NFL
By: Brock Vierra
Pat Fitzgeralds’ time at Northwestern has to end. Disturbing allegations have come out of Northwestern University this week that alleges a culture of hazing within the football program. Now hazing and institutions dominated by men are nothing new to society but that doesn’t justify the behaviors and actions committed against the will of others. Northwestern football is under the national spotlight not just because of hazing but the fact that part of the hazing included acts of sexual assault and quote-on-quote “dry humping” from players onto other players.
In response to the original allegations, Northwestern suspended head coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks. This suspension tells me that he had some type of knowledge that these actions took place. Hazing has no place in football or society and by merely turning a blind eye to the trauma inflicted on your own guys, that is the gravest of misconducts.
Now I have been in environments where “guys are just being guys” and trust me, friends don’t haze each other. Hazing can not exist in friendship as it requires an oppressor and a victim, an imbalance of power, and a way to dehumanize someone. Now I am not comparing the torment that slaves in the U.S. went through to hazing but there is a striking correlation. At least that’s what appeared to me when several of my friends who were rushing a fraternity in college informed me when they described the things they were forced to do. In pursuit of paid friendship, these men were instructed to eat dog food, bowls of mustard, and mayonnaise. They were forced to drink bottles of liquor in one sitting, forced to carry items on them at all times for use by senior members, forced to lend their cars and time to events, forced to wear certain clothing, representing the frat, forced to do this or that. They were forced, they were embarrassed. That is what hazing is.
Now if you want to do this, it’s whatever but trust me, my friends did not enjoy any of it at all. However, my friends were willing participants. They were paying for their education, they weren’t forced to join a frat and they could leave without consequence at any time. College football is different.
Many players play football because they love the game. They commit their lives to it for what it can bring and for those players, it’s the ability to move up in the world. College football pays for school, for books, for food. It provides the opportunity to make money off the field or in the pros, it allows you to move out of the situation you’re in. Whether or not they like it, these players are forced to do what their coaches say or they risk losing everything. The current system isn’t something they are a willing participant in.
Now there’s a price to pay for everything but that price must be in reason. Being dry-humped for dropping a pass isn’t reasonable, no matter how you slice it. This is not just hazing, not just punishment. This is violence. This is rape. This is unacceptable…no, this is intolerable. Pat Fitzgerald allowed his players to be treated like dogs, like slaves. Pat Fitzgerald looked moms and dads in the eyes and lied to them. Those parents placed their trust and their son’s safety into his hands and took that fragile bond and shattered it. I don’t want to hear about how good of a coach he is, how good of a leader, a mentor, or a man he is because someone with those qualities doesn’t turn a blind eye to this.
Now if it comes out that he really did know nothing, I will apologize. I made a mistake. If he is wrong and he apologizes, he will not apologize for a mistake. He must apologize for making a morally inept choice. I have witnessed stories of coaches sweeping things under the rug, of having players play after sexually assaulting someone, of having players threaten staff members to the point that they quit. I even know of an incident where a player threatened an 18-year-old female, volunteer equipment assistant to the point she transferred schools and stayed out of football. All covered up by coaches.
I get it. You want to win and you need your guys to do it. Coaches don’t get paid for doing the right thing or for being a good person. Just ask Brian Kelly. Coaches get paid to win. However, one day we must all answer for our actions and the pursuit of victory may not be enough to justify your years of service and success. Just ask Joe Paterno. However, like R.C. Slocum once said “I wouldn’t trade winning another game or two for my reputation as a person.” Pat Fitzgerald, it’s time to go.
