Northwestern Suspends Pat Fitzgerald Amid Hazing Probe

Northwestern has suspended football coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay after an investigation into the program’s hazing allegations, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg reports. Besides the suspension, Northwestern has also canceled off-campus practices in Kenosha, Wis. and are sending someone who is not part of Fitzgerald’s staff to monitor the locker room.

In January, after the 2022 season, Rittenberg first reported that Northwestern was opening an investigation into hazing allegations. The investigation reportedly confirmed the whistleblower’s claim that there were hazing incidents in the locker room that may have started when the team practiced in Kenosha, which the program did for a week each summer up until 2020.

Coach Pat Fitzgerald will serve a two-week, unpaid suspension beginning today and other measures have been implemented, including no more off-campus practices in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the team trained in August for years.

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) July 7, 2023

However, no player or coach was specifically named in the investigation.

"The investigation did not uncover evidence pointing to specific misconduct by any individual football player or coach, participation in or knowledge of the hazing activities was widespread across football players," the summary said, via Rittenberg.

Fitzgerald released a statement that said he does not condone any hazing in his program.

“Northwestern football prides itself on producing not just athletes, but fine young men with character befitting the program and our University,” Fitzgerald said. “We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward.”