When explaining the decision to reconsider the meaningless two-week suspension initially imposed on coach Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern president Michael Schill said he focused too much on what Fitzgerald actually knew and less on what he should have known about hazing within the program. The problem, as the school apparently concluded, went well beyond the things Fitzgerald should have known.
The real issue is the things he should have done to create an environment in which any player who ever believed he was being mistreated could go directly to Fitzgerald, raise the issue, and have it solved — with no concern for any form of reprisal.
That’s the right culture, for any sports team. The coach makes it clear no one will be abused, harmed, or harassed, everyone knows how to report any instances of abuse, harm, or harassment without retaliation, and everyone knows that if there is any retaliation whatsoever the punishment will be swift, decisive, and permanent.
Fitzgerald didn’t simply fail to know what was happening within his program. He failed to create a place where things of that nature would never occur. The fact that multiple players simply bottled it up and said and did nothing about it proves that they did not feel sufficiently comfortable about raising it with Fitzgerald. Which means that Fitzgerald did not create a clear and real sense that he would deal with any seniors or captains or team leaders who dared to defy his mandate that there will be no revenge exacted against anyone who ever uses Fitzgerald’s wide-open door.
That’s the lesson for all coaches at every level of every sport. You are responsible for all that happens, even when you’re not present. You need everyone on the team to know what is and isn’t accepted, what will and won’t be tolerated, and how to go about handling any situation in which there is any sense of physical, psychological, or emotional harm.
Apparently, Northwestern hoped to brush everything under the rug, weather the short-term storm, and keep Fitzgerald around. Regardless of whether the school should have realized from the outset that Fitzgerald’s responsibility for the overall culture of the program went far deeper than the facts he actually knew or should have known, things eventually got to the place where they needed to be.
Hopefully, the outcome will get other football programs at other major colleges to the place where they need to be, if there isn’t a clear and obvious attitude that no one will be mistreated and that anyone who ever is should say so, immediately.
