Northwestern’s punishment of football coach Pat Fitzgerald was sufficient. Until it might not have been anymore.
With concrete information about allegations of harassment against the team leaking to the student-run Daily Northwestern, school president Michael Schill is now reconsidering the situation. And not in a way that would shorten Fitzgerald’s two-week, slow suspension.
According to ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg, the unnamed former player, who spoke to the Daily Northwestern, told ESPN Sunday morning that the player “shared his thoughts and experiences in a conversation with Schill on Sunday morning.” The school confirmed the discussion separately.
“He was extremely open throughout the conversation,” the former player told Rittenberg in reference to Schill. “He stated that he will be holding meetings with the board later today and they would revisit this issue and determine what would be the best course of action to address this behavior.”
On Saturday, Schill told the Northwestern Community that he would revisit the case in light of the new reporting.
“In determining an appropriate punishment for the head coach, I focused too much on what the report concluded he didn’t know and not enough on what he should have known,” Schill wrote in his Letter.
A key question is whether Fitzgerald’s running discipline signaled to the high school students which younger players needed corrective action. And yes, the whole thing is starting to sound like terms like “Tower Log” and “Code Red” are involved.
Regardless of what happens, this case potentially illustrates what happens when an organization tries to sweep something largely under the rug. Annoying facts like the fact that the truth is coming out tend to compel the area under the carpet to be properly disinfected.