Here's a timeline of things we know as of today. From ESPN (link below the content)
On Nov. 30, a Northwestern football player emailed Kristina Minor, the school's senior associate athletic director for compliance, with the subject line: "NORTHWESTERN FOOTBALL HAZING." In the email, obtained by ESPN, the player reported an "extremely disturbing and vile hazing situation" within the program. The player, who has since left the school, outlined the practice of "running," where a group of older players restrain a younger player -- often a freshman who had made an on-field mistake -- and engage in sexualized behavior.
Northwestern responded by launching an investigation and hiring attorney Maggie Hickey and the ArentFox Schiff firm to oversee the process. The investigation, which ESPN first reported in January, interviewed former and current players, coaches and staff. On Friday, Northwestern announced the investigation had found evidence largely supporting the whistleblower's claims, but they didn't find evidence that Fitzgerald or other coaches knew about the hazing activities. However, investigators concluded coaches "had opportunities ... to discover and report the hazing conduct." The school only released an executive summary of the findings, which included few details and no names other than Fitzgerald's. The coach received a two-week, unpaid suspension as part of several actions from the school, which included a football locker room monitor who wouldn't report to Fitzgerald or the staff.
The story shifted Saturday when the whistleblower detailed his hazing allegations to The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper. Other former players corroborated all or part of the whistleblower's claims. Current players released a statement, signed by the team, strongly supporting Fitzgerald. The current players said the allegations were "exaggerated and twisted" and that Fitzgerald "was not involved in any of the alleged incidents in any way, shape or form."
But late Saturday night, Schill released a letter stating that he needed to reconsider Fitzgerald's penalty. Schill wrote that he had initially focused "too much on what the report concluded [Fitzgerald] didn't know and not enough on what he should have known."
After nearly two days of silence from Northwestern and additional media reports, Schill called Fitzgerald on Monday and fired him. Fitzgerald held a brief staff meeting and later addressed players in an emotional team meeting on campus. Several players expressed their outrage that neither Schill nor Gragg were present for the meeting.
Schill announced the firing in another letter, writing that upon reflection, Northwestern's football culture had been "broken" in some ways, and that Fitzgerald "is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team."
In a statement Monday night, Fitzgerald wrote he and the school had mutually agreed on his initial suspension, and he was surprised when Schill "unilaterally revoked our agreement without any prior notification and subsequently terminated my employment."
His 17-year tenure as Northwestern's coach was over.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/37995129/next-pat-fitzgerald-northwestern-football-hazing-fired
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