Does Northwestern Keeping Its Entire Assistant Coaching Staff Help Pat Fitzgerald's Case With Buyout? It Should

A zoom meeting between Northwestern players leaders had just ended, while Pat Fitzgerald waited to address his team for the last time. Many of the players in the room were upset with the decision to fire Fitzgerald, along with assistant coaches.

How did we get to a point where the head coach would be fired, while his assistants would keep their jobs? This is now a burning question that I imagine Fitzgerald's attorneys are ready to ask as well.

After reviewing a summary of the hazing investigation, President Michael Schill felt there was enough evidence to suspend Fitzgerald for two weeks. Firing Fitz wasn't discussed publicly until the student newspaper dropped their story on Saturday.

This wasn't breaking news to the school. They knew what the report entailed but decided to reassess Fitzgerald's punishment after the story dropped.

There's a bigger question looming that will certainly help Fitzgerald in his case against NU. Why are the assistant coaches getting to keep their job? If the head coach is taking the fall for not doing his due diligence in regards to hazing, one would think a few assistants would be gone as well.

A six-month investigation by an outside law firm determined that there wasn't enough evidence to prove Fitzgerald knew about the hazing. Well, that's most likely a bending of the truth, with the head coach being tasked to know the everyday goings of his program. But what about the assistant coaches who met with Fitzgerald everyday for meetings?

Pat Fitzgerald's Fight Against Firing For 'Cause' Will Yield More Info

The lawyers representing Pat Fitzgerald will likely make the case that assistant coaches did not bring up any concerns regarding rumors they'd heard. I don't think it's a stretch to say that numerous members of the staff knew about this problem.

"The assistants know more about what's going on in the program than most of the head coaches in college football nowadays. It's hard for me to digest that key assistants or even a quality control coach didn't know about hazing. It's the assistant coaches job to know about these things before they hit the desk of the head coach," one Power-5 coach mentioned to me.

This was not a one-time incident that led Northwestern leaders to make the decision to fire its head coach. Evidence of widespread knowledge was pointed out in the president Schill's statement.

"The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening. Either way, the culture in Northwestern Football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others."

Ok, so the hazing was not a secret like nuclear launch codes. So wouldn't it make sense that the assistant coaches had their fair share of knowledge of the hazing as well? This is where the fight for his reputation and contract money come into play. I'm sure Fitzgerald does not want to see any of his assistants lose their job. But if he's going to restore his reputation to the public, he needs to fight.

If this was so rampant and known around the program, why aren't others getting walking papers right now? The head coach gets fired for cause, but the assistant coaches are leading the program now.

I'm not saying the assistant's should be fired. I am just curious as to how Northwestern leadership can justify the moves.

Fitzgerald's Attorney See's Numerous Flaws In Northwestern's Reasoning

This is only the beginning of what could turn into a very public battle regarding Fitzgerald's image and contract. It's obvious that the attorney representing the former Northwestern coach feels like they have a case if it ever went in-front of a jury.

"I cannot understand how you could terminate someone for cause when they admit that their own lawyer does not have any evidence that my client ever knew anything at all, about any of the alleged hazing behavior," attorney Dan Webb told ESPN. "If I present that to a jury someday, a jury is going have a hard time believing that you can terminate someone for cause when they didn't know anything about ."

Whether you believe Pat Fitzgerald or not, he will have a case if the two sides don't come to an agreement. Also, the fact that there are numerous people still employed that most likely had some understanding of what was happening won't help Northwestern's case.

Either way, this story involving Northwestern and Pat Fitzgerald is far from over.