Wisconsin football divisional rival Northwestern has immediately suspended head coach Pat Fitzgerald. The suspension results from NU investigating hazing allegations within the Northwestern football program.
Northwestern Football Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald Suspended
The suspension, first reported by Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, found supported claims of a hazing allegation first made in November. Northwestern launched the investigation, led by former Illinois Executive Inspector General Maggie Hickey, in December.
According to the investigation’s executive summary, the hazing may have started at “Camp Kenosha,” an off-campus annual training camp Northwestern held until 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Investigators interviewed more than 50 people currently or formerly affiliated with Northwestern football and reviewed hundreds of thousands of emails dating back to 2014 throughout the investigation.
The investigation found the initial claim mostly supported but stopped short of concluding that Fitzgerald or his staff knew of the hazing activities:
“Current and former players varied on their perspective of the conduct; however, the investigation team determined that the complainant’s claims were largely supported by the evidence gathered during the investigation, including separate and consistent first-person accounts from current and former players. While 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 investigation team did not discover sufficient evidence to believe that coaching staff knew about the ongoing hazing conduct. They determined, however, that there had been significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct.”
Wisconsin Football News: Rival Head Coach Receives Two Week Suspension
As a result of the investigation, NU made several policy changes to prevent hazing within the Wildcats football program. Fitzgerald also received an immediate two-week suspension without pay.
Following the announcement of his suspension, Fitzgerald released a statement:
“I was very disappointed when I heard about the allegations of hazing on our football team. Although I was not aware of the alleged incidents, I have spoken to University officials, and they informed me of a two-week suspension, effective immediately.
“Northwestern football prides itself on producing not just athletes, but fine young men with character befitting the program and our university. We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward.”
Wisconsin Football vs. Northwestern Football Preview
Since Fitzgerald became the Wildcats head coach in 2006, Wisconsin is 8-5 against Northwestern. Wisconsin has won the last two matchups and three of the previous four. Two seasons removed from a Big Ten Championship Game appearance in 2020, NU is coming off of a disappointing 1-11 2022 season in which their only victory came over Nebraska in Ireland during Week 0.
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Wisconsin football will host Northwestern on November 11th in Madison. It will be the first matchup between Luke Fickell and Fitzgerald as head coaches.
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