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Pat Fitzgerald suspended 2 weeks in Northwestern hazing inquiry

LandoComando said:
No but Northwestern isn't Alabama
Your inability to acknowledge Pat's success is dumbfounded. They're going to have bad seasons...he gives them the occasional good season. And citing his bowl record is laughable. The fact he is ever bowl eligible ruins your argument. Winning or losing a bowl game is meaningless. It's a scrimmage
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Most of pats success was as a player. That means nothing outside of northwestern. Alabama only cares about pat the coach. The coach who went 1-11 last year. .500 coach. .375 in bowl games.

The bowl games are not meaningless when you talk about joe. Funny how you change your criteria for different çoaches.
 
According to the Daily Northwestern Freshman were sexually assaulted in Northwestern's locker rooms. The coach knew about the hazing. A second player also confirmed the hazing.


Is a two week suspension enough for sexual assault?
Shouldn't the players also be punished?
Did Northwestern notify the police?
 
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Obliviax said:
so an anonymous person said there was hazing, yet they couldn't identify what player(s) did it or what coaches knew? Doesn't sound like a very thorough investigation. Try harder!

Seems to me that Fitz is taking the bullet, knowing he is superman at NW, and they are trying to get this to go away pronto. "see, we self-assessed and punished so all is good. Right? RIGHT?"
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Shouldn't the police investigate ? Did Northwestern notify the police? Isn't that the protocol since 2012? Do you trust Northwestern to investigate Northwestern?
 
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voltz99 said:
Most of pats success was as a player. That means nothing outside of northwestern. Alabama only cares about pat the coach. The coach who went 1-11 last year. .500 coach. .375 in bowl games.

The bowl games are not meaningless when you talk about joe. Funny how you change your criteria for different çoaches.
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Umm bowls are meaningless when I talk about Paterno. Literally meaningless unless they decided the champ and even then all titles were mythical. When have I ever given any importance to bowls? I want them to cease to exist.

He's the most successful coach in their program's history. It's not even debatable. What's your real issue with him that you can't acknowledge what he's accomplished there?
 
This is all likely just a bitter player twisting things...which happens all the time. It's pathetic that anyone here would jump to conclusions given our program's past? No wonder so many other fan bases loved Paterno's demise.
 
voltz99 said:
Shouldn't the police investigate ? Did Northwestern notify the police? Isn't that the protocol since 2012? Do you trust Northwestern to investigate Northwestern?
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Good point. I'm sure it's national news...and a secret to police. Are you special?
 
marshall23 said:
Well let's see....As a college player, he won about every award a linebacker can , most of them twice. He's a college Hall of Fame player. He also won the Big Ten Medal of Honor for Academic and Athletic excellence. After college his former D coordinator brought him to Maryland (Vanderlinden). Next his former Head Coach (Barnett) hired him at Colorado. He's the longest tenured HC in FBS. All this making it clear....he's not the kind of guy you want to keep around! Yep, he just doesn't measure up to the high standards of the elite types that post here.
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So awards that are completely subjective somehow matter?

The guy is 110-101, despite your typical snark.
 
Obliviax said:
Looks like there is a lot more smoke

Former NU football player details hazing allegations after coach suspension​


Content warning: This article contains mention of hazing, sexual assault and suicidal ideation.
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Sounds like it was extensive and went on for years. Northwestern now says it may have erred in giving such a light suspension. They issued a statement late in the day, saying they were not fully aware of all of the details. It’s turning into a pretty big story, not sure coach survives this.

www.espn.com

Northwestern to reconsider Fitzgerald's discipline

Northwestern, in a letter sent late Saturday night, announced it will reconsider penalties for longtime Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald after new details emerged surrounding allegations of hazing in the Big Ten school's football program.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
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mgkpsu said:
So awards that are completely subjective somehow matter?

The guy is 110-101, despite your typical snark.
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At Northwestern. He's won over 100 games at Northwestern. Why are people struggling with this? He's also younger than Franklin for example...probably will be coaching for another 20 years. The only fair criticism of Fitz is that he should have left Northwestern but he chose loyalty over winning. The people bashing him here usually respect that. You know when it fits their agenda.
 
LandoComando said:
At Northwestern. He's won over 100 games at Northwestern. Why are people struggling with this? He's also younger than Franklin for example...probably will be coaching for another 20 years. The only fair criticism of Fitz is that he should have left Northwestern but he chose loyalty over winning. The people bashing him here usually respect that. You know when it fits their agenda.
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He averages 6.5 wins per year for his career, and 3-4 of those were against out of conference nobodies, and then a few against the dregs of the Big 10. Again, I never understood why some people are on this guy's jock.
 
Wow. WTF is going on? Tennessee soccer coach in massive trouble

breaking911.com

Tennessee Soccer Coach Drugged, Raped, Recorded Attacks On Children, Police Say - Breaking911

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (FPD / News Release) – A heartbreaking investigation is underway as Franklin Police work to identify several young children who were drugged and raped by a Franklin man. Camilo Hurtado Campos, a popular soccer coach, is being held for Rape of a Child and Sexual Exploitation of a...
breaking911.com breaking911.com
 
Obliviax said:
Wow. WTF is going on? Tennessee soccer coach in massive trouble

breaking911.com

Tennessee Soccer Coach Drugged, Raped, Recorded Attacks On Children, Police Say - Breaking911

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (FPD / News Release) – A heartbreaking investigation is underway as Franklin Police work to identify several young children who were drugged and raped by a Franklin man. Camilo Hurtado Campos, a popular soccer coach, is being held for Rape of a Child and Sexual Exploitation of a...
breaking911.com breaking911.com
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Chop their dicks off
 
mgkpsu said:
He averages 6.5 wins per year for his career, and 3-4 of those were against out of conference nobodies, and then a few against the dregs of the Big 10. Again, I never understood why some people are on this guy's jock.
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What other Northwestern coach has done that? He does more with less than anyone. He's won the West twice--that should never happen at Northwestern. They have very bad years and good year because they can't reload. He actually has to rebuild unlike Penn State. As I said before, his decision to stay will endear him to Northwestern but it will never allow the rest of us to know exactly how good/great of a coach he truly was. If Franklin ever left I'd take him in a second if we couldn't get someone already proven to be elite. He just wont' come here--or anywhere.
 
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LandoComando said:
What other Northwestern coach has done that? He does more with less than anyone. He's won the West twice--that should never happen at Northwestern. They have very bad years and good year because they can't reload. He actually has to rebuild unlike Penn State. As I said before, his decision to stay will endear him to Northwestern but it will never allow the rest of us to know exactly how good/great of a coach he truly was. If Franklin ever left I'd take him in a second if we couldn't get someone already proven to be elite. He just wont' come here--or anywhere.
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If Northwestern is so shitty then kick them out of the conference. Should our wins against them even count nationally?

In about 4-5 years at this rate you are going to need to be singing the praises of Schiano too.
 
mgkpsu said:
He averages 6.5 wins per year for his career, and 3-4 of those were against out of conference nobodies, and then a few against the dregs of the Big 10. Again, I never understood why some people are on this guy's jock.
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It’s not about the averages with him it’s about the fact that he fields competitive teams more than once a century. He’s had a winning record in conference 8 times. The previous 10 coaches have done that 9 times combined since they joined the conference in 1953.
 
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fastlax16 said:
It’s not about the averages with him it’s about the fact that he fields competitive teams more than once a century. He’s had a winning record in conference 8 times. The previous 10 coaches have done that 9 times combined since they joined the conference in 1953.
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It is about sex assault in his locker room. He either knew or should have known. Wasn't joe supposed to know everything about his team? Another former player has come forward and say pat knew. Not looking good. Northwestern now says hey did not have all the facts when hey slapped pat on the wrist.
 
voltz99 said:
It is about sex assault in his locker room. He either knew or should have known. Wasn't joe supposed to know everything about his team? Another former player has come forward and say pat knew. Not looking good. Northwestern now says hey did not have all the facts when hey slapped pat on the wrist.
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He should be fired in my opinion, assuming it’s all or mostly true. Not sure what any of that has to do with why he’s been respected as a coach up until this point…
 
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voltz99 said:
It is about sex assault in his locker room. He either knew or should have known. Wasn't joe supposed to know everything about his team? Another former player has come forward and say pat knew. Not looking good. Northwestern now says hey did not have all the facts when hey slapped pat on the wrist.
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By all accounts Fitz is a pretty darn good coach and a person. He has turned down several more lucrative offers to stay and coach his alma mater. Of all of the modern coaches, he most personifies Paterno IMHO. Crazy if he ends up suffering the same fate while coaches like Meyer and LSU's coaches seem to get off scot-free (of minimal damage).

There were a lot of allegations made about Iowa's HC not long ago. One was he made the minority players dress like white people, of all things.

We need to let this play out. it is very possible he was aware of "hazing" like new players having to wear high heels for a day. But perhaps there was more egregious hazing that went on that he was not aware of. The media will say "there was hazing and coach Fitz let it happen" and won't point out is was minor hazing and not "sexual in nature" (no pun intended). The media are monsters.
 
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LandoComando said:
This is all likely just a bitter player twisting things...which happens all the time. It's pathetic that anyone here would jump to conclusions given our program's past? No wonder so many other fan bases loved Paterno's demise.
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Wait wait wait. You just acted like a clown in this thread about another's poster's opinion, but now you just post this, masquerading your worthless opinion as gospel with absolutely no proof. How do you know this player is bitter? Aren't you jumping to a premature conclusion without knowing jack shit about the situation ?
 
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mgkpsu said:
Never understood why people ride this guy's jock.
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I don't know if people have seen but the NW president has already said he's reconsidering and there will be more investigation and probably more serious repercussions for Fitz. The allegations are credible and very serious -- sounds to me like Fitz's job is on the line. University is an uproar over this. Could be another situation like Maryland and Durkin.

They spent $200 million on a gold-plated training facility by the lake, but their recruiting has only gotten worse. That could be a sign high school players smell bad shit in the locker room.

There's tough and there's abuse and good coaches know the difference. Have to say I feel good about Franklin, he's fundamentally a conscientious and caring guy -- not someone who would put up with psychological or physical abuse. Plus he's read enough psychology research to know that abusive coaching usually doesn't work anyway.

National press has always treated Fitz like a god but I always wondered if there was more to the story. Granted, they needed every advantage they could get, but his defenses always played for concussions and knee injuries. The targeting rule really hurt NW -- we saw their best player tossed out of game against PSU for just doing what NW has always done.(and if you remember, Fitz gave him a big hug on national TV before he left the game)

It's a pity all those high paid sports "journalists" for TV networks and Chicago publications had no clue and it took the Northwestern student newspaper to break this.
 
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If it's true and he knew about it he get's fired - simple as that. It does seem NW knew a lot more about what was going on and tried to downplay it and a whistleblower put it out there that there was more to the story and now they are back peddling.
 
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Lion84 said:
If it's true and he knew about it he get's fired - simple as that. It does seem NW knew a lot more about what was going on and tried to downplay it and a whistleblower put it out there that there was more to the story and now they are back peddling.
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Agree. From the Sandusky thing and Paterno that sometimes people assume head coaches know things that they actually don't, but if there was a whole organized hazing ritual that extended over years and years, it's pretty hard to believe Fitz didn't know and tacitly approve. He's kind of an old school guy and hazing was de rigueur in the 80s when Fitz was growing up. Times have changed.

The other thing to keep in mind is this isn't Okie State, it's Northwestern, which everybody in Chicagoland considers the Harvard of the midwest. Prestige is a LOT more important to them than football. Even the football boosters care about the academic reputation a lot.

It also doesn't help that NW has sucked for a few years and Fitz's recruiting has sucked. He's not exactly competing for Big Ten titles these days so winning isn't going to protect him.
 
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According to ESPN's Rittenberg (and we know what they did to JoPa), here are the two most egregious events:

The former player outlined other instances of hazing in which players had to perform naked acts in the locker room, including mimicking the center-quarterback exchange in football games. He cited the "car wash," in which naked linemen soaped up their bodies and blocked the entrance to the team showers. He also described the "Gatorade shake challenge," in which three freshmen were forced to drink as many Gatorade shakes as they could within 10 minutes.​
​
"I never saw someone not violently throw up either during or after the challenge," the former player said. "I have seen freshmen forced to participate get sick from this tradition for a number of days following the event."​
​
Another former player who played early in Fitzgerald's tenure told ESPN that he saw the "Gatorade shake challenge" as well as the "car wash." The second former player mentioned other incidents in which players were coerced to do naked pullups and other things in a gym during preseason camp in Wisconsin.​
​
I really don't think these are all that bad. The naked center-qb exchange and the linemen blocking the showers sound like the worst. I do have to wonder about what "mimicking" means. And football players shower naked all the time. Linemen "blocking the shower" could easily have been an issue where Fr had to wait until upper classperson's were done. And none of these suggest Fitz knew about it. Maybe he knew that the Fr had to carry the upper classperon's lunch but not naked pullups. Seems like they are going out of their way to make things sound worse or they should be more specific. What was done and what Fitz knew about.
 
Obliviax said:
By all accounts Fitz is a pretty darn good coach and a person. He has turned down several more lucrative offers to stay and coach his alma mater. Of all of the modern coaches, he most personifies Paterno IMHO. Crazy if he ends up suffering the same fate while coaches like Meyer and LSU's coaches seem to get off scot-free (of minimal damage).

There were a lot of allegations made about Iowa's HC not long ago. One was he made the minority players dress like white people, of all things.

We need to let this play out. it is very possible he was aware of "hazing" like new players having to wear high heels for a day. But perhaps there was more egregious hazing that went on that he was not aware of. The media will say "there was hazing and coach Fitz let it happen" and won't point out is was minor hazing and not "sexual in nature" (no pun intended). The media are monsters.
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I don't think it's universal opinion that Fitz is a great guy. I have my doubts.

But any PSU fan knows how media firestorm works and how quickly people get knocked from pedestals and then everybody assumes the worst. The allegations are credible and serious but whether Fitz was really a part of it is a question that will be answered over time.
 
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fastlax16 said:
It’s not about the averages with him it’s about the fact that he fields competitive teams more than once a century. He’s had a winning record in conference 8 times. The previous 10 coaches have done that 9 times combined since they joined the conference in 1953.
Click to expand...

This is not a great time for him though. They just suffered through a 1-11 which is NW's worst season since freaking 1979. They've had losing seasons 3 of the last 4 seasons (and the fourth was covid year). And their recruiting has really fallen off. There have to be some powerful people around NW football who think it's time for him to retire or become the AD or something.
 
tboyer said:
I don't think it's universal opinion that Fitz is a great guy. I have my doubts.

But any PSU fan knows how media firestorm works and how quickly people get knocked from pedestals and then everybody assumes the worst. The allegations are credible and serious but whether Fitz was really a part of it is a question that will be answered over time.
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I can agree with that. Anyone in a position of authority can be painted in a negative light. Franklin has as good a rep as anyone and he had a lawsuit filed against the program with the allegation he make hurt kids play and manipulated team doctors.

To your point, Fitz did some things that were unsportsmanlike in PSU games. On the other hand, he could be making more money elsewhere. he coaches a team that truly puts academics over athletics. So I give him a lot of cred for that.
 
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tboyer said:
This is not a great time for him though. They just suffered through a 1-11 which is NW's worst season since freaking 1979. They've had losing seasons 3 of the last 4 seasons (and the fourth was covid year). And their recruiting has really fallen off. There have to be some powerful people around NW football who think it's time for him to retire or become the AD or something.
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Well becoming AD is out of the question at this point.

Assuming he doesn't lose his job he needs a bounce back season this year because their schedules in 2024 and 2025 are going to be rough.
 
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sss said:
Interesting case here. No facts uncovered, but we will suspend our coach for 2 weeks when there are no practices or games. I guess the biggest punishment is no more preseason camp at their off-campus facility?

"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 reads.

www.espn.com

Fitzgerald suspended after Northwestern inquiry

Northwestern is implementing several measures to curb hazing within its football program, including a two-week suspension of coach Pat Fitzgerald after an investigation found evidence to support a claim of problematic conduct.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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what I don't understand is when did sexual abuse become part of sport team hazing rituals? There is a high school where I live that had similar incidents leading to coach being fired,
 
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mgkpsu said:
If Northwestern is so shitty then kick them out of the conference. Should our wins against them even count nationally?

In about 4-5 years at this rate you are going to need to be singing the praises of Schiano too.
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You need cupcakes in conferences under the current system

Did Rutgers do better than Schiano? He's not a great coach but best they can do
 
voltz99 said:
It is about sex assault in his locker room. He either knew or should have known. Wasn't joe supposed to know everything about his team? Another former player has come forward and say pat knew. Not looking good. Northwestern now says hey did not have all the facts when hey slapped pat on the wrist.
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Sounds like you're just angry about what happened here and blindly what others to get the same wrong treatment.
 
bono47 said:
Wait wait wait. You just acted like a clown in this thread about another's poster's opinion, but now you just post this, masquerading your worthless opinion as gospel with absolutely no proof. How do you know this player is bitter? Aren't you jumping to a premature conclusion without knowing jack shit about the situation ?
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Did you miss the word "likely"? We've seen this before. The fact we believe anything happened is insane.
 
Steve G said:
what I don't understand is when did sexual abuse become part of sport team hazing rituals? There is a high school where I live that had similar incidents leading to coach being fired,
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yeah. I never got that but boys are always obsessed with sex. My high school made a kid kiss the naked as of a senior during fall camp. The poor kid never lived it down. I feel horrible about it to this day.
 
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