Northwestern Hazing Lawsuit: Player Settlements and Fitzgerald Suit

The Northwestern hazing lawsuits ended in two confidential settlements: in May 2025, a Cook County judge approved a deal resolving 34 suits brought by former football players who alleged years of sexualized and degrading hazing, and in August 2025, the university settled fired head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s roughly $130 million wrongful-termination case. Neither settlement’s dollar figures were disclosed.¹²

What the Players Alleged

The lawsuits were built on conduct that former players said was routine in the football program, especially during training camp and around the holidays, which players nicknamed “Runsgiving” and “Runsmas.”³ The alleged rituals targeted freshmen and included:

“Running” — a punishment in which eight to ten masked upperclassmen restrained a freshman in a locker room and subjected him to forced physical contact, including dry-humping.³
“The Car Wash” — freshmen forced to stand naked at the entrance to the showers and rub against other players while being sprayed with water.⁴
Forced nudity during drills, including bear crawls, a “naked center-quarterback exchange,” and a “naked pass rush.”³
Forced consumption of protein or Gatorade shakes within a set time, often resulting in vomiting.⁴

Ramon Diaz, an offensive lineman who played from 2005 to 2008, alleged he was subjected to the Car Wash and to racial harassment, and said the treatment drove him to attempt suicide by abusing painkillers in 2007.⁵ Tom Carnifax, who played from 2016 to 2019, alleged sexual, physical, and emotional hazing that began during his freshman training camp in Kenosha, Wisconsin.⁴ The whistleblower whose anonymous complaint to Northwestern in November 2022 triggered the scandal told The Daily Northwestern that teammates had reached out to him in the middle of the night with suicidal thoughts.³

Racial-discrimination claims ran alongside the hazing allegations, including reports that players of color were pressured to change their hairstyles to conform to a team standard referred to as the “Wildcat Way.”⁴

An independent investigation by attorney Maggie Hickey concluded that the whistleblower’s claims were “largely supported by the evidence” and that the hazing was not isolated but rather a routine part of team culture. Hickey did not find sufficient evidence that the coaching staff knew, but concluded there had been “significant opportunities” for coaches to discover and report the conduct.⁶⁷

Who Sued and Where

The first player lawsuit was filed in July 2023.¹ Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Chicago firm Levin & Perconti led the plaintiffs’ effort, starting with eight former players and adding more over the following months.⁸ The cases were filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois and named the university along with, in many instances, individual defendants.⁹

Named plaintiffs included Lloyd Yates, Simba Short, Warren Miles Long, Ramon Diaz, Tom Carnifax, and Christopher Beacom. Many plaintiffs filed under pseudonyms. Individual lawsuits sought $100,000 or more in damages.¹

The May 2025 Settlement of the Player Suits

On May 6, 2025, a Cook County judge approved a settlement resolving the 34 outstanding player lawsuits. The agreement established a confidential settlement fund to distribute payments to the plaintiffs, and specific dollar figures were not disclosed.¹

Northwestern had a practical reason to resolve the cases when it did. The university noted in court filings that the former players held “crucial” information for its defense in Fitzgerald’s wrongful-termination suit, and settling the player cases freed them to serve as witnesses.¹

Pat Fitzgerald’s Wrongful-Termination Suit

Fitzgerald was fired on July 10, 2023, after Northwestern President Michael Schill initially suspended him for two weeks and reversed course within days once graphic firsthand accounts became public. Schill wrote that the head coach was “ultimately responsible for the culture of his team.”¹⁰

Fitzgerald sued Northwestern and Schill on October 5, 2023, seeking approximately $130 million. His complaint alleged breach of contract (including breach of a claimed oral agreement that the matter was resolved after his suspension), wrongful termination, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He maintained he had no knowledge that hazing was occurring and that the university lacked cause under his employment agreement.¹¹ The $130 million figure combined an estimated $68 million remaining on his contract, which ran through 2030, with roughly $62 million in projected lost future earnings.¹²

Northwestern initially said it would “vigorously defend” its position, with a spokesperson arguing that as head coach for 17 years, Fitzgerald “was responsible for the conduct of the program” and “had the responsibility to know that hazing was occurring and to stop it.”¹¹

On August 21, 2025, the two sides announced a settlement. The financial terms were not disclosed.² The tone of the announcement was strikingly different from the university’s posture two years earlier. In a joint statement, Northwestern said the evidence from discovery “did not establish that any player reported hazing to Coach Fitzgerald or that Coach Fitzgerald condoned or directed any hazing,” and added that when Fitzgerald was presented with the details of the conduct, “he was incredibly upset and saddened by the negative impact this conduct had on players.”¹³ Fitzgerald said discovery “showed what I have known and said all along — that I had no knowledge of hazing ever occurring in the Northwestern football program,” and that he was “extremely disappointed that members of the team engaged in this behavior and that no one reported it” to him.

Northwestern wished Fitzgerald “the best in resuming his football career.” On December 1, 2025, he was hired as head football coach at Michigan State University.¹⁴

Related Suits Outside Football

The football lawsuits were the largest, but not the only, athletics-related claims against Northwestern during this period. Head baseball coach Jim Foster was fired on July 13, 2023, after an internal human resources investigation found “sufficient evidence” of bullying and abusive behavior, and former staffers filed a lawsuit accusing the university of allowing Foster to create a dangerous environment.¹⁵ A separate 2021 suit by former cheerleader Hayden Richardson alleged sexual exploitation and a hostile environment, including claims that university officials used cheerleaders to entertain major donors; Richardson voluntarily dismissed her case in August 2024 following discovery disputes and the destruction of a key piece of evidence.¹⁶ An unnamed volleyball player alleged she was singled out for harsh, punitive drills by her head coach in front of the team and coaching staff.

Neither the NCAA nor the Big Ten Conference opened its own investigation. Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said in July 2023 that such matters are “led by the institution” and that the conference would wait for the results of Northwestern’s own reviews.¹⁷

1
USA Today. Northwestern Settles 34 Lawsuits Over Football Hazing Allegations
2
The Daily Northwestern. Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern Reach Settlement
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The Daily Northwestern. Former NU Football Player Details Hazing Allegations After Coach Suspension
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WTTW News. Northwestern Hazing Scandal: Timeline of Allegations, Investigations and Lawsuits
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The Washington Post. Northwest Hazing Scandal Lawsuit Allegations
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ABC 7 Chicago. Northwestern Hazing Scandal: University Releases Report on Investigation
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Northwestern University. Northwestern Announces Actions to Prevent Hazing Following Football Investigation
8
Ben Crump Law. Attorney Ben Crump, Levin & Perconti File Two More Lawsuits Against Northwestern University
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Marquette University Law School. Northwestern Hazing Case Listing
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WHYY. Northwestern Fires Coach Pat Fitzgerald Amid Hazing Scandal
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CNN. Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern Football Lawsuit Wrongful Termination
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ESPN. Northwestern Working to Settle Hazing Lawsuits
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Northwestern University. Statement on Settlement With Coach Pat Fitzgerald
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The State News. Pat Fitzgerald’s Journey to Becoming MSU’s 27th Football Coach
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Chicago Tribune. Fallout at Northwestern: What’s Next After Hazing Scandal
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The Daily Northwestern. Former Northwestern Cheerleader Drops Lawsuit
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On3. Tony Petitti Addresses Northwestern Scandal, Big Ten Stance on Hazing