Ex-Northwestern ADs dropped from hazing matches

• Adam Rittenberg, ESPN

  Senior WriterNov 15, 2024, 10:41 AM ET Close College football press reporter; signed up with ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.Several individual defendants,

  consisting of previous athletic director and existing ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and university president Michael Schill, have actually been dismissed from hazing claims submitted by previous Northwestern athletes, according to court files examined by ESPN.Phillips and Schill were called as accuseds in a group of claims brought by the previous

  athletes, as were previous athletic director Derrick Gragg, who now serves as the school’s vice president for athletic technique; previous university president Morton Schapiro; and the school’s board of trustees, among others.The university and former football coach Pat Fitzgerald stay as defendants.In August, Phillips, Schill, Schapiro, Gragg and the board were willingly dismissed from 15 cases submitted by former football players under the John Doe designation. In September, Phillips, previous strength and conditioning coach Jay Hooten, existing strength and conditioning coach Alex Spanos and the board of trustees were voluntarily dismissed from cases filed by John Does. A separate group of cases dismissed previous university president Henry Bienen, former athletic director Mark Murphy and the board as individual defendants.Also, a suit submitted by former Northwestern football player Ramon Diaz, who alleged racial mistreatment and other hazing incidents, was willingly dismissed in June.Editor’s Picks 1 Associated Fitzgerald, fired in July 2023, is taking legal action against the university for wrongful termination, looking for$130 million

in damages

. He has actually rejected having any understanding of alleged hazing activities inside the program.In April, a judge revealed that the hazing cases and Fitzgerald’s claim will be heard together. A trial date for Fitzgerald’s lawsuit is set for April 2025. The offender dismissals come from cases submitted by 2 Chicago-based companies, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard and Romanucci & Blandin. Lawyers representing the individual offenders had actually submitted motions to dismiss, based in part on there being no particular accusations against their clients.A spokesperson for Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard decreased to discuss the factor for the defendant terminations. Romanucci & Blandin did not respond to ESPN following duplicated ask for comment.Another batch of lawsuits from previous Northwestern football players, submitted by the Chicago-based Levin & Perconti firm, mostly called just Northwestern as a defendant, although three cases likewise included Fitzgerald. Those cases are proceeding.Northwestern did not talk about the specific offender dismissals.Phillips did not comment however said in a 2023 declaration that “hazing is totally unacceptable”and that”any allegation that I ever excused or endured improper conduct against student-athletes is absolutely false. I will intensely safeguard myself versus any recommendation to the contrary.” Schill has acknowledged that hazing happened at Northwestern, which commissioned former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to perform an evaluation of how the athletic department spots and reports possible hazing or other misbehavior. Lynch and her private investigators released a report in June suggesting that Northwestern enhance its hazing prevention training.