Northwestern baseball players detail abuse allegations that led to coach's firing
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One day after Northwestern University fired baseball coach Jim Foster amid claims of bullying and abusive behavior, two players are speaking out.
Foster, who had been on the job only one season, was fired just three days after Northwestern fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald over a hazing scandal.
Two former players, who asked to remain anonymous, said they both were relieved to hear from Northwestern president Michael Schill and athletic director Dr. Derrick Gragg in a meeting Thursday night, hours before the deadline to enter the NCAA transfer portal.
Foster had been under investigation for allegedly creating a toxic culture during his only season at the school. Multiple assistants left after one year, and at least 15 players entered the transfer portal.
One Northwestern player who spoke to CBS 2's Marshall Harris on Friday is still on the team, and one might be back next season.
They shared stories of bullying, racism, and sexism during Foster's short tenure, but it's how he interacted with his coaching staff in front of them that really struck them.
"It's just like a level of disrespect to other adults that has really permeated through the experience of multiple coaches, and I think if you have the opportunity to talk to the coaches who left, or the volunteer assistant who was there for the whole year, you will hear a lot more in-depth stories of that," one player said. "It's not even like in a correction way; like, he's not trying to help. He's not trying to correct things. He's just, like, disrespecting people, and speaking to them as like lessers, and that was shocking to me. I had just, I had never seen that."
"It shouldn't have taken these allegations in the media for it to get out for him to be fired. Just on principle of we went 10 and 40, and we had a talented roster. We lost 15 guys in the transfer portal and three staff members quit. Like … there's absolutely something wrong," another player said. "
One player questioned why it took so long to fire Foster, saying the cause for firing him was known four or five weeks ago through surveys, comments, and interviews.
"It takes them till the media starts publishing stories, accounts, reports, evidence into the public eye; then it's like, 'Okay, we need to make a change.' So that was definitely a main concern of mine, and definitely very frustrating for me," he said.
That player is still on the team. He said, after Thursday's meeting with Gragg and Schill, he is happy and hopeful for the team's future.
Both players said they like having former White Sox outfielder Brian Anderson in charge for now, knowing he may well end up being interim coach next season.
A first-round MLB Draft selection in 2003 by the Chicago White Sox, Anderson played five seasons in Major League Baseball. In 2005, he won a World Series with the White Sox as a backup outfielder.
CBS 2 asked the department multiple times to speak with Schill and Gragg.
The school's associate athletic director said in part on Friday, "We are very focused on the students' families and staff right now, and that will be Northwestern's priority. I don't expect any interviews."
