O’Donnell: Fitzgerald vs. Northwestern picks up speed

THE CURIOUS TALE SURROUNDING the dismissal of Pat Fitzgerald as head football coach at Northwestern continues to move toward final civil resolution.

And if the autumn winds come rollin' in the right way for the campus icon, he could be sitting on the biggest windfall of his life.

Close to 21 months ago — July 10, 2023 — Fitzgerald was abruptly fired by fresh NU president Michael Schill after allegations of hazing in the Wildcats program were made public.

Fitzgerald's dismissal came three days after Schill announced a two-week suspension of the head coach. That sanction followed the release of a university-funded “executive summary” of a seven-month investigation into the allegations against Fitzgerald and his staff.

IN BETWEEN WAS a weekend story in The Daily Northwestern — the student newspaper on The Enchanted Lakefront — in which “Whistleblower A” detailed methods used against him and select other teammates to humiliate and diminish them.

(“Whistleblower A” was later identified as a reserve quarterback for the Wildcats.)

That student story reportedly was the critical accelerant in Schill's reconsidered decision to essentially issue a career death sentence to Fitzgerald. He had been the NU head coach from 2006-2022 and was one of the biggest football stars in the school's history.

IN THE WAKE OF SCHILL'S ACTION, close to 30 former athletes sued Northwestern. The majority of them were ex-football players. So they also sued Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald countered by filing a mammoth $130 million lawsuit against Northwestern and assorted associates, primarily asserting loss of contracted income, defamation, illegal termination and other torts.

The matter generated enormous publicity in the first weeks after news of it broke. Then the matter slipped into the creaky crevices of the Cook County circuit court system.

THIS WEEK, THE STORY HAS ramped back up the judicial marquee.

Late Monday, Bloomberg News was the first to report Northwestern and a number of former student litigants had reached a settlement agreement. Terms were not disclosed. Those settlements end incoming civil actions which oddly teamed NU and Fitzgerald as co-defendants.

Also Monday, a Cook County circuit court judge announced the Fitzgerald trial will begin Nov. 3. That decision came despite a request by attorneys for Northwestern to push the trial back into the spring of 2026.

The trial was originally scheduled for next month.

THE BANG-BANG NATURE of the events was seized upon by Fitzgerald's lead attorneys — Dan Webb and Matthew Carter of global Winston & Strawn.

In a portion of a statement released Tuesday, they said:

“As previously stated, Coach Fitzgerald committed no wrongdoing. Despite extensive written and testimonial discovery, there remains no evidence to show or suggest that Coach Fitzgerald was aware of any hazing at Northwestern.

“The discovery has thus confirmed what Northwestern said through President Michael Schill both before and after Coach Fitzgerald's termination: … that despite a months-long investigation, Maggie Hickey (the independent attorney who conducted the university's initial probe) found no credible evidence to believe Coach Fitzgerald, or any other coaching staff, knew about any alleged hazing.”

(President Schill was not available for comment.)

SINCE THE FIRING OF FITZGERALD, the 'Cats have been helmed by David Braun. He received national accolades throughout the 2023 season. That was when he quickly gathered the purple pieces and led NU to a 7-5 finish and a 14-7 win over Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, all with Fitzgerald recruits.

Last autumn, coaching a comparatively depleted roster after numerous departures, Braun and Northwestern finished 4-8 in the bulked-up Big Ten.

As for Fitzgerald, he has spent the last two fall seasons as a volunteer assistant at Loyola Academy in Wilmette.

IF THE FITZGERALD LAWSUIT goes to trial, it will be a grand sports-legal spectacle touching on many of the sub terra workings of both major-money college football and Northwestern University.

Seasoned legal experts insist such an event is unlikely. With NU set to begin play in its new $850M football stadium in 2026, school officials undoubtedly want to enter their new grid era with a clean imaging easel. They would also want the semantics of a negotiated outcome to reflect as favorably as possible on their institution.

AS FOR FITZGERALD — now age 50 — intimates report his biggest desires are to remove the dark stain from his reputation and resume his career.

Representatives of the veteran footballer have also been approached by multiple brand-name documentarians about a project centering on his fall from grace — and possible restoration-plus.

Any decision about his participation in that sort of film presentation will be deferred until the last gavel has fallen.

ON AN AFFILIATED FRONT, Northwestern officials also announced Chris Collins has signed a contract extension that will keep him coaching 'Cats men's basketball through the 2029-30 season.

Not all that long ago, Collins and Fitzgerald were viewed as matching energizers high atop the NU sports vertical.

Collins still is, navigating the new courts of NIL money and the transfer portal. Fitzgerald continues on in the most complex battle of his life.

All the while hoping for a new front of favorable autumn winds.

Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.