Amna Nawaz:
Northwestern University yesterday fired longtime head football coach Pat Fitzgerald after an investigation found hazing was widespread on the team, including instances of forced sexual acts.
The university received an anonymous complaint from a former player last November and launched an independent investigation run by the former Illinois inspector general. It found most players participated in or were aware of hazing in the football program.
The student newspaper The Daily Northwestern also reported that several former players alleged there were racist comments and attacks by the coaching staff as well. Fitzgerald has said he was not aware of any hazing. The school has said it was not aware of any allegations of racism previously.
Joining me now is Jon Greenberg, founding editor and senior columnist at The Athletic.
Jon, thanks for joining us.
After that investigation last week, the university president first suspended the coach, coach Fitzgerald, two weeks of unpaid suspension, and, within days, they decided to fire him. Why is that? What changed?
Jon Greenberg, Founding Editor and Senior Columnist, The Athletic: I think part of it was the public outcry about it.
And then quickly, the next day, The Daily Northwestern, the school paper there, they had a story with a lot of details from the whistle-blower, from a person, an unnamed source, an anonymous player with the university on the football team, who really detailed what the hazing was, because hazing is a pretty general, vague term, right?
It could mean anything. It could mean, like, eating something. It could it could be carrying bags for someone. This was like pretty detailed and really damning things that were going on there. And they had it verified by another player, who verified the initial player's — what he said happened.
So that really blew it up. And then you saw more and more stories start to come out from The Daily Northwestern, from ESPN, from The Athletic, just different, more details coming out. And I think it really made for something they couldn't ignore anymore.
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