Northwestern president unsure about punishment of football coach

Northwestern University President Michael Schill suspended the head football coach for two weeks, without pay, but now he says he isn’t sure about the punishment.

The punishment of Pat Fitzgerald, the coach, was immediate and is still going on.

The suspension followed an investigation of hazing on the football team. “While the investigation did not uncover evidence pointing to specific misconduct by any individual football player or coach, participation in or knowledge of the hazing activities was widespread across football players,” said a summary of an investigation into the hazing.

Schill now says that “upon reflection, I believe I may have erred in weighing the appropriate sanction for Coach Fitzgerald. The confidential report concluded that while there was corroborating evidence that hazing had occurred, there was no direct evidence that Coach Fitzgerald was aware of the hazing. In determining an appropriate penalty for the head coach, I focused too much on what the report concluded he didn’t know and not enough on what he should have known. As the head coach of one of our athletics programs, Coach Fitzgerald is not only responsible for what happens within the program but also must take great care to uphold our institutional commitment to the student experience and our priority to ensure all students — undergraduate and graduate — can thrive during their time at Northwestern. Clearly, he failed to uphold that commitment, and I failed to sufficiently consider that failure in levying a sanction.”