A trial date has been set between Northwestern and its former star player and coach Pat Fitzgerald, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg reported Tuesday.
The Wildcats' 17-year head coach was fired in the summer before his 18th season after a former player came forward with allegations of hazing within the program, which the ex-player said Fitzgerald knew about and allowed to happen. Northwestern originally suspended Fitzgerald before firing him, which ultimately led to Fitzgerald suing his alma mater for $130 million. Fitzgerald had $68 million left on his contract upon his dismissal.
Last February, a date was set to begin the trial April 7 (yesterday), but it is now set for Nov. 3, according to Fitzgerald's attorneys. Northwesern's attorneys argued at the time that an April 2025 date was "aggressive" and argued in recent court filings to push the trail back even further, to March 2026. Fitzgerald's attorney Dan Webb argued last year that his client's career would be irreparably harmed if he missed a third consecutive season of coaching, which is now set to happen with Fitzgerald not on a college or NFL staff.
"I'm told by experts that if he misses that third season, then it's going to have a severe impact on his ability to ever get a chance to get any kind of comparable coaching job," Webb said last year.. "It's just the way football coaching [hiring] works. Football coaching decisions are made by teams in December, so in December of 2024 and January 2025, there will be decisions made on who's going to coach in the 2025 season."
For its part, Northwestern says it has identified 40 student plaintiffs who will serve as witness in its case against Fitzgerald. The school is in the process of settling cases brought forward by its former athletes against the university.
"Fitzgerald committed no wrongdoing" and is a "staunch advocate of student well-being," Fitzgerald's attorneys argued.
Once upon a time, Fitzgerald was a 2-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a College Football Hall of Fame player who took the downtrodden Wildcats on a miracle run to the 1996 Rose Bowl, then rose to head coach following the untimely death of Randy Walker, a position he could've held for 40 years. Those warm-fuzzies are long gone now, as the relationship between Northwestern and its most prominent athletics figure is set to end in a courtroom.