Northwestern Fires Pat Fitzgerald

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60's Guy

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ESPN Story

Ha, I didn't read the story prior to posting...it is basically a headline. Okay, it is now up to 4 paragraphs.

CBS Sports story
 
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A particular scene from Revenge of the Nerds comes to mind, but rather than take that any further he did a lot with very little.

The shame (beyond whatever sordid may be true here) is that like Mase that Coach Fitz won't get to enjoy the new facilities as HC himself.

Good luck to The Cats figuring it out from here.
 


that's too bad. great player - a solid coach, and he always seemed like a decent guy.

He's only 48 years old. If he wants to stay in coaching, I hope someone will give him an opportunity. Unless someone comes out with absolute proof that Fitzgerald knew about the alleged hazing - or played some role in it - then I think he deserves a 2nd chance. Other coaches have done worse and been allowed a 2nd chance.
 

60's Guy said:
ESPN Story

Ha, I didn't read the story prior to posting...it is basically a headline. Okay, it is now up to 4 paragraphs.

CBS Sports story
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Interesting situation with a couple weeks prior to fall practices starting. The whole staff has to go right? You can't promote from within? They may not have a team? The players responsible should be gone? Lot to sort out in two weeks.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
that's too bad. great player - a solid coach, and he always seemed like a decent guy.

He's only 48 years old. If he wants to stay in coaching, I hope someone will give him an opportunity. Unless someone comes out with absolute proof that Fitzgerald knew about the alleged hazing - or played some role in it - then I think he deserves a 2nd chance. Other coaches have done worse and been allowed a 2nd chance.
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Somehow I see it more like this...."You're damn right I did!"
 



60's Guy said:
Interesting situation with a couple weeks prior to fall practices starting. The whole staff has to go right? You can't promote from within? They may not have a team? The players responsible should be gone? Lot to sort out in two weeks.
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The coaching profession is pretty mercenary. Someone will jump at the job, but who knows if a good candidate. Probably go interim route with someone on staff not implicated in the scandal. The team isn't going away.
 


Triple D said:
He's only 2 years into a 10 year contract, wow, crazy.

Does he get to keep the other 8 years worth?
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Not likely. Negotiations for the financial separation begin tonight. NW will pay him something to avoid litigation, but he's not getting the whole contract.

I'm interested in knowing if the facts changed since the suspension, or the perception changed the admin's reaction. They will need to come clean on that. NW administration is in a lose lose situation now.
 

Haven’t read all the stories yet, but for them to fire him they must have some pretty strong evidence that he knew enough about what was going on.

Will be interesting to see where he goes from here but my guess is he will snag an NFL assistant gig somewhere and stay out of the spotlight for a little while.
 



This is totally unexpected.

Allegedly did not know about the hazing but should known? I see where NW is going with this but they still will be paying Fitz a lot of money from his contract.
 

Holy Man said:
The coaching profession is pretty mercenary. Someone will jump at the job, but who knows if a good candidate. Probably go interim route with someone on staff not implicated in the scandal. The team isn't going away.
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I don't see how you could possibly go with someone on staff in this situation. The staff is all a part of this...either condoning or remaining silent or participating at some level. At what ever level you can't put somebody in charge who had the opportunity to prevent it and did not. You can't risk new information about so and so coming out in a couple weeks.
 

scools12 said:
This is totally unexpected.

Allegedly did not know about the hazing but should known? I see where NW is going with this but they still will be paying Fitz a lot of money from his contract.
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I didn’t think it was unexpected once the hazing story surfaced. Pair that with a couple really poor years and the forecast for this year not looking overly promising and you got the spark lighting the fuse.
 

Some oddly disturbing hazing details came to light.
 

scools12 said:
This is totally unexpected.

Allegedly did not know about the hazing but should known? I see where NW is going with this but they still will be paying Fitz a lot of money from his contract.
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Unless you the details of his contract, no way to know this as they may have justification to fire him for cause
 

scools12 said:
This is totally unexpected.

Allegedly did not know about the hazing but should known? I see where NW is going with this but they still will be paying Fitz a lot of money from his contract.
Click to expand...
Common sense says he knew. Rick Pitino, had a scandal organized by an assistant. I don't remember if it was one night or multiple nights but it is easy for me to see how some one could not know about something outside the locker room and no other staff knew either.
This has been going on for years and former assistant coaches were aware...let alone the current ones. So, there is no way Fitzgerald didn't know if former staff knew and it continued.
 

Will be interesting to see what happens to the rest of the coaching staff and players. I don’t see how you can keep any of the staff if you’re alleging Fitz knew and imagine you’re going to see a mass exodus of players (unclear how this will work as allegations come out further ie is this investigated, are charges going to come out, will there be suspensions for violation of student conduct codes, etc).
 

Triple D said:
He's only 2 years into a 10 year contract, wow, crazy.

Does he get to keep the other 8 years worth?
Click to expand...
You have to wonder if NW's legal team also got into the President's ear and advised him if they wanted an opportunity to get out of the remaining 8 yrs of Fitz's contract without having to do a buyout that this was the perfect opportunity.
 



Curious if this was what he went through when he played.
 

99Gopher said:
You have to wonder if NW's legal team also got into the President's ear and advised him if they wanted an opportunity to get out of the remaining 8 yrs of Fitz's contract without having to do a buyout that this was the perfect opportunity.
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Northwestern has far bigger problems than worrying about money right now. They are in all out full damage control. Money has no place in decisions. Getting off the front page and putting out all the fires are the priorities and doing so with as little publicity as possible ...at any cost. That's the goal.
 

60's Guy said:
I don't see how you could possibly go with someone on staff in this situation. The staff is all a part of this...either condoning or remaining silent or participating at some level. At what ever level you can't put somebody in charge who had the opportunity to prevent it and did not. You can't risk new information about so and so coming out in a couple weeks.
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Claeys is available.
 




60's Guy said:
That's a good one :drink: By all accounts a good guy and and a very wise defensive football mind but probably not the perfect press conference transition.
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Chryst or Frost?
 

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