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Northwestern fires football coach Pat Fitzgerald amid hazing claims
ESPN ^ | July 10, 2023 | Pete Thamel,

Posted on 07/10/2023 7:22:22 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement

Northwestern has fired coach Pat Fitzgerald amid allegations of widespread hazing within the football program, university president Michael Schill announced Monday.

"The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team," Schill wrote in an open letter to the school community. "The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening. Either way, the culture in Northwestern Football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others."

Defensive coordinator David Braun is expected to be named the Wildcats' acting coach, sources told ESPN.

(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...


TOPICS: Society; Sports
KEYWORDS: coach; fitzgerald; football; hazing; northwestern; sports
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1 posted on 07/10/2023 7:22:22 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
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To: ConservativeStatement

Great job football players.

You won one game last season, you have no reason to haze and you got your coach fired.


2 posted on 07/10/2023 7:26:42 PM PDT by Round Earther
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To: Round Earther

Bill Walsh put a stop to it when he took over the 49ers in ‘78. They were big losers at the time. He was ahead of his time.


3 posted on 07/10/2023 7:30:58 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (e allowed )
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To: DIRTYSECRET
Bill Walsh put a stop to it when he took over the 49ers in ‘78.

Pranks, if done right are harmless and they help to develop camaraderie among players.

4 posted on 07/10/2023 7:33:54 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: ConservativeStatement

Hazing .Gay as hell. Bunch of fags.


5 posted on 07/10/2023 7:36:38 PM PDT by csvset (tolerance becomes a crime when attached to evil)
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To: MinorityRepublican

How about the Northwestern players focus on winning more than one game and not, “forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature?”


6 posted on 07/10/2023 7:40:37 PM PDT by Round Earther
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To: ConservativeStatement

As I understand it, the university administration said that the head coach should have been aware of the hazing since it was so widespread, so readily known by team members, and had continued for a considerable period of time. If all that’s true, I don’t see how they could appoint any member of the current coaching staff to the head coach position - they should have been just as aware of this stuff as the man at the top.


7 posted on 07/10/2023 7:40:46 PM PDT by Stosh
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To: MinorityRepublican

*Pranks, if done right are harmless and they help to develop camaraderie among players.*

Who gets to define harmless? Some people can’t take a joke.


8 posted on 07/10/2023 7:44:47 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (e allowed )
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To: DIRTYSECRET
Who gets to define harmless? Some people can’t take a joke.

This generation is soft. Back in the '80s, all of this was going on.

9 posted on 07/10/2023 7:47:04 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: csvset

10 posted on 07/10/2023 7:47:44 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Stosh

Good point.


11 posted on 07/10/2023 7:50:19 PM PDT by gcparent (God Bless America )
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To: MinorityRepublican

These were not pranks.


12 posted on 07/10/2023 7:51:12 PM PDT by gcparent (God Bless America )
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To: MinorityRepublican

These were not pranks.


13 posted on 07/10/2023 7:51:12 PM PDT by gcparent (God Bless America )
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To: MinorityRepublican

“This generation is soft.”

By soft, do you mean they do not like to be sexually assaulted by other dudes?


14 posted on 07/10/2023 7:57:08 PM PDT by Round Earther
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To: ConservativeStatement

When my kids were in HS, the football coach was accused of condoning hazing with a broomstick up the butt of prospective players. It was a difficult time. He quit, which made people think he was guilty, but the ensuing investigation showed that the rumor was started by a player’s parents who were disgruntled with his lack of playing time. It nearly ruined the coach’s career and marriage. None of it was true. All of the allegations were shown to be false.

Recently the coach was named to the state HS football hall of fame. I am so glad he survived the false allegations.

I say all of this only as a cautionary tale. Maybe there was hazing, maybe it was true. Sad if this is true, BUT not everything you read is true. I hope this is just fabricated, but I have no idea one way or the other.

If this is false, then I hope those who are spreading false info have guilty consciences. If this is true, then I hope those who knew about it have guilty consciences.


15 posted on 07/10/2023 9:26:28 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: csvset
Hazing .Gay as hell. Bunch of fags.

Yes, they are. Locker room jism junkies.

16 posted on 07/10/2023 9:34:28 PM PDT by meadsjn (, )
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To: FamiliarFace

11 students interviewed said this happened.


17 posted on 07/10/2023 9:48:00 PM PDT by gcparent (God Bless America )
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To: Stosh

If coach should have been aware, then why promote the asst coach? Shouldn’t he have been aware too?


18 posted on 07/10/2023 9:49:22 PM PDT by gcparent (God Bless America )
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To: gcparent

So that sounds different than what my kids experienced. In that situation there was only a best friend of the kid who said anything happened, and there was plenty of evidence showing that it couldn’t have happened the way the one kid and his parents and one friend said. The allegation made the newspaper, though, and the whole community was in shock. I wonder how many stuck around to find out that the coach had been maligned just because of player time, or lack of time, on the field.

I think this is an awful situation. I never want anyone to be molested or abused in any way, shape, or form. I will pray for everyone involved.


19 posted on 07/10/2023 10:08:13 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Had these acts happened at a Northwestern PRIDE event, probably no punishment.


20 posted on 07/10/2023 11:19:05 PM PDT by Deadeye Division
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