The football season is still two months away, but a firestorm is brewing.
The Northwestern football team was already in huge trouble, but it may get a whole lot worse.
The anonymous former Northwestern football player who has made a number of disturbing hazing allegations against his old program has now shared a damning photo with ESPN. According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, the unnamed player sent a screenshot of a locker room whiteboard that had a number of “punishments’ written on them, including “naked slingshots” and “naked bear crawls.”
“The former Northwestern player sent ESPN a screenshot of a whiteboard, which he says was in the middle of the locker room,” Rittenberg wrote. “Image is headlined ‘SHREK’S LIST’ and includes a list of players’ names and several bulleted items, including ‘naked slingshot’ and ‘naked bear crawls.’
“We are not publishing the photo, but former player said: ‘That was in the middle of the locker room for all eyes to see throughout my entire time in the program. Every single player in this program from 2020 to 2023 knows what Shrek is and knows about the hazing that occurs.'”
University officials admitted that longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald may be deserving of further punishment above and beyond the two-week off-season suspension issued Friday following a six-month investigation into hazing practices within the team.
The allegations were brought forth by anonymous players to the university’s student newspaper “The Daily Northwestern” in an article released Saturday that detailed a series of hazing rituals including one called “running” and claims of coerced sexual acts. The report added that the freshman would be “getting ran” by eight to 10 upperclassmen while wearing masks, who are holding the freshman down and dry-humping them.
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Another ritual allegedly was players were involved in was called the “car wash” where in which some players would stand naked at the shower entrances to the showers and spin, forcing anyone entering to rub up against them.
“It’s just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now,” an anonymous player explained of the hazing in the article.
The players who spoke to the Daily Northwestern claimed head coach Pat Fitzgerald might have been aware of the hazing — citing the hazers allegedly identified victims using a clapping gesture similar to one the coach used at practice.
It sure seems as if Fitzgerald will get a stiffer penalty than initially handed down. It’s unclear if Northwestern will go as far as firing Fitzgerald, who has coached the Wildcats since 2006.
