CFBTalkDaily account tweeted. “A 2 week suspension is not enough.”

“I can’t see Pat Fitzgerald surviving as a coach,” longtime sports journalist Jon Solomon tweeted. “Reminder that Fitzgerald was a vocal opponent to his players trying to unionize about a decade ago.”

“Pat Fitzgerald is the greatest player and coach in Northwestern football history,” Rodger Sherman tweeted. They should fire him for cause ASAP.”

“Pat Fitzgerald shouldn’t be coaching at Northwestern next year,” Dan Wolken tweeted.