Joshua Perry joins The Tim May Show to talk Northwestern scandal, Buckeyes preseason

COLUMBUS — Former Ohio State linebacker Joshua Perry, like most everyone else, was stunned by the news out of Northwestern a couple of weeks ago, revelations of hazing rituals within the football program through the years that eventually led first to a suspension and then firing of long-time head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Perry, about to step into a bigger broadcast role this fall as part of the NBC host team for its new Big Ten football prime time telecast, he been a semi-regular on the The Tim May Show for going on five years as he has climbed the ranks in the TV realm. One of my favorite players all time at Ohio State, the former lineback joined me again for this week’s show to sift through the fallout of the Northwestern eruption, and to hit on several other subjects, from developments in several other Big Ten West programs to the battle for the right tackle starting job at Ohio State.

But first we talked about Northwestern, and how the situation flipped, Perry said, from first a two-week suspension without pay for the head coach during the deadest of periods on the college football calendar to the Daily Northwestern student newspaper a day later flipping the boat with details – some quite unsavory.

“Then it was like, ‘Now hold the phone,’ because this changes the calculus completely,” Perry said.

Then came the following Monday when Fitzgerald was fired.

“I think the suddenness with which the tone changed from the university shocks me,” Perry said. “I think the way it was handled certainly shocks me. But I’m shocked at all that we’re dealing with a hazing situation of that degree in 2023.

“It’s not something I ever experienced as a player, and to think that – because the idea of hazing is that you’re team building. So to think that forced nudity and sexualized acts would create a better sense of team is a wild conclusion to draw.”

From Olentangy High School, Perry, part of the 2014 Ohio State national championship team and later a one full year player in the NFL before injury ended his career, said the extent of hazing he ever experienced ranged from carrying an upperclassman’s or veteran’s pads from the practice field or getting water for same. 

Perry’s four years at Ohio State were also the first four years of the coach Urban Meyer era.

“Urban, as much as people like to think he ran a ‘rogue’ program, did not put up with this type of stuff,” Perry said. “This was not going to happen. He was very much the {paraphrasing} ‘You’re going to respect your teammates. The locker room is your space, but dammit, I’ll take it back from you if I need to. And also we’ve got to be able to recruit, so I don’t want {a reason for} anybody telling these stories to the young guys we bring on campus about what you guys do to ‘em, so don’t do that.’ ” 

To learn of the alleged rites of passage for some players at Northwestern was mind-blowing.

“It’s disappointing, it’s upsetting,” Perry said. “I feel certainly for the whistleblower and any of the victims that were involved there. I also in a way feel for some the bystanders in the locker room. I know they’re not completely without responsibility in this; bystanders do have a responsibility.

“But ultimately you’ve got a lot of guys who probably didn’t participate in this that are gonna have to reap the consequences of what a few people did in terms of building that culture.”

He added one also feels for now-interim head coach David Braun, who earlier this year had moved his family from North Dakota State where he had been defensive coordinator to take the DC job at Northwestern. In essence he is a six-month rental as the interim head coach with likely no concrete guarantees beyond that at the moment. 

And there is the Fitzgerald story. He had been the second-most tenured coach in the Big Ten behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. Fitzgerald “had built a legacy, the most notable person in that university’s athletic history,” Perry said. “He was a phenomenal football coach, and somebody I believed to be a very good person. 

“I think it goes to show you could be a good person and also make awful decisions at times that end up affecting people in extremely bad ways and that could end up being really harmful. He’s going to have to deal with that, and that stain on his legacy and all the repercussions there.

“Everything about this feels very unfortunate.”

Again, there’s that and more on this edition of The Tim May Show.