Ex-NU players: Lack of due process for Fitzgerald
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
A group of former Northwestern athletes has sent an open letter criticizing university administrators for a lack of due process before the firing of football coach Pat Fitzgerald, saying it “left a welcome mat out for the weaponization of sexual harassment, hazing, and racism allegations” at the school.
The letter, obtained by ESPN, is signed by 86 ex-Northwestern athletes, including several of Fitzgerald’s former football teammates. The group focuses on university president Michael Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg, saying both displayed “a clear failure of unbiased and principled leadership.” Schill and Gragg should be fired, the former athletes contend, if they don’t “positively support our athletic programs with due process” and release the findings of an investigation Northwestern commissioned into hazing allegations from a former player under Fitzgerald.
Schill fired Fitzgerald on July 10. But, three days earlier, he had issued a two-week suspension for the head football coach after the university-commissioned investigation found evidence that largely supported the player’s allegations but insufficient evidence that Fitzgerald or other coaches were aware of any hazing incidents. Schill, on July 8, said he would reconsider penalties for Fitzgerald hours after The Daily Northwestern reported details of the player’s hazing allegations against Fitzgerald and the program.
Monday’s letter contends Schill was influenced by social media reaction and “abandoned foundational legal ethics” in firing Fitzgerald.
“By willfully ignoring due process, Northwestern University’s administration has left a welcome mat out for the weaponization of sexual harassment, hazing, and racism accusations to run rampant at Northwestern University,” the letter reads. “Any allegation, true or not, will be allowed to cancel anyone’s career and destroy their reputation depending upon popular opinion, while simultaneously allowing the censorship of free speech. The collective gains of Northwestern’s Athletic Department over the last three decades, along with Pat Fitzgerald’s legacy and character, have almost been wiped out without any proof of guilt or, much less, even a thorough and proper investigation.”
The former athletes wrote that Gragg “fosters an environment of uncertainty, distrust, and censorship” in the athletic department. They cited Gragg’s quick repudiation of a T-shirt Northwestern players made following Fitzgerald’s firing, which reads “Cats Against The World” followed by “51,” the number Fitzgerald wore as a two-time national defensive player of the year at Northwestern. Several staff members wore the shirt at an Aug. 9 practice that was open to the media, leading Gragg, who said he didn’t know about the shirt previously, to call it “inappropriate, offensive and tone deaf.”
Sources told ESPN that players and coaches started wearing the shirt around Northwestern’s football building in mid-July.
“His comments worked to incite public opinion against his own program,” the letter reads. “Gragg made no effort to explain the team’s true intent before renouncing and shaming the players’ speech.”
Northwestern’s administration declined to comment about Monday’s letter.
The university has released only an executive summary of the original hazing investigation, led by attorney Maggie Hickey from the Chicago-based ArentFox Schiff law firm. Attorneys for former Northwestern football players, who have sued the university over hazing and mistreatment, also have called for the release of the complete report, as has Dan Webb, Fitzgerald’s attorney.
“We share Northwestern University administration’s deep concern over the possibility that any student-athlete has been harmed by sexual harassment, hazing, or racism while at Northwestern University,” the letter reads. “We trust that these allegations will be fully investigated. However, until these allegations are properly investigated, and the lawsuits filed resolved, no judgment of guilt should be assumed, accepted, or touted by Northwestern University’s administration.”
Last week, a different group of around 1,000 former Northwestern athletes issued an open letter that defended the athletic culture, saying it isn’t defined by allegations of hazing or mistreatment. That letter did not criticize Schill nor Gragg and supported the school’s efforts to investigate hazing claims.
In announcing Fitzgerald’s firing, Schill described a partially “broken” team culture, and he and Gragg have vowed to eliminate hazing within the school’s athletic programs. Schill on Aug. 1 announced that former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch would lead a wider investigation into Northwestern’s athletic culture.
Monday’s letter from the former athletes opposes Lynch leading the probe, noting “political controversies surrounding her history and reputation.”
Former athletes who signed the letter include several players from the 1995 Northwestern football team, which won the Big Ten championship and reached the Rose Bowl, including captain Rob Johnson, Keith Lozowski, Ryan Padgett, Tucker Morrison and Graham Gnos.
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Heather Dinich, Senior College Football Insider
ATLANTA — No major decisions were made regarding the future format of the 12-team College Football Playoff on Sunday, but “tweaks” to the 2025 season haven’t been ruled out, CFP executive director Rich Clark said.
Sunday’s annual meeting of the FBS commissioners and the presidents and chancellors who control the playoff wasn’t expected to produce any immediate course of action, but it was the first time that people with the power to change the playoff met in person to begin a review of the historic expanded bracket.
Clark said the group talked about “a lot of really important issues,” but the meeting at the Signia by Hilton set the stage for bigger decisions that need to be made “very soon.”
Commissioners would have to unanimously agree upon any changes to the 12-team format to implement them for the 2025 season.
“I would say it’s possible, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not,” Clark said on the eve of the College Football Playoff National Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. “There’s probably some things that could happen in short order that might be tweaks to the 2025 season, but we haven’t determined that yet.”
A source with knowledge of the conversations said nobody at this time was pushing hard for a 14-team bracket, and there wasn’t an in-depth discussion of the seeding process, but talks were held about the value of having the four highest-ranked conference champions earn first-round byes.
Ultimately, the 11 presidents and chancellors who comprise the CFP’s board of managers will vote on any changes, and some university leaders said they liked rewarding those conference champions with byes because of the emphasis it placed on conference title games.
Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, the chair of the board of managers, said they didn’t talk about “what-ifs,” but they have tasked the commissioners to produce a plan for future governance and the format for 2026 and beyond.
Starting in 2026, any changes will no longer require unanimous approval, and the Big Ten and the SEC will have the bulk of control over the format — a power that was granted during the past CFP contract negotiation. The commissioners will again meet in person at their annual April meeting in Las Colinas, Texas, and the presidents and chancellors will have a videoconference or phone call on May 6.
“We’re extremely happy with where we are now,” Keenum said. “We’re looking towards the new contract, which is already in place with ESPN, our media provider, for the next six years through 2032. We’ve got to make that transition from the current structure that we’re in to the new structure we’ll have.”
Following Sunday’s meeting, sources continued to express skepticism that there will be unanimous agreement to make any significant changes for the 2025 season, but a more thorough review will continue in the following months.
“The commissioners and our athletic director from Notre Dame will look at everything across the board,” Clark said. “We’re going to tee them up so that they could really have a thorough look at the playoff looking back after this championship game is done … and then look back and figure out what is it that we need.”
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Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
ATLANTA — ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said Sunday that the league will have conversations among coaches and athletic directors about whether to make changes to its conference championship game format.
The conversations are a result of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, and ensuring conference champions and the teams that play in conference championship game remain important.
This past season, SMU entered the ACC championship game as the regular-season champion but lost to Clemson in the ACC title game and had to sweat it out before selection day before earning a spot in the 12-team field.
Phillips said the ACC could consider giving its regular-season champion a bye, and have the teams that finish second or third in the league standings play in the ACC championship game.
He said another possibility is having the top 4 teams play on the final weekend of the regular season: first place versus fourth place, and second place vs. third place, with the winners playing the following weekend in the ACC championship game.
Phillips said he will have conversations with league head coaches on a conference call next week to get their feedback on the plan — specifically pointing to comments SMU coach Rhett Lashlee made leading up to the game in which he indicated the Mustangs might be better off not playing to protect its spot in the field.
Phillips also said these conversations will continue at the league’s winter meetings next month in Charlotte, North Carolina, and he has mentioned this is a topic among league athletics directors.
“The conference championship games are important, as long as we make them important, right?” Phillips said. “Do you play two versus three? You go through the regular season and whoever wins the regular season, just park them to the side, and then you play the second-place team versus the third-place team in your championship game. So you have a regular-season champion, and then you have a conference tournament or postseason champion.
“That’s one of the options, depending on how you treat the conference champions, or that championship game, you may want to do it different.
“I have alluded to that in some of our every-other-week-AD calls, and these are some of the things moving forward. We want to have a recap of the regular season, postseason, and what do we think moving forward?”
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