Northwestern College has fired soccer head coach Pat Fitzgerald following a macabre scandal with gamers that rocked the varsity. In consequence, Northwestern’s prospects had been drastically diminished, and so they now have big odds of +20000 to win the Huge Ten Championship.
A former star linebacker at Northwestern College, Fitzgerald took over as head coach in 2006. Fitzgerald managed 17 seasons and amassed a 110-101 document, together with a 65-76 within the Huge Ten.
Fitzgerald has led Northwestern to 2 West Division championships since 2018. Underneath Fitzgerald, Northwestern was invited to 10 bowl video games. Northwestern has received its final 4 bowl appearances, and Fitzgerald has a profession document of 5-5 in bowl video games.
The final time Northwestern certified for a bowl sport was within the 2020 season, after they defeated Auburn within the Citrus Bowl. The Wildcats have struggled the previous two seasons. They went 3-9 in 2021 and 1-11 in 2022. They’ve been 1-8 every in convention play over the previous two seasons.
Defensive coordinator David Brown is predicted to take over as interim head coach. Fitzgerald was FBS’s fifth longest-serving head coach. He spent a complete of 26 years with Northwestern, together with 4 seasons as a participant and 5 as an assistant coach.
Fitzgerald was initially suspended for 2 weeks
An nameless whistleblower, a former member of the soccer workforce, has made the primary accusations about his expertise throughout his freshman season.
Northwestern contacted an outdoor regulation agency in January to start a six-month investigation into the hazing allegations. An investigation led by lawyer Maggie Hickey of Arendt-Fox Schiff regulation agency decided there was not sufficient proof that Fitzgerald or the remainder of the teaching employees knew in regards to the Hazing affair.
“Whereas the investigation discovered no proof of particular misconduct by particular person soccer gamers or coaches, participation in or consciousness of hazing actions was widespread amongst soccer gamers,” the ultimate abstract reads. there may be
An investigation confirmed that no less than 11 former Northwestern gamers admitted that hazing was prevalent inside their soccer program.
Northwestern College held Fitzgerald in the end accountable, and its president, Michael Schill, suspended him for 2 weeks with out pay.
The pinnacle coach is in the end answerable for the tradition of the workforce,” Chill wrote in an open letter to college students and alumni. “Whereas the cloudiness we investigated was in depth, it was clearly not a secret inside the program and supplied Coach Fitzgerald with a possibility to search out out what was happening. Both means, North Western soccer tradition was unimaginable in some methods, however damaged in others.”
“Northwestern Soccer prides itself not solely on athletes, however on producing distinctive younger individuals with the persona that befits this program and school,” Fitzgerald mentioned final Friday. “We maintain our student-athletes and packages to the best requirements. We are going to proceed to try to exceed these requirements sooner or later.”
Sill reverses course after article, fires Fitzgerald
Day by day Northwestern It revealed an article over the weekend detailing hazing and sexual abuse of gamers. The article went viral, with many college students and alumni upset with the preliminary resolution and demanding Fitzgerald’s dismissal. After a board assembly on Monday, Mr. Sill reversed his course and fired Mr. Fitzgerald.
Hazing contains pressured participation, nudity, and sexual acts of a degrading nature, and is a transparent violation of Northwest coverage and values,” Sill mentioned in a letter to the Northwest neighborhood. mentioned in
The previous participant and whistleblower despatched an official assertion to ESPN’s Adam Littenberg.
“For me, this has all the time been in regards to the bodily and psychological security of student-athletes,” mentioned the previous athlete. “We’re nonetheless seeing progress in athletics throughout the nation. At present is a transfer in that path.
“I used to be shocked to listen to that the president of Northwestern unilaterally terminated the contract with out prior discover and subsequently terminated my employment,” Fitzgerald mentioned in a public assertion to ESPN. .
Fitzgerald addressed the workforce, together with eldest son Jack, at a non-public assembly Monday evening.
Northwestern futures plummet
Ohio State and Michigan are joint favorites with +175 odds to win the Huge Ten this season, in accordance with the DraftKings’ newest replace. Solely two Huge 10 groups have longer odds than Northwestern, together with Rutgers (+25000) and Indiana (+50000).
Earlier than the Hazing scandal, the percentages of Northwestern profitable the convention championship had been +10000. After Northwestern sacked Fitzgerald, the percentages for the Huge Ten title dropped to +20,000.
Northwestern College is taking part in within the Huge Ten West, and the percentages have dropped to +10000 as the largest longshot within the district.
The oddsmakers didn’t have a optimistic outlook for Northwestern this season and had been put in with a mixed 3.5 over/underneath win. The percentages have modified within the final 24 hours and you might want to put down odds of -145 to guess Northwestern wins beneath his 3.5. If he needs to guess on 3.5 wins or extra for Northwestern, that prop pays his guess +125.
That is the primary main hazing incident to rock the Northwestern campus north of Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern College’s school basketball program was embroiled in a points-cutting scandal within the mid-Nineteen Nineties.
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