Legal representative: Fitzgerald will not be employed up until case ends

• Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Elder WriterFeb 13, 2024, 11:31 AM ET

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  • College football reporter.
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2008.
  • Graduate of Northwestern University.The lawyer for

previous Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is looking for a December trial date for Fitzgerald’s wrongful termination suit against the university, mostly due to the fact that Fitzgerald wants to avoid remaining a 3rd season before coaching once again and the date the judge had proposed is April 2025. Throughout a virtual court hearing Tuesday in Chicago, lawyer Dan Webb stated Fitzgerald, who was fired July 10 by Northwestern president Michael Schill in the wake of hazing allegations within the program, would not be rehired up until his case is resolved.Fitzgerald appeared in the virtual hearing along with Webb.Fitzgerald did not coach college football last fall and has actually not been worked with to a college staff for the 2024 season.

In October, Fitzgerald filed a suit versus Northwestern and Schill for breach of contract and defamation in which he sought more than$130 million in lost revenues as well as reputational and compensatory damages.”I’m informed by professionals that if he misses out on that 3rd season, then it’s going to have a severe impact on his capability to ever get a possibility to get any type of equivalent training job,”Webb stated.”It’s simply the method football training [employing] works. Football coaching choices are made by groups in December, so in December of 2024 and January 2025, there will be choices made on who’s going to coach in the 2025 season.”I was trying to save his ability to contend in 2025.”Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel J. Kubasiak set an April 2025 trial date as a possible time to try the case.

Northwestern lawyer Reid Schar said the 2025 date is

“aggressive “however more possible than December, mentioning the large number of discovery documents. Schar stated that about 700,000 files have been evaluated which June 30 would be a reasonable date to complete the document production.”Eventually, the complainant picked to bring this case,”Schar stated.”The plaintiff … ultimately could not resolve it ahead of bringing this. He has selected to pursue this litigation.

Therefore, we have to select a schedule that’s actually possible, not one that’s specified by what he may wish to make with the rest of his life however one that’s actually possible and fair to both parties, not simply what he wants.”The parties will reconvene April 2 for another hearing. Kubasiak highly motivated both sides to reach a settlement before trial.” I don’t think any party wins if this matter goes to trial,”

he stated.”This is clearly the kind of matter that should be fixed in between the parties.”Northwestern fired Fitzgerald for cause, just three days after announcing the coach would serve just a two-week unpaid suspension before the start of preseason training school. After getting a problem about hazing within the program in November 2022, the university launched an investigation in January 2023, led by attorney Maggie Hickey. The probe found that while claims of hazing from a former player were mainly substantiated, there was not sufficient evidence that Fitzgerald and other coaches and personnel had knowledge of the incidents.Webb on Tuesday mentioned the examination and described Schill’s decision to fire Fitzgerald as “an unusual turnaround that I do not even know how to describe, “adding that the decision has actually “decimated”Fitzgerald’s career. Schar countered by noting that extra allegations of

hazing have actually emerged from other former players who did not speak to Hickey or the other detectives. “If in some way the belief is that this is a basic case since it’s bound by what Maggie Hickey’s report discovered, that is not an accurate assessment of the problems of this case and the extra evidence that’s going to be relevant in this case,”Schar said.Fitzgerald is Northwestern’s winningest coach, with 110 triumphes in 17 seasons.

He likewise is a previous two-time national defensive player of the year at the school.