Ex-Northwestern Coach Seeks $130M In Wrongful Termination Suit

EVANSTON, IL — Former Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald is suing the university for at least $130 million in damages after being fired earlier this summer in connection with a hazing scandal that has led to numerous lawsuits being filed by former players.

Attorneys for Fitzgerald announced the "major" lawsuit on Thursday morning at a news conference. Fitzgerald, who coached the Wildcats for 17 seasons, did not attend the news conference announcing the multi-million lawsuit against Northwestern claiming wrongful termination.

Fitzgerald's lawyer, Dan Webb, filed the 51-page lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday and called Northwestern's firing illegal and wrongful. Webb said the lawsuit involved the breach of two contracts and that Northwestern was egregious in firing Fitzgerald. The suit also seeks punitive damages and also alleges that Northwestern destroyed Fitzgerald's reputation by firing him, Webb said on Thursday.

Northwestern and school president Michael Schill are named as defendants in the suit, claiming that the school "wrongfully and illegally" terminated Fitzgerald "without any legitimate or rational reason whatsoever" – a move that Webb called "a travesty of justice."

Webb said that Northwestern's "callous conduct" destroyed Fitzgerald's reputation and will keep him from ever coaching at a top level again.

"Pat Fitzgerald is without question the single most respected and successful football coach in the history of Northwestern," Webb said in a news conference on Thursday.

"If there was ever an athletic coach at Northwestern University that should have not been terminated, it's Coach Fitzgerald. The fact he was terminated based on no rational reasons or facts whatsoever — the fact they've gone out and destroyed his reputation as one of the best football coaches in America based on no legitimate reason or evidence is disgraceful, it's despicable conduct on behalf of Northwestern University."

After Northwestern conducted a lengthy investigation into hazing allegations, Webb said the school decided it was still "going to expound a pound of flesh" in announcing the two-week suspension. In that meeting, Webb maintained the school acknowledged that Fitzgerald knew nothing of the alleged hazing. He said on Thursday that Northwestern's six-month investigation did not show that "significant" hazing took place and that many of the claims were "grossly exaggerated."

"Was there any real hazing that took place at Northwestern? I doubt it," Webb said on Thursday, characterizing the allegations of hazing as "horseplay."

In a statement issued in response to the lawsuit, Northwestern school officials said that "as head coach of the football program for 17 years, Patrick Fitzgerald was responsible for the conduct of the program. He had the responsibility to know that hazing was occurring and to stop it. He failed to do so," the statement said.

The statement continued:

"As part of the six-month independent investigation, multiple current or former football student-athletes acknowledged that hazing took place within the football program. Student-athletes across a range of years corroborated these findings, showing beyond question that hazing — which included nudity and sexualized acts — took place on Fitzgerald’s watch.

"Since these findings were released, numerous former student-athletes have filed lawsuits against Fitzgerald and the University related to hazing they endured while on Fitzgerald’s team.

"The safety of our students remains our highest priority, and we deeply regret that any student-athletes experienced hazing. We remain confident that the University acted appropriately in terminating Fitzgerald and we will vigorously defend our position in court. "

Meanwhile, attorneys representing former Northwestern players who are suing the school over allegations of hazing said that the former coach's lawsuit "is all about financial gain and incredibly tone-deaf in defending his actions."

In a Thursday afternoon press conference, Steve Levin, the founding partner of Levin & Perconti Law Firm in Chicago, blasted Webb's lawsuit and Fitzgerald's denial of what the attorney called a "homoerotic" culture within the Northwestern football program.

Levin characterized Webb as a "big-time corporate lawyer" who accused Northwestern officials and dozens of former football players of conspiring "and making up a story" over allegations of hazing and referring to the players as "opportunistic liars".

"Implied in that is that they're in it for the money," Levin said on Thursday afternoon.

He added: "They view this as a day of reckoning for Northwestern. They want to put an end to this behavior. People ask me all the time how they allowed this to happen for so long. Well, now we know. They're going to keep covering it up. We're going to keep denying it."

Attorneys for the former players said Thursday that the former coach's lawsuit "re-traumatizes" former players who have made the allegations against the school and Fitzgerald and "is utterly insensitive to the experience of a survivor of sexual assault and hazing."

Attorneys said that what Webb characterized as "horseplay" were actually naked drills, a hazing ritual called a "car wash" in which players were forced to walk between soaped-up naked teammates in the shower, and other allegations that included players being forcefully dry-humped by teammates.

"(Fitzgerald) is saying through his lawyers that these players – his family – are liars," attorney Margaret Battersby Black said on Thursday.

"That he allows his attorney to so callously call these former family members liars shows you everything you need to know about the culture he established at this school. And he's trying to continue to suppress and victimize these young men by painting himself as the victim. All his press conference today did was establish that he put a winning record over the mental health and physical safety of the men whose homes he went into and to whose parents he promised he look after."

Levin said that the purpose of Webb's press conference was to intimidate former players who are suing the school while attempting to get Fitzgerald $130 million in damages.

"(Fitzgerald) claims that he's the one who has been harmed," Levin said, referring to a lawsuit that attorneys called a "public relations puff piece". For him, it's about money and that's what this suit is all about, and apparently, he and his lawyer will say anything to get his money for him."

Fitzgerald has maintained throughout the scandal that he was not aware that hazing was taking place within his program. Former players who are suing the school and who have named Fitzgerald as a defendant in lawsuits claim that they were the victims of sexualized hazing during their time with the Northwestern football program.

Fitzgerald was still owed $68 million on a 10-year contract extension he signed with Northwestern in 2021. In addition to breach of contract, the suit seeks damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and claims for punitive damages.

Webb said that the $130 million in "economic and out-of-pocket damages" is the floor that could be expected to be paid out if a jury rules in Fitzgerald's favor. Webb said that he has had conversations with Northwestern seeking fair and reasonable compensation for Fitzgerald but said those efforts were unsuccessful. He did not rule out settling the case in the future.

Fitzgerald was originally suspended for two weeks without pay in connection with the scandal. However, Schill announced three days after announcing the suspension, that he had “erred” in judgment in only suspending Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was fired for cause on July 10.

Fitzgerald issued a statement to ESPN the night he was fired, saying he was surprised by the university president's decision to fire him, which, the former coach said, revoked an agreement between the two men in regard to the prior two-week suspension.

Fitzgerald added that "given this turn of events, I have entrusted my agent, Bryan Harlan, and legal counsel....to take the necessary steps to protect my rights in accordance with the law."

On Thursday, Webb claimed that Northwestern promised Fitzgerald that if he agreed to the two-week unpaid suspension, he would not face any further punishment. The lawsuit states that on July 3, Fitzgerald met with Northwestern athletic director Derrick Gragg and another school official. Gragg told Fitzgerald that Schill believed Fitzgerald "needed to take a hit" for the findings of the report although it found that Fitzgerald nor his staff likely had prior knowledge of hazing that may have taken place.

School officials said they wanted the two-week suspension to coincide with a previously scheduled vacation, which would allow Fitzgerald to attend a recruiting event, the lawsuit states.

Since Fitzgerald’s firing, several players and other former football staff members have questioned the motives of former players suing the school. Former defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz referred to several of the allegations as being “highly suspect.”

“Coach Fitzgerald would have acted and would not have tolerated it, nor would anyone on our staff — the majority of which were fathers and husbands,” Hankwitz wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Webb said on Thursday that Fitzgerald had a team policy that if he learned that players had engaged in hazing, they would be removed from the team and would likely not be eligible to play college football for the rest of their careers — "the death penalty," Webb said.

Webb also said that Fitzgerald had an open-door policy in which players could report hazing that took place. The attorney said that no such reports were made to the long-time coach and former All-American linebacker at Northwestern.

Webb said that allegations of hazing were made by a whistleblower who "had a grudge" against Northwestern and against Fitzgerald. The allegations again came to light when the Daily Northwestern, the school's student newspaper, reported the allegations, which led to Schill firing Fitzgerald after he was initially suspended.

Webb said that Schill "didn't like the heat" that came after his announcement to suspend Fitzgerald. But the attorney also said that Northwestern didn't want to terminate Fitzgerald and "didn't want him gone."

Instead, Webb said that the school decided to fire Fitzgerald for cause and, in turn, "made the incredible decision to destroy (Fitzgerald's) reputation.

"Coach Fitzgerald is entitled to his justice, to be in court and present those facts to a jury," Webb said. "Let's let a jury decide if (Northwestern's) course of conduct in destroying the career of someone who has spent that many years in devoted service to Northwestern, whether that was the right and fair thing to do to someone and their family. We'll let a jury decide that."

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