Northwestern’s motion to dismiss the wrongful termination lawsuit brought by former coach Pat Fitzgerald was denied today, Fitz seeking $130MM.

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How on Earth can they not play at the Bears stadium??
 

Although the exact configuration is still being designed, the structure will be a temporary enhancement to the existing Lanny and Sharon Martin athletics facility and part of Chap and Ethel Hutcheson Field. Capacity for the temporary facility will be considerably less than either the old Ryan Field or the new Ryan Field
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Past performance indicates Dr. Gragg has design, contracts, implementation well in hand for Aug 31.
 

MplsGopher said:
How on Earth can they not play at the Bears stadium??
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They don't want to fork out the $$. I can't imagine the Big Ten is going to allow some of these games to happen, like tOSU and Wisconsin.

The place holds 2,000 people and even expanding the seating might get to about 10,000.
 




1983 said:
We would be lucky to land him. He will be back to redeem himself and make some noise with a big program
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If he makes adjustments and gets better. He ran a shitty program at the end.
9-25 his last 34 big ten games.

Not convinced his model works very well in the free transfer era
 

MaxyJR1 said:
They don't want to fork out the $$. I can't imagine the Big Ten is going to allow some of these games to happen, like tOSU and Wisconsin.

The place holds 2,000 people and even expanding the seating might get to about 10,000.
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I’m not sure the big ten has any authority over home games though. So to get them to move it it might have to be involving financial incentives to move it
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Northwestern should settle ASAP.

I can't imagine going in front of a jury and arguing:

Well we had all the information and decided no action was needed. Then a week later when players talked to ESPN we decided this guy was the only person we should fire over all this abuse ...

Northwestern administration will not look credible at all.

Northwestern should settle, then fire their athletic department staff, maybe the university president too (word has it he had the report).
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I get what you’re saying but Northwestern didn’t accuse him of any wrongdoing

So im not sure how he ends with more than his buyout + legal fees


I think best case for Fitzgerald is 68 million plus legal fees. I see why he is fighting for that though.


I think they’ll end up settling in the 40-50 million range before it makes it to court.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
seeking $130-million in Compensatory damages. If they win in court, you can bet they'll want a lot more in Punitive damages and they've also indicated that they will seek money for Emotional Damages.

unless Northwestern's lawyers are 150% sure they can't lose, they might want to settle this one out of court.
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They probably want to settle even if they are 100% sure they’ll win in court.
My money is on an undisclosed settlement for about half the buyout plus legal fees.
But we will never read the number
 



LesBolstad said:
Reminds me of Oakland A's playing in a 14k minor league stadium Sutter Health Park in Sacramento next couple seasons before moving to Vegas. I'm shocked MLB is allowing this

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14,000 for a baseball game is different than a 10,000 P5 football stadium. A's are averaging 6,200 through 10 home games.

They should be in a minor league stadium in Vegas for the next two years
 



Has anyone seen and update on this at all since the spring?
 




LesBolstad said:
Fitz hit the lottery. Gets out prior to new B10 schools that will make it even harder to be competitive and will be paid likely 50-70 million in settlement
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I could save the school a lot of legal fees by settling in the above range- Fitz would take 60M today
 

Some guy said:
I get what you’re saying but Northwestern didn’t accuse him of any wrongdoing

So im not sure how he ends with more than his buyout + legal fees


I think best case for Fitzgerald is 68 million plus legal fees. I see why he is fighting for that though.


I think they’ll end up settling in the 40-50 million range before it makes it to court.
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I'm not disagreeing with where this will end up, but if NW ends up paying out anything close to the $40 million, someone's head should roll. They could have avoided this entirely by just firing him without cause and paying the remainder of his contract which was $42 million.

They have now probably spent $3-4 million in legal fees, they are fighting with their former coach/alum in court, and they are playing a dangerous game of chicken with the case brought by the former players.
 

LesBolstad said:
I could save the school a lot of legal fees by settling in the above range- Fitz would take 60M today
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The schools themselves could’ve paid 68 million just to buyout the contract
Bob_Loblaw said:
I'm not disagreeing with where this will end up, but if NW ends up paying out anything close to the $40 million, someone's head should roll. They could have avoided this entirely by just firing him without cause and paying the remainder of his contract which was $42 million.

They have now probably spent $3-4 million in legal fees, they are fighting with their former coach/alum in court, and they are playing a dangerous game of chicken with the case brought by the former players.
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the remainder of his contract was 68 million
 

Some guy said:
The schools themselves could’ve paid 68 million just to buyout the contract

the remainder of his contract was 68 million
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I may have this incorrect, but I thought the remainder of the contract was $68 million but he could have been fired without cause and been owed $42 million. It was almost like the remaining $26 million was like a "non-guaranteed" contract in sports. I could be wrong.
 

Gregg was demoted. Schill is still there. Fitzgerald attempted to move up the trial date (from April) but was denied. I’d guess he still wants to coach sooner rather than later.

It will be real interesting to see if he settles before then or goes for the $132M in total damages. Decent chance at the latter?

The players have no case, probably, but what is the cost of litigation.
 




I feel like this ups the odds of an undisclosed settlement
I am going to guess it’s between 0-72 million (his buyout plus legal fees is 68+ I think)
Pompous Elitist said:
Gregg was demoted. Schill is still there. Fitzgerald attempted to move up the trial date (from April) but was denied. I’d guess he still wants to coach sooner rather than later.

It will be real interesting to see if he settles before then or goes for the $132M in total damages. Decent chance at the latter?

The players have no case, probably, but what is the cost of litigation.
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i still think he ends up settling for slightly less than the full buyout + legal fees
 

Fits has spent the last few years wandering around the North Shore, volunteer coaching his son Ryan’s high school (Loyola Academy), helping them win three straight Illinois large school football championships. With Ryan headed to Iowa as a PWO, who knows if Fitz will work with Ferentz and the Iowa program in some capacity, or wait until after the lawsuit is done to get back on the horse. He’s a young man, he’ll coach again somewhere.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
Fits has spent the last few years wandering around the North Shore, volunteer coaching his son Ryan’s high school (Loyola Academy), helping them win three straight Illinois large school football championships. With Ryan headed to Iowa as a PWO, who knows if Fitz will work with Ferentz and the Iowa program in some capacity, or wait until after the lawsuit is done to get back on the horse. He’s a young man, he’ll coach again somewhere.
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I’m not sure what you hire him as? DC?

If the lawsuit is cleared up he might be a dark horse for next Iowa or Wisconsin HC
 

LesBolstad said:
Reminds me of Oakland A's playing in a 14k minor league stadium Sutter Health Park in Sacramento next couple seasons before moving to Vegas. I'm shocked MLB is allowing this

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The Athletics moving to Vegas is one of the more heinous sports stories ever. Add it to the list with the Sonics and North Stars.
 

GopherEnEspaña said:
The Athletics moving to Vegas is one of the more heinous sports stories ever. Add it to the list with the Sonics and North Stars.
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Why is the Athletics moving out of Oakland any more heinous than the Raiders moving to Vegas?

Also the Warriors moved out of Oakland (to nearby SF on their own dime).
 

Some guy said:


I feel like this ups the odds of an undisclosed settlement
I am going to guess it’s between 0-72 million (his buyout plus legal fees is 68+ I think)

i still think he ends up settling for slightly less than the full buyout + legal fees
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Who really knows. I’d guess if he feels good that there aren’t any skeletons in the NU closet then he may take this all the way to trial. NU may be vulnerable, but it’s pure speculation- and how would a jury of non-football fans react to all this.

It’s not like he needs the money. His legacy and reputation are priceless.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Who really knows. I’d guess if he feels good that there aren’t any skeletons in the NU closet then he may take this all the way to trial. NU may be vulnerable, but it’s pure speculation- and how would a jury of non-football fans react to all this.

It’s not like he needs the money. His legacy and reputation are priceless.
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I still don’t know how they’d be vulnerable
They never accused him of any wrongdoing directly

He has no defamation case. He may get the full buyout plus legal fees due to a difference of opinion. I can’t find a single thing anywhere where northwestern says anything Fitzgerald did that would be defamation of character
 




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