Back in January, Northwestern began an investigation into hazing allegations within the Northwestern Wildcats football program. On Friday, that investigation ended with head coach Pat Fitzgerald getting a two-week suspension.
The school completed the investigation and has found that the hazing claims were “supported by the evidence gathered.”
“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,” the executive summary said according to On3. “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 did not find clear evidence that Pat Fitzgerald knew about the hazing, but found that there were “significant opportunities” for Fitzgerald to have discovered the ongoing hazing, which is what resulted in his suspension.
“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.”
Fitzgerald’s two-week suspension is set to begin immediately.
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