Northwestern is about to begin a football season in which the focus will be in no small part off the field, owing to the hazing scandal that rocked the university and ended the tenure of longtime coach and former player Pat Fitzgerald. The Wildcats will begin their season Sept. 3 at Rutgers, but it’s clear that this is not a scandal that will tidily go away. As of the latest tally, more than 20 lawsuits have been filed against Fitzgerald, the school and current and former coaches and administrators. The suits have been brought by three legal teams, mostly representing football players, though the scandal has also spread to volleyball and a fourth legal team representing former baseball staff members (the school has said the baseball case lacks merit). There are likely to be additional suits in the coming weeks and months—the only thing certain is that none of this is going away.
A brief look at where the three main legal teams stand as a football season unlike any other in Evanston begins:
