Former Northwestern head football coach Pat Fitzgerald is taking the university to court, months after he was first suspended, then fired amid a hazing investigation. Attorneys Dan Webb and Matthew Carter say Fitzgerald is suing for $130 million in a wrongful termination lawsuit and will seek extra funds for future lost income, as well as for "infliction of emotional distress," CBS Sports reports. Fitzgerald, a star Northwestern Wildcats linebacker in the 1990s, was coach for 17 seasons. "If there was ever an athletic coach at Northwestern University that should not have been terminated, it's Coach Fitzgerald," Webb says.
Fitzgerald was suspended in July after a six-month outside investigation by former Illinois inspector general Maggie Hickey found that while there wasn't "sufficient" evidence to prove the coaches knew about hazing, they had "significant opportunities" to find out about it, the AP reports. He was fired after more details of the hazing emerged. Webb says he believes details of the hazing were exaggerated and the anonymous whistleblower had a grudge against the coach, WGN-TV reports.
In a statement Thursday, Northwestern said it remains confident that firing Fitzgerald was appropriate and it will "vigorously defend" its position in court. The coach "had the responsibility to know that hazing was occurring and to stop it. He failed to do so," the university said, adding that student-athletes corroborated the investigation's findings, "showing beyond question that hazing—which included nudity and sexualized acts—took place on Fitzgerald's watch." (More Northwestern University stories.)
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