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Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern's rapid fall from grace appears to be a lesson in how not to handle modern crisis

Related Topics: Pat Fitzgerald

Last Friday, Northwestern president Michael Schill read a report on a six-month independent investigation into allegations of hazing within the Wildcat football program — complete with 50-plus interviews — and deemed that head coach Pat Fitzgerald should be suspended for two meaningless July weeks.

On Monday, after details of the allegations began becoming public through media reports — including the student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern — Schill determined that he was so troubled by the exact same information he already had that he needed to fire Fitzgerald immediately.

Then he tried to claim the ethical high road.