Northwestern coaches, staff wear 'Cats Against The World' t-shirts with Fitzgerald's number at open practice
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- With Northwestern's football program still embroiled in a hazing scandal, some coaches and staff showed their support for fired coach Pat Fitzgerald on Wednesday at practice, a move athletics director Derrick Gragg called "offensive and tone deaf."
The staff members were seen wearing "Cats Against the World" t-shirts with No. 51, Fitzgerald's old jersey number, during the football team's first open practice since the hazing scandal prompted Northwestern to fire him.
Bradley Locker, a Medill School of Journalism student and editor-in-chief at Inside NU, posted a photo of the shirt on Twitter. He said after reaching out to the company that made the shirts, he learned the shirts were for sale until July 31.
CBS 2's Matt Zahn posted a photo of one of the shirts.
After practice, Zahn asked Northwestern's interim head coach David Braun if he thought the shirts might be "tone deaf" considering the seriousness of the allegations.
"All my energy and intention is to go in to make sure this staff and these players have a head coach that has their best interests at the forefront of his mind," Braun said. "I have not put any of that energy into considering the potential of censoring somebody's free speech."
Later, Northwestern Athletic Director Derrick Gragg, who was on the field for at least part of Wednesday's practice, released a statement saying he was "extremely disappointed that a few members of our football program staff decided to wear 'Cats Against the World' t-shirts."
"Neither I nor the University was aware that they owned or would wear these shirts today. The shirts are inappropriate, offensive and tone deaf. Let me be crystal clear: hazing has no place at Northwestern, and we are committed to do whatever is necessary to address hazing-related issues, including thoroughly investigating any incidents or allegations of hazing or any other misconduct," Gragg said.
While Northwestern players skipped the Big Ten media day last month, three seniors on the team did address the situation on Wednesday, and defended the shirts as a reminder for them to "stick together."
"It's been a difficult time, but we have been able to refocus and look at what is really important and get back to winning games," said senior defensive back Rod Heard II.
While no players were seen wearing the shirts at practice, Locker tweeted the shirts were circulated by players on social media, although the company that made them would not disclose if any players or team staff were involved in their creation.
Players insisted the shirts were just a show of team unity, and had nothing to do with the hazing allegations.
"Coach Braun, he's been preaching that we should stick together, especially during a time like this, so the shirts are really a reminder to really allow us to stick together. It's just a reminder," senior wide receiver Bryce Kirtz said.
"Just a reminder of sticking together through this difficult time, just leaning on each other, and we know the only people we need are in this facility. So just sticking together, and worried about the people in this facility, and taking care of each other," senior linebacker Bryce Gallagher said.
Braun and his players all said they're focused on moving forward, and don't want to talk about the specifics of any hazing allegations.
"I haven't discussed anything prior to my arrival on January 16th of this year. What I have discussed with them, and our department has put into place is how we move forward, and taking steps to make sure that we experience some hazing prevention training prior to fall camp," Braun said. "The reason that I do what I do is to ensure that the young men in our program have an incredible student-athlete experience, and I'm doing everything in my power to make sure that I do just that, and hazing certainly has no part of that."
Gallagher and his teammates echoed that they're focused on preparing for the upcoming season.
"We're not addressing any past hazing allegations or anything like that. What I can tell you is right now we have a great culture in our locker room, and guys are really sticking together through all of this, and the older guys are really just focused on helping these younger guys out, helping each other get through this, and just leaning on our relationships," he said.
Heard, Gallagher, and Kirtz were asked collectively if hazing has any place in sports. Only Heard answered, saying "I don't think we want to comment on that."
Fitzgerald, who led Northwestern for 17 seasons and was a star linebacker for the Wildcats in the mid-1990s, has maintained he had no knowledge of the hazing. Fitzgerald said after being fired that he was working with his agent, Bryan Harlan, and Chicago defense attorney Dan Webb, who recently represented Fox News in a defamation case, to "protect my rights in accordance with the law."
Several former football players have filed lawsuits against Northwestern since Fitzgerald was fired, accusing the university of negligence for failing to prevent acts of sexual abuse, racism, and other dehumanizing acts of hazing.
Among other allegations raised in multiple lawsuits, former players have claimed they were physically and sexually abused, and that coaches knew about it, did nothing to stop it, and even singled out players for hazing.
Multiple lawsuits claim the players were forced to engage in acts of hazing dubbed "running," in which upperclassmen would hold down freshmen players in the locker room, and take turns "dry-humping" them. Freshmen were also forced to take part in a hazing ritual known as the "car wash," in which a group of naked upperclassmen would force underclassmen to rub against them on their way into the showers, according to several lawsuits.
Two lawsuits filed last week also claim African American players were forced to compete in racist watermelon-eating contests.
