Oller: Northwestern was right to send football coach Pat Fitzgerald down the drain
That gurgling sound you hear is Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald circling the drain, fired Monday evening in the wake of a hazing scandal.
The naive dreamer in me wants to cling to the foolish notion that nothing bad happened within the Wildcats program, and wants to believe the narrative that Fitz “did things the right way.” Because the alternative is to admit that good people enable bad things to happen.
But Fitzgerald had to go. A university-led investigation lasting almost six months found that hazing, some of it sexually-oriented, went on inside the football program. Even if you believe Fitzgerald did not know about it -- he said Friday he did not -- he should have known. His position and salary demand he see and know all.
Kudos to NU’s student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, for its superb reporting that included a former football player saying some of the hazing conduct investigated by the university included “coerced sexual acts.” A second player confirmed the details. (Aside: it’s been a good week for college newspapers, including The Lantern, which successfully sued for the signed agreement between Ohio State and former president Kristina Johnson revealing details of her departure agreement. As my colleague Bill Rabinowitz noted, “If I’m a coach/college president, I’d hope the school paper sucked.” Fortunately, the OSU and NU papers don’t.)
ESPN built upon that reporting, quoting a current Wildcats player as saying he heard the whistleblower admit he was seeking to get Fitzgerald fired. Former Northwestern quarterbacks Ryan Hilinski and Trevor Siemian, while stopping short of saying the hazing never happened, voiced support for Fitzgerald on social media.
Fitzgerald's accuser responded he expected the coach to receive support because “most individuals within this program are either perpetrators or bystanders.” ESPN also found a corroborating witness for several of the whistleblower's claims.
A lot to unpack here.
First, let’s dispense with any notion Fitzgerald didn’t know what was happening on his own team. College coaches are control freaks. Nothing escapes their attention. He knew. That does not mean he was privy to the gory details, such as a freshman quarterback and freshman center forced to practice the snap exchange while naked. But he knew enough of what was happening to be held accountable for the actions of his players.
“Wait a minute,” you argue. “Isn’t it possible his assistant coaches and staffers kept the hazing stuff from him?”
Doesn’t matter. NCAA bylaw 11.1.1.1, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2023, reads, in part: “An institution’s head coach shall be held responsible for the head coach’s actions and the actions of all institutional staff members who report, directly or indirectly, to the head coach.”
Show me a locker room equipment manager who says he or she doesn’t know what’s going on inside the workplace and I’ll show you a liar.
Even the lightest penalty for a violation of the bylaw is more than the two-week suspension Fitzgerald initially received from NU president Michael Schill, who said Monday night, "The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team. The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret with the program, providing coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening."
The days of hazing being considered “good, clean fun” are long over. Or should be. Don’t feed me this garbage about so-called male-bonding being essential to team-building. I went through hazing, and the only thing it did was make me and my friends distrust the hazers. I did not forevermore hate the ringleaders but never looked at them the same way again. If you want to create an us-against-them locker room, hazing is your ticket. And let’s be honest, it’s not like abusing players, physically or mentally, has led Northwestern to championships. The Wildcats are 14-31 since 2019.
What about “initiation” traditions like carrying equipment in from the practice field and losing black stripes off helmets? Or practical jokes? Certainly, there are gray areas. But the line is crossed when sexual and physical abuse enters the picture. Or when questioning a player’s toughness by challenging him with sadistic stereotypes.
In 2012, Urban Meyer stopped handing out lavender shirts to players caught loafing at practice after a gay and lesbian rights group complained lavender was the predominant color associated with the gay and lesbian community. No matter where you stand politically, shaming players by putting them in pastels is just plain dumb.
Still not convinced hazing is demeaning and needs to end, that banning it is an emotional overreaction? OK, put on your fan hat and think of it in practical terms: A coach enters a recruit’s living room and tells his parents, “Just so you know, your son will need to go through hazing by having older teammates dry-hump him in a dark locker room,” which is one of the hazing allegations in the NU case. How much you want to bet that mama doesn’t respond with “Great! Where does he sign?”
We have become a land both of conspiracy addicts, but if you believe there is one in a million chance the hazing allegations are completely fabricated then you are Dumb and Dumber. According to the Daily Northwestern, the school’s investigation revealed that while current and former players “varied on their perspective” regarding the conduct, the whistleblower’s claims were “largely supported by evidence.”
Fitzgerald's statement insisting he had no knowledge of hazing activities within the program actually made him a hostile witness against himself. The evidence clearly points to him having had ample opportunity to address the issues and put a stop to them. Even his supporters can’t keep their story straight. In a statement released Saturday, current Northwestern players essentially said no hazing occurred, but if it did Fitzgerald was unaware of it.
Alrighty then.
Unfortunately, one unavoidable takeaway from this sordid affair is that if hazing can happen under a coach who, at least on the surface, purports to demand dignity, it can happen anywhere. And probably happens everywhere.
Not all of it is as over-the-top-ugly as what the NU investigation uncovered, but that does not make it right. Remember, hazing is always “just a joke” to the ones doing it. But who is laughing now? Not Fitz. Not anyone.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Sexual hazing at Northwestern football needs to go way of the dinosaur
