Pat Fitzgerald files $130 million lawsuit against Northwestern
Pat Fitzgerald, the former Northwestern coach who was fired this fall amid a hazing scandal at the university, has filed a $130 million lawsuit against Northwestern.
Among other things, the lawsuit claims that Fitzgerald was fired “without any legitimate or rational reason whatsoever,” citing two material breaches of contract in the way that Fitzgerald was fired.
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, with Fitzgerald’s attorney Dan Webb calling any such presupposition “a ridiculous allegation not supported by any evidence whatsoever.”
Reports of the hazing scandal first emerged this summer, and once they did, Northwestern quickly moved to action. The scandal resulted in several lawsuits being filed by several players, some against Fitzgerald himself. Northwestern quickly went from a two-week suspension without pay for Fitzgerald to firing him.
“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).”
More on the Northwestern hazing scandal
In the wake of Fitzgerald’s firing, Northwestern discovered what it deemed a “toxic environment” in other athletics programs. Baseball coach Jim Foster was fired as a result, and the university launched an outside review of the athletic department by former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Some Northwestern athletes and coaches have come out in support of Fitzgerald. Coaches were seen in August wearing shirts that read “Cats against the world” and had the No. 51, Fitzgerald’s number when he played for the Wildcats on them.
In a letter obtained by ESPN, 86 former Northwestern athletes including several of Pat Fitzgerald’s former teammates signed the letter criticizing administrators.
“By willfully ignoring due process, Northwestern University’s administration has left a welcome mat out for the weaponization of sexual harassment, hazing, and racism accusations to run rampant at Northwestern University,” the letter read. “Any allegation, true or not, will be allowed to cancel anyone’s career and destroy their reputation depending upon popular opinion, while simultaneously allowing the censorship of free speech.
“The collective gains of Northwestern’s Athletic Department over the last three decades, along with Pat Fitzgerald’s legacy and character, have almost been wiped out without any proof of guilt or, much less, even a thorough and proper investigation.”
Fitzgerald was the coach at Northwestern for 17 seasons, leading it to a 110-101 record in that span.