Northwestern president says he 'may have erred' in football coach's suspension following hazing allegations investigation

Northwestern University president Michael Schill said he "may have erred in weighing the appropriate sanction" after suspending head football coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks.

Fitzgerald's immediate suspension without pay on Friday followed an investigation into allegations of hazing within the Wildcats' program as the coach entered his 18th season leading the team.

"The confidential report concluded that while there was corroborating evidence that hazing had occurred, there was no direct evidence that Coach Fitzgerald was aware of the hazing," Schill wrote in a letter to the university's community on Saturday.

"In determining an appropriate penalty 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's statement read.

Fitzgerald has said he was not aware of the alleged hazing.

A former Illinois inspector general began conducting an independent investigation in December after an anonymous email address sent a complaint at the end of the 2022 season, according to an executive summary of the investigation made public by the university.

A former player said the alleged hazing incidents within the Wildcats program were "egregious and vile and inhumane behavior," according to an article published Saturday by Northwestern's student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern.