Northwestern releases strong statement ahead of lawsuit from former coach Pat Fitzgerald

The storyline around Pat Fitzgerald’s end at Northwestern has continued to hang over the program this fall. Now, with the latest out of Evanston, more looks to be headed with the Wildcats way.

An update came yesterday that the attorneys for Fitzgerald were planning to announce a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the school today. They have since done so to the tune of $130 million. With that out in the open now, Northwestern has since released a statement of their own in their defense.

Pat Fitzgerald’s attorneys will speak shortly, but Northwestern has released a statement ahead of today’s lawsuit against the university. pic.twitter.com/NloFtILa02

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) October 5, 2023

“As head coach of the football program for 17 years, Patrick Fitzgerald was responsible for the conduct of the program,” the release read. “He had the responsibility to know that hazing was occurring and to stop it. He failed to do so.”

“The safety of our students remains our highest priority, and we deeply regret that any student-athletes experienced hazing,” it continued. “We remain confident that the University acted appropriately in terminating Fitzgerald and we will vigorously defend our position in court.”

The press conference from Fitzgerald’s attornies, Dan Webb and Matthew Carter of Winston & Strawn LLP, took place around 11:30 a.m. EST. Fitzgerald did not make an appearance at the announcement.

Northwestern initially suspended Fitzgerald for two weeks in the midst of the hazing scandal with the Wildcat program. They then elected to cut ties with him completely as more players came forward to confirm the hazing took place.

That was enough for Northwestern to fire him for cause while they still owed him $40 million.

These headlines were going to continue to follow Fitzgerald and Northwestern separately based on what took place over the last few months. It’ll now go from the football field and the locker room to the courtroom, though, based on where both sides are now headed.

More on Fitzgerald’s $130 million lawsuit against Northwestern

Pat Fitzgerald, the former Northwestern coach that the school fired this fall amid a hazing scandal, has filed a $130 million lawsuit against Northwestern.

Among other things, the lawsuit claims that the school fired Fitzgerald “without any legitimate or rational reason whatsoever”. It also cites two material breaches of contract in the way that the Wildcats fired Fitzgerald.

The suit will seek economic damages in the amount of $130 million, while also seeking compensation for other things, including punitive damages for the “injustices they’ve imposed” on Fitzgerald by firing him in light of the facts.

The suit claims strongly that Fitzgerald had no knowledge of any hazing on the football team.

Moreover, the suit claims that Fitzgerald could not be expected to have knowledge of hazing on the football team either. Fitzgerald’s attorney, Dan Webb, called any such presupposition “a ridiculous allegation not supported by any evidence whatsoever.”

“I cannot understand how you could terminate someone for cause when they (Northwestern) admit that their own lawyer does not have any evidence that my client ever knew anything at all, about any of the alleged hazing behavior,” Webb said. “If I present that to a jury someday, a jury is going have a hard time believing that you can terminate someone for cause when they didn’t know anything about (the incidents).”