Pat Fitzgerald's attorney issues statement following latest lawsuit against Northwestern

On Monday, former Northwestern football players filed a lawsuit against the University. It stems from the hazing and abuse suffered during their time within the program under head coach Pat Fitzgerald. The USA TODAY reported Lloyd Yates, a former quarterback and wide receiver, has had the lawsuit filed under his name.

Hours later, Fitzgerald’s attorney released a statement on the situation. They began by pointing out that Fitzgerald has not been named as a defendant in the case. Former Wildcats players are saying there has been over a decade’s worth of hazing at multiple different levels.

“The complaint alleges that Northwestern negligently permitted the existence of a decade-long pattern, practice, and culture of football players engaging in the hazing of fellow athletes that involved physical, sexual, and emotional abuse,” the statement said. “The complaint brings counts of negligence, gross negligence, and violations of the Illinois Gender Violence Act.

“With regard to our client, Coach Pat Fitzgerald, it is important to note that this complaint (and, we assume, the 30 others that plantiffs’ lawyers say they will file) does not name our client as a defendant.”

The statement then repeated Fitzgerald followed all proper protocols when it came to hazing occurring in the program. If something were to happen in Evanston, Fitzgerald had communicated with players in the program they should notify him to end the hazing.

“The facts and evidence will show that Coach Fitzgerald implemented and followed numerous procedures and protocols to ensure that hazing would not occur, and he repeatedly emphasized to Northwestern’s student athletes that hazing was forbidden and, if anyone was aware — or was the victim — of hazing, that they should immediately report it so that he could stop it.”

Fitzgerald was fired from Northwestern on July 11 after initially being suspended from the program for two weeks. University president Michael Schill said the suspension was made too quickly without having all of the information. He then decided moving on from the head coach was the best course of action.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed due to the incidents that occurred at Northwestern, with Monday being just the latest. Of course, as Fitzgerald was the head coach and leader of the program, he is going to be involved in some capacity throughout the process. But current ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and longtime assistant coach Matt McPherson have seen their names mentioned in the lawsuits as well.