Former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald settles lawsuit in case rife with homophobic hazing

Northwestern University and former head football coach Pat Fitzgerald reached a settlement in a wrongful termination lawsuit stemming from Fitzgerald’s firing amid a hazing scandal rife with homophobia within the football team in 2023.

As first reported by ESPN, the university and Fitzgerald settled the case for an undisclosed amount on Thursday, two years after Fitzgerald’s dismissal following an independent investigation initiated by the university that found evidence of hazing within the football program he ran for 17 years.

Fitzgerald sued the university for wrongful termination in October 2023, seeking $130 million in damages.

The former coach reiterated he did not know any hazing practices occurred during his tenure at Northwestern and maintained his belief that the university had “no legal basis to terminate” his employment despite agreeing to the settlement in a statement released through his lawyers Thursday 

“For the past two years, I have engaged in a process of extensive fact and expert discovery, which showed what I have known and said all along — that I had no knowledge of hazing ever occurring in the Northwestern football program, and that I never directed or encouraged hazing in any way,” Fitzgerald said.

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Homophobia at its worst in Northwestern football hazing allegations; Pat Fitzgerald fired
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald denied any knowledge of forced male-to-male sex acts being the alleged dominant hazing rituals occurring in Northwestern football.

“The rush to judgment in the media in July of 2023 and the reports that suggested I knew about and directed hazing are false and have caused me, my wife, and my three sons great stress, embarrassment, and reputational harm in the last two years,” he continued. “Though I maintain Northwestern had no legal basis to terminate my employment for cause under the terms of my Employment Agreement, in the interest of resolving this matter and, in particular, to relieve my family from the stress of ongoing litigation, Northwestern and I have agreed to a settlement, and I am satisfied with the terms of the settlement.”

In its own statement, the university agreed that evidence disclosed during “extensive discovery” supported Fitzgerald’s claim that he didn’t condone or direct hazing practices within the football program.

“Northwestern’s No. 1 priority is the health and safety of all members of its community, including our student athletes,” the university said. “The university has taken action to ensure hazing will not occur again, including new training and additional steps for feedback and reporting.”

Fitzgerald acknowledged that he learned “some hazing” did happen within the football program as a result of the legal process and expressed disappointment that such behavior occurred and that it wasn’t reported to him.

He also maintained that he ran “a world-class football program” during his tenure at Northwestern.

While the investigation, headed by Maggie Hickey, substantiated the hazing allegations, details about the actual hazing practices didn’t surface until The Daily Northwestern published accounts from former Northwestern football players.

According to The Daily Northwestern, hazing within the football team consisted of multiple acts of humiliation that entailed forced nudity, sexual assault and abuse, psychological abuse and degradation rooted in homophobia and its exploitation for physical and psychological manipulation.

“It’s done under this smoke and mirror of ‘Oh, this is team bonding,’ but no, this is sexual abuse,” one player told The Daily Northwestern in 2023.

Fitzgerald was initially put on unpaid suspension for two weeks before university leadership decided to fire him after those player accounts came to light.

“Coach Fitzgerald is not only responsible for what happens within the program but also must take great care to uphold our institutional commitment to the student experience and our priority to ensure all students — undergraduate and graduate — can thrive,” university president Michael Schill said in a 2023 statement to university community members. “Clearly, he failed to uphold that commitment.”

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