October 17, 2024
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Fired Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald volunteering with Loyola

Fitzgerald is a parent to current Ramblers students

By Michal Dwojak
FILE - Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald stands on the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Michigan, Oct. 23, 2021, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Northwestern has fired Fitzgerald Monday, July 10, 2023, amid a hazing scandal that called into question his leadership of the program and damaged the university's reputation after it mishandled its response to the allegations. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

Pat Fitzgerald Former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald stands on the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. Fitzgerald started working with the Loyola varsity team as a volunteer coach. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File) (Carlos Osorio/AP)

Recently fired Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is coaching with Loyola as a volunteer, the school confirmed Thursday.

Fitzgerald, a parent to two current Loyola Academy students and a recent graduate, is working with the Ramblers after Northwestern fired him in July amid allegations of hazing and a culture of enabling racism.

The Record: North Shore first reported Fitzgerald coaching with the Ramblers.

Loyola Vice President for Athletics and Fitness Genevieve Atwood confirmed that Fitzgerald started volunteering with the varsity program this week. His son Ryan Fitzgerald is a junior quarterback on the varsity roster.

Atwood declined to say whether the school hesitated to let Fitzgerald work with students amid the allegations, and Loyola communications director Lynn Egan could not be reached for comment.

Atwood said Fitzgerald completed necessary requirements that staff members and volunteers must finish in order to work with students, including training, a background check and signing the school’s code of conduct. Fitzgerald will work with the program as an unpaid volunteer as much as his schedule allows and however much Loyola coach Beau Desherow wanted, Atwood confirmed.

Desherow couldn’t be reached for comment.

Atwood said Fitzgerald and his wife, Stacy, have volunteered with the school since their first son started attending Loyola and have remained active with the school.

“They’ve been Loyola parents who have been very involved with our school in a variety of ways, not just athletics,” Atwood said. “It’s a natural thing to continue to be involved with Loyola as a volunteer.”

Northwestern originally suspended Fitzgerald for two weeks in July after an investigation did not find sufficient evidence that the coaching staff knew about the alleged hazing within the program. The report did say there were “significant opportunities” for them to learn about it, however.

The Daily Northwestern then released a story in which a former player detailed how some of the hazing the university investigated involved coerced sexual acts. The player also told The Daily that Fitzgerald may have known the hazing took place.

The Daily published another story in which three former players described a “culture of enabling racism” and gave details of multiple racist actions and remarks from the coaching staff and players. Northwestern president Michael Schill reversed course and fired Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald is named in at least a couple of lawsuits by former players related to the hazing allegations. Dan Webb, Fitzgerald’s lawyer and former U.S. state’s attorney, said in a statement relating to one of the lawsuits that “the complaint has no validity as to Coach Fitzgerald, and we will aggressively defend against these allegations with facts and evidence.”

The addition of Fitzgerald as a volunteer comes as Desherow returns to Loyola to take over as head coach. The Ramblers are the defending Class 8A state champions and have won three state titles since 2015 and appeared in seven state championship games since 2011 under former head coach John Holecek.

Loyola starts the season Aug. 26 in Michigan against Grand Rapids Catholic Central.