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Northwestern Athletics Scandals

WindyCityDeac

WindyCityDeac

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ok..this thing has gotten big enough to get it's own thread. This thing has gotten ugly. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if Jim Phillips is implicated. I have no idea how Northwestern is going to participate in Big Ten media day next week.

No one from Northwestern administration has spoken to the press yet, but they are going to throw 3 kids out for Media Day? If you fired Fitzgerald, how can you keep all his staff?

Former QB Alleges Hazing

Lawsuit Filed in NW Hazing Scam

Reason Northwestern Baseball Coach Fired

Northwestern Cheerleading Scandal 2021
 
You'd think Northwestern would have better attorneys to help them navigate this situation than it appears they do. Also kind of get the feeling that anybody that isn't directly involved with the football program/athletic department at NU doesn't really give a shit about any of this. Can't imagine it will have any meaningful effect on the quality or number of applicants and/or Northwestern's academic reputation.

What went on there is absolutely abhorrent but I think people hoping for some kind of reckoning to take place up there will be disappointed. Justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators will be minimal for the same reason it was able to occur in the first place, most people up there probably just don't care all that much.
 
The ACC commissioner comments and questions session at next weeks Operation Football should be fun.
 
Didn't read the complaint, but I skimmed the cheerleading article. Don't want to minimize in any way the negative effects this had on aybody who felt victimized, but those allegations seem thin. If that holds up seems like every cheer squad in the country has a case.
 
The DC/acting Head Coach was hired after this past season, so he may not have been involved or known. Any assistant coaches who have been around a few seasons should have known, or were willfully ignorant.
 
WindyCityDeac said:
Northwestern Cheerleading Scandal 2021
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Wait, this is an interesting list of law schools.

Richardson's suit said she was prescribed medications to combat the effects of the trauma she endured, which have hindered her academic progress and preparation for law school. It said the lack of preparation resulted in rejections from Yale, Georgetown and Arizona State University law schools. The suit asks for more than $75,000 in damages.
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Deaconblue said:
The DC/acting Head Coach was hired after this past season, so he may not have been involved or known. Any assistant coaches who have been around a few seasons should have known, or were willfully ignorant.
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exactly. how have they retained their jobs? in all likelihood they knew more than fitzgerald
 
WindyCityDeac said:
exactly. how have they retained their jobs? in all likelihood they knew more than fitzgerald
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The way that the college football hierarchy works there have to be assistants, grad assistants, trainers, strength and conditioning coaches that knew details about this that Fitzgerald did not know; that's why football staffs are so big; the HC does not have time to deal with the day to day tasks that the football players endure; they take the 10,000 foot view, and in theory, hire good people to ensure that the day to day work matches the larger vision for the program. There are so many players on a college football team and so much deal with, head coaches don't have the daily interaction with players that their position coaches, trainers and strength coaches have.

BTW, I heard that the way the NW athletic department and school found out about the issue with the baseball coach is that when this season ended, 16 NW baseball players entered the portal. That was the red flag that started the inquiry.
 
I love love love this quote from the baseball coach:

“Maybe the players aren’t good enough and are just making excuses or are disgruntled,” Foster said. “Maybe it’s how they’re raised, could be any of that stuff.”
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Pilchard said:
The way that the college football hierarchy works there have to be assistants, grad assistants, trainers, strength and conditioning coaches that knew details about this that Fitzgerald did not know; that's why football staffs are so big; the HC does not have time to deal with the day to day tasks that the football players endure; they take the 10,000 foot view, and in theory, hire good people to ensure that the day to day work matches the larger vision for the program. There are so many players on a college football team and so much deal with, head coaches don't have the daily interaction with players that their position coaches, trainers and strength coaches have.

BTW, I heard that the way the NW athletic department and school found out about the issue with the baseball coach is that when this season ended, 16 NW baseball players entered the portal. That was the red flag that started the inquiry.
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I believe it started previously with an HR Complaint about him commenting on the student manager wearing baseball pants and the team checking out her ass being a distraction. Then it spiraled at the end of the season with the portal.

The story broke because a radio host got a tip that there was a mutiny ongoing. I'm not convinced NW does anything about it without it going public.
 
Apparently hazing on the Softball team was as bad or worse than even the football stuff. Listening to Chicago radio reporting on this.

Will be interesting to see if students at other schools start coming forward. You know this isn’t just happening in Evanston, IL
 
WindyCityDeac said:
Apparently hazing on the Softball team was as bad or worse than even the football stuff. Listening to Chicago radio reporting on this.

Will be interesting to see if students at other schools start coming forward. You know this isn’t just happening in Evanston, IL
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There may be others, but NW is the perfect place for this to be exposed. The NW sports programs are somewhat big time, but they don't rule the campus, the local area or the state; the City of Chicago is largely ambivalent about whether NW sports are good or terrible. Students don't mind exposing dirty secrets about the NW athletics program and can do so with little fear of retaliation; in fact, they will likely find protection and support among the many on campus that resent that so many resources are devoted to athletics.

If someone did this to the A&M football program or Kentucky basketball program or many D1 places where people's self-worth is somehow wrapped up in the status of the football program, the families of the whistleblowers would need to go into witness protection.

As an example, when the NCAA found the dirty secrets from the Vol football program under Jeremy Pruitt,
the Attorney General for Tennessee threatened legal action against the NCAA , which is believed to be one of the factors that led the NCAA to not issue a Bowl ban to the Vols. No matter how badly people are abused at certain athletic programs, the entire state will close ranks to protect the program. That would never happen at NW.
 
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Couldn't help but think of this as the NW Women's Lacrosse celebrated their championship at the Cubs game last night.
 
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