Northwestern has fired coach Pat Fitzgerald
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pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
" When you hire a turd to be your head coach, someone who doesn't care about the well-being of his players, racism was bound to enter the chat. "...................................
That quote from the author of the article is gonna leave a mark........A big bullseye on Fitzgerald.........I really doubt espn has any designs on promoting Fitz to an on air spot on their team.........espn's turd card is already full......................jmho
Wow, compounding misstep after misstep. Does the conference not provide help with crisis management for these types of situations to its members? If it does, not a good look for the new leadership out of the gates. Or does the conference just let schools hang out to dry??? Maybe I'm overthinking it?
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
the league helps with revenue sharing, not with expense sharing
they are big boys and girls in Evanston. They would not take advice from Rosemont on this anyway
You are likely correct, but they need some advice from somewhere they are not getting it right now.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
they likely have monied donors at 2/3 of the nations PR firms as is, and they arent returning those guys and gals calls as is
it sounds like the new AD and Prez need to go also
you can lead a horse to water , but you cant make him drink
Hard to believe it hasn’t happened already, but there will certainty be more firings of staff as accusations calling out specific coaches for being involved, condoning or knowing about it. They are just making the story stay around longer with this.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
Please don't.....
This is why I was hoping Fitz would somehow be retained. Much better coaches than Fitz will be interested, scandal or not.
IlliniSaluki
- IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
As to why the staff is staying put for this year? So they can field a team. It's wrong and I think they all should be !!!! canned out of their except maybe the DC who is brand new and I would like to think had no knowledge of any of this yet which is why they put him in charge for now.
I also believe they were told after this year you will need to find a job elsewhere. Well I hope that they were told this.
I also believe they were told after this year you will need to find a job elsewhere. Well I hope that they were told this.
For now. This is probably as premature as Pat Fitzgerald is on 2 week suspension and still our football coach. If additional information comes out about specific assistants knowing about this, they'll be let go as well. Northwestern basically in continuous band aid mode hoping that eventually one of them will stop the gaping self-inflicted chest wound.
IlliniSaluki
- IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
Yep a band-aid mode until the end of this next season when they can then clean house of everyone in the program. Again I think the only one that could survive this would be the new DC/acting HC and if their were any other brand new coaches/staff.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
This has historically been the kind of situation where a Babysitter Coach has been called upon a la Jim Grobe at Baylor or John L Smith at Arkansas.
Someone to keep the trains running respectably with no ambition for the long-term job.
Not a lawyer and I'm sure the legal definition as well as the contract clause are super boring to read, but they suspended him without pay for cause, so why wouldn't it be in their right to fire him for cause too?
There's an investigation that the school did which found him at fault in some capacity, regardless of how well the investigation was actually done.
There's an investigation that the school did which found him at fault in some capacity, regardless of how well the investigation was actually done.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
they will negotiate a settlement
it won’t be zero
it won’t be full pay per the contract for the remainder
it will be somewhere in between
it’s certainly not in NW’s interest to drag this out forever
From a legal perspective, despite the information that has come out, I think Fitzgerald probably will have a decent case for "wrongful termination" due to "plausible deniability" unless he can be actively tied to the hazing/sexual assault.
The reason I'm saying this is that if this has been going on as long as has been alleged (10+ years), then this "hazing" could be completely self-sustaining at this point with no need for active involvement or communication from Fitzgerald even if he was the one who originally implemented it. In this case, upperclassmen would pass on to the next group of upperclassmen the signals Fitzgerald uses to call underclassmen out to continue the hazing and while Fitzgerald knows full well what's going on and purposefully gives those signals, he would no longer need to actively instruct players to do it. And that could explain why those who have commented on the investigation say it was inconclusive on whether Fitzgerald was involved.
So while there are definitely assumptions made in coming to this possible rationale, one example avenue he and his legal team could take is that he never had any involvement in this or communicated hazing to his players and this was never brought to his attention by anyone. And that while he made signals in practice, those were specifically to point out to a player when they weren't meeting expectations and needed to correct their play. Hence a plausible deniability defense. And if the school can't prove his involvement, he'll certainly have a case, thus I'm guessing they'll come to a buyout agreement and quietly settle.
And it's in cases like these where "not guilty " can be so far removed from "innocent". He doesn't necessarily need to prove anything as he was just given a 10 year extension for good performance during the alleged time frame of the hazing and the initial investigation did not detail any involvement from him. However, the school does need to prove cause, and that is something they may indeed struggle with if they don't have evidence of concrete involvement.
Oh and one final thing, I am not at all making a defense for Fitzgerald or saying he shouldn't be accountable or wasn't involved in this depravity. Just that I can see a possibility for a good legal defense (barring additional information proving his clear active involvement) to the point where not only do I see a possibility of a payout/settlement but that it may even be the most likely scenario. :-/
Alabama OC Tommy Rees emerges as potential head coach candidate at Northwestern
As Northwestern searches for a new head football coach, one potential name to watch is new Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
IlliniSaluki
- IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
I know it's Webb's job to get Fitz the biggest settlement he can get but lol to that. He was the head of the program by "not knowing" he was then guilty of being inept at leading this program or the more classic term used.. "Lack of institutional control". That's a firing with cause reason. I get it though they have to try and spin it someway to get more $$$ in the settlement.
I will say this though if NW somehow gets hard evidence he knew about it and A) participated in it or B) turned a blind eye to it? This baby is going to court and Fitz won't get a dime. I doubt it will get that far though.
The presumption is employees are at will. A contract will trump the at will presumption here. Therefore, the merits of the claim or defenses will rise or fall as to what the contract says and how those terms are defined within the contract itself or interpreted by the courts. Without reading the contract it may be hard to gauge what kind of claims or defenses have merit.
One thing I'm curious about is that Fitz stated he had an agreement with NU for a two week suspension post investigation. I'm curious as to whether that was a binding contract supported by consideration because subsequently firing him would seem like a breach of that agreement claim.
Among the names that Rittenberg mentioned as a possible replacement for Fitz after the season:
-New York Giants OC Mike Kafka
-Alabama OC Tommy Rees
-Former Wisconsin DC and interim head coach Jim Leonhard
-Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson
-Duke head coach Mike Elko
-Former Stanford head coach David Shaw
-Former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason
-New York Giants OC Mike Kafka
-Alabama OC Tommy Rees
-Former Wisconsin DC and interim head coach Jim Leonhard
-Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson
-Duke head coach Mike Elko
-Former Stanford head coach David Shaw
-Former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason
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