Bear Down Wildcats

Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald quickly suspended for two weeks. But was it a little too-little, too-late? As more details are emerging there's a drum beat for his firing:

"A former Northwestern University football player told The Daily some of the hazing conduct investigated by the university involved coerced sexual acts...He alleges that much of the team’s hazing centered around a practice dubbed “running,” which was used to punish team members, primarily freshman, for mistakes made on the field and in practice."

"If a player was selected for “running,” the player who spoke to The Daily said, they would be restrained by a group of 8-10 upperclassmen dressed in various “Purge-like” masks, who would then begin “dry-humping” the victim in a dark locker room."

“It’s a shocking experience as a freshman to see your fellow freshman teammates get ran, but then you see everybody bystanding in the locker room,” the player said. “It’s just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now.”

I have been hazed and that’s the weakest hazing practice I’ve ever heard of.

As George Costanza said “it’s not offensive, maybe abnormal…”

Pat Fitzgerald failed to protect players. New hazing allegations 100% his responsibility

The only way Pat Fitzgerald is coaching Northwestern when the 2023 season begins is if one of America’s elite academic institutions has decided that a guy who calls football plays is worth more than the pain and suffering of young men who weren’t just hazed when they arrived in his program but were reportedly violated, defiled and humiliated as part of a twisted so-called culture that is 100% his responsibility and now 100% his shame.
...
Under the guise of an independent firm being unable to corroborate Fitzgerald’s culpability, they let him off with more of a pat on the head and an admonishment to do better — even though the firm itself said the accusations were “largely supported by evidence.”
...
But Northwestern’s student journalists found more. A lot more. A sickening amount more.

Accusations from former players that are so specific and perverse, it would be difficult to believe they are made up.

There were photos, too, of so-called traditions that revolve around unquestionably abusive behavior sold as team bonding. Simulated sexual acts. Compulsory nudity and forcible contact with other nude teammates. Spraying with water hoses. Sadly, much more.

(Underlining and bolding are mine)

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2023 6:50 pm I have been hazed and that’s the weakest hazing practice I’ve ever heard of.

Did you read how graphic the details of the investigative report are? IMO, they constitute criminal sexual assault. I have a hard time believing the hazing you went through can dismissively relegate Northwestern's hazing as weak. I was hazed while enlisted in the military, but it was strictly non-sexual, was driven by alcohol, I puked afterward, and all was forgotten the next day. Stuff that ten or twenty years later wouldn't fly in today's military, but nevertheless it's not at all relatable to the severity of Northwestern's:

"...the whistleblower alleged that he witnessed the team participate in other hazing traditions in which freshmen were forced to strip naked and perform various acts, including bear crawling and slingshotting themselves across the floor with exercise bands.

In a once-a-year tradition dubbed “the carwash,” the first player said that some players would stand naked at the entrance to the showers and spin around, forcing those entering the showers to “basically (rub) up against a bare-naked man.” Upon entering the showers, the player alleged that players set up a hose they connected to the shower to spray people.

The player also alleged that he witnessed and was forced to participate in what he called a naked center-quarterback exchange, wherein a freshman quarterback was forced to take an under-center snap from a freshman center, while both players were naked. The player said that on one instance, another player was “very vocally adamant” about not wanting to participate in this exchange. Older players threatened to “run him” if he refused and there was “no other option,” according to the player. “He was forced to engage in this,” the player said."

CatsbyAZ wrote: ↑Sun Jul 09, 2023 10:38 am

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2023 6:50 pm I have been hazed and that’s the weakest hazing practice I’ve ever heard of.

Did you read how graphic the details of the investigative report are? IMO, they constitute criminal sexual assault. I have a hard time believing the hazing you went through can dismissively relegate Northwestern's hazing as weak. I was hazed while enlisted in the military, but it was strictly non-sexual, was driven by alcohol, I puked afterward, and all was forgotten the next day. Stuff that ten or twenty years later wouldn't fly in today's military, but nevertheless it's not at all relatable to the severity of Northwestern's:

"...the whistleblower alleged that he witnessed the team participate in other hazing traditions in which freshmen were forced to strip naked and perform various acts, including bear crawling and slingshotting themselves across the floor with exercise bands.

In a once-a-year tradition dubbed “the carwash,” the first player said that some players would stand naked at the entrance to the showers and spin around, forcing those entering the showers to “basically (rub) up against a bare-naked man.” Upon entering the showers, the player alleged that players set up a hose they connected to the shower to spray people.

The player also alleged that he witnessed and was forced to participate in what he called a naked center-quarterback exchange, wherein a freshman quarterback was forced to take an under-center snap from a freshman center, while both players were naked. The player said that on one instance, another player was “very vocally adamant” about not wanting to participate in this exchange. Older players threatened to “run him” if he refused and there was “no other option,” according to the player. “He was forced to engage in this,” the player said."

More than just a "scandal" or reputational damage.

Legal liability can be HUGE!!!

New Mexico State University has settled a lawsuit brought by two former basketball players who alleged that they were sexually assaulted by their teammates, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. ( https://apnews.com/article/new-mexico-s ... f9035d7636 ) The university agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of $8 million.

The settlement releases the university, as well as two coaches and three other basketball players named in the suit, from liability. New Mexico’s attorney general could still bring criminal charges against individuals involved in the case, however.

The two victims claimed in the lawsuit that coaching staff and administrators failed to act after they reported the assaults, which they said took place amid hazing incidents that went on for months.

Eventually, one of the victims went to campus police to report the incident, leading the university to cancel its 2022–23 basketball season and fire head coach Greg Heiar.

CatsbyAZ wrote: ↑Sun Jul 09, 2023 10:38 am I was hazed while enlisted in the military, but it was strictly non-sexual, was driven by alcohol, I puked afterward, and all was forgotten the next day.

Where you in SEAL training?

My son-in-law was in SEAL training, got along great with his team, made it through hell week fine, but failed the rifle portion so was sent to the next team, where he passed the rifle portion and everything else.

With SEAL teams, you stay with the same team for your career. Now this team was younger, and loved going to San Diego bars and hit on college kids, and drink until they puked. My son-in-law maybe has one beer when drinking. And being married, was not going to hit on college girls and would rather be home with his wife than out drinking with them.

So much to his chagrin, and our happiness, his team kicked him out of the SEALs. I don't want anyone shooting at him.

CatsbyAZ wrote: ↑Sun Jul 09, 2023 10:38 am

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2023 6:50 pm I have been hazed and that’s the weakest hazing practice I’ve ever heard of.

Did you read how graphic the details of the investigative report are? IMO, they constitute criminal sexual assault. I have a hard time believing the hazing you went through can dismissively relegate Northwestern's hazing as weak. I was hazed while enlisted in the military, but it was strictly non-sexual, was driven by alcohol, I puked afterward, and all was forgotten the next day. Stuff that ten or twenty years later wouldn't fly in today's military, but nevertheless it's not at all relatable to the severity of Northwestern's:

"...the whistleblower alleged that he witnessed the team participate in other hazing traditions in which freshmen were forced to strip naked and perform various acts, including bear crawling and slingshotting themselves across the floor with exercise bands.

In a once-a-year tradition dubbed “the carwash,” the first player said that some players would stand naked at the entrance to the showers and spin around, forcing those entering the showers to “basically (rub) up against a bare-naked man.” Upon entering the showers, the player alleged that players set up a hose they connected to the shower to spray people.

The player also alleged that he witnessed and was forced to participate in what he called a naked center-quarterback exchange, wherein a freshman quarterback was forced to take an under-center snap from a freshman center, while both players were naked. The player said that on one instance, another player was “very vocally adamant” about not wanting to participate in this exchange. Older players threatened to “run him” if he refused and there was “no other option,” according to the player. “He was forced to engage in this,” the player said."

Yeah I saw at. Again, I’ve seen and heard of worse.

It’s bad in today’s world but not as bad as a story my Dad told me about their hazing at Stanford when they threw their pledges in a burlap sack and tossed them in the middle of a lake late at night with a rope tied to the sack. One time it broke and the kid sank to the bottom of the lake. Fortunately they had a couple of swimmers in their house and they saved the guys life.

Merkin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 09, 2023 12:10 pm
Where you in SEAL training?

No, nothing special like the SEALs.

First 'initiation' was being forced, along with all the other month's worth of new arrivals to our barracks, to drink a mixture of confiscated alcohol straight from a five gallon paint bucket into which the confiscated barracks alcohol was poured. All because we were the new guys in the barracks (and mostly underage). Sick the next few days.

Second was on deployment. Our convoys had to pass through several highly secured and heavily guarded remote weapons sites using a series of codes radioed to the guards. First time through we effed up the call-signs and we were thrown out of our humvees and made to lay facedown in the dirt for several hours with assault rifles drawn around us. Found out later the older guys purposely eff up the call-signs whenever new guys are aboard the convey just to scare us. Next time through with new guys about a month later the older guys had me eff up the radio signs so we could all go back in the dirt to scare the new guys with us.

As for Coach Fitzgerald, the two week suspension is only to buy time for the general counsel's office to get their documentation in order to sack him for cause.

Underaged drinking was never frowned upon when I was in the USAF although being a bunch of wimps could not be hazed. DAs were not even allowed to touch us in boot camp.

Fishclamps wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 4:14 pm

https://www.northwestern.edu/leadership ... =224300368

Maybe they could try and persuade RichRod to leave.

So they say Fitzgerald knew what was going on but the assistants don't get fired, makes no sense. There is no way the assistant coaches did not know what was going on.

It always cracks me up that frats and football teams are notoriously homophobic and so much of their hazing is totally gay

Irish27 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 5:11 pm So they say Fitzgerald knew what was going on but the assistants don't get fired, makes no sense. There is no way the assistant coaches did not know what was going on.

Exactly, starting with this guy:

That is a huge name where I used to work. His father(?) Alex Spanos is a huge donor to Cal Poly. The stadium is named after him. Could see the stadium out of my office window.

Fallout continues at Northwestern. From the AP - "Allegations of hazing in Northwestern’s athletic programs broadened Wednesday as attorneys said male and female athletes reported misconduct within two other sports and suggested sexual abuse and racial discrimination within the football program was so rampant that coaches knew it was happening."

"Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said he and other attorneys have received disturbing details from former baseball and softball players at the university, in addition to growing complaints of abuse in the football program, which players described as widespread and devastating."

"Warren Miles Long, a running back on Northwestern’s football team starting in 2013, said players were put into a culture where sexual violence and hazing was “rampant.” He said new recruits had no sense of whether it was normal or limited to Northwestern."

"More lawsuits, filed by multiple law firms, are expected to follow from former football and baseball players as well as from student-athletes who played other sports for the private school."

On another note, does anybody recall the circumstances on which Gunner Maldonado transferred to us from Northwestern? Wonder what he would have to say about all this? If I remember correctly, he's an instate product from Chandler who signed with Northwestern in 2020. Less than one year after signing he announced his transfer to Arizona in Jan 2021. Either way, glad to have Maldonado as our starting Safety.