Pat Fitzgerald sues Northwestern University, president for $130 million

CHICAGO - Former Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the university and its president citing breach of contract for his firing amid the school's hazing scandal.

The lawsuit, filed by Winston & Strawn LLP, against Northwestern University and President Michael Schill seeks $130 million in damages.

The $130 million includes $68 million remaining in owed salary plus $62 million in future lost income.

Attorneys claimed Fitzgerald's termination "irreparably and permanently damaged" his reputation and "destroyed his ability to maintain the football coaching career he had spent his entire professional life creating."

"If there was ever a coach at Northwestern University who should have not been terminated, it's Coach Fitzgerald," Attorney Dan Webb said. 

Fitzgerald was fired July 10 after an investigation concluded the coaching staff should have known about ongoing hazing. He has maintained he had no knowledge of any of it.

Prior to his firing, Fitzgerald had been serving a two-week suspension after the school said that an investigation led by attorney Maggie Hickey of law firm ArentFox Schiff did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing — though there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it.

Schill said in his letter announcing the firing that the investigative report will remain confidential. But he wrote that, during the investigation, 11 current or former players acknowledged the hazing within the program.

"The hazing included forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature, in clear violation of Northwestern policies and values," Schill wrote.

In an earlier statement, Fitzgerald said Hickey’s investigation reaffirmed that he had no knowledge of any hazing within the program.

"Last Friday, Northwestern and I came to a mutual agreement regarding the appropriate resolution following the thorough investigation by Ms. Hickey," he said. "This agreement stipulated a two-week suspension.

"Therefore, I was surprised when I learned that the president of Northwestern unilaterally revoked our agreement without any prior notification and subsequently terminated my employment."

Northwestern is facing more than a dozen lawsuits across multiple sports with allegations including sexual abuse of players by teammates as well as racist comments by coaches and race-based assaults. The cases span from 2004 to 2022, and attorneys representing some of the athletes who have already sued say more are coming.

Fitzgerald played for the Wildcats in the 1990s and has coached 17 years at his alma mater, compiling a 110-101 record and four bowl wins.

The Wildcats went 1-11 last year, Fitzgerald's worst season since he took the helm in 2006.

Northwestern released the following statement in response to Fitzgerald's lawsuit:

"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.

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."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.