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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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).
 

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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Yeah! This will not end well for NW if it goes to trial.
 

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.
 



An ugly public long drawn out court battle can only hurt NW recruiting and help Gopher football. NW will be injured either way. When there is more to the story a lawsuit exposes the truth.
 

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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If I was him I'd just be hanging out at one of my many beachfront properties spread around the world.
 


If the lawsuit is only on the narrow issue of Northwestern reneging on a contract… then don’t they need to prove new information/evidence came to light in the few days between announcing the suspension and the firing? IIRC the firing occurred after a student newspaper published the anonymous account of (per other players) ex-QB Carl Richardson, a transferee who accused Fitzgerald of among other things targeting players (during practice) for sexual assault by a goon squad. Embellished with descriptions of Fitzgerald leering, smiling, smirking.

So, Schill (seemingly) buckled to the predictable public outrage following these (highly questionable IMO) allegations and before doing any internal investigations other than the (year-long?) one from third-party attorney for hire Maggie Hickey. Northwestern either ignored evidence of endemic abuse including criminal sexual abuse as alleged in the article or apparently violated terms.

I’d say Fitzgerald probably has a good case. Northwestern hasn’t censured anybody else, staff or player to my knowledge. They haven’t contacted the police. The follow-on allegations brought by ex-players looking for a quick payday may or not be relevant. I suppose those will be settled out of court.

I wonder if Fitz settles. Dunno. He doesn’t need the money but he probably values his reputation.
 




NW not being thorough will cost them.
 






Semi-related pontificating:

Big Ten coach of the year David Braun was criticized by AD Gregg for allowing/supporting “‘Cats against the world” t-shirts at summer practice, and Nraun doubled down by stating he believed in free speech and different POVs. A shocking statement considering the location at a “journalism school”, swirling former player accusations regarding sexual assault, mandatory haircuts, and demeaning coaching style coming out of the woodwork. Despite his unforgivable faux pas and a certain date with the unemployment hotline at the conclusion of a predicted 0 to 1 win season he was later promoted to permanent head coach status after ripping through the latter part of their schedule including defeating Wisconsin in Madison (a team predicted by many to win the west 🙄).




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Easy compromise/settlement - give Fitz naming right for new stadium, and a cut of concessions for life.
 



Goldmember said:
Northwestern sabotaged their program because they were jealous that Rutgers stole the spotlight as the worst football program in the conference.
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And then they're going to build a bazillion dollar stadium that they can kinda use once in a while.

I get someone is paying but man...
 




We would be lucky to land him. He will be back to redeem himself and make some noise with a big program
 


Northwestern still doesn't have home game locations posted for this fall.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Northwestern still doesn't have home game locations posted for this fall.
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Northwestern is approaching being the "least serious" big 10 sports program ... that is going to spend a bazillion dollars on a football stadium ... while at the same time they don't seem interested in competently administering.

I struggled with my words there but the situation is weird.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Northwestern still doesn't have home game locations posted for this fall.
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Tearing down your stadium before you've made arrangements for another place to play sure is...something. It's the sports version of Cortes burning his ships when reaching the New World. There's no turning back now, boys!

Here's what's left of the stadium as of this week.

ryan.jpeg
 


Looks like they now have a (temporary) home along the lakefront. Glad we don't have to play there for the next few years.

 

It's a good picture as the field is being put on the stadium for soccer and lacrosse, which is the closes field above with the stands. It won't be on the practice football field to the left. This looks much more doable.
 

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