The legal headaches could only be starting for Pat Fitzgerald and Bob Huggins — and their schools.
Fitzgerald was fired this week as Northwestern’s football coach following hazing allegations — but after the school had first announced a two-week suspension. West Virginia said Huggins had resigned after the Hall of Fame basketball coach’s arrest last month on a drunken-driving charge — but he now says he made no such decision.
Attorneys are looking to sort it all out, a process that requires a precise review of their contracts, but industry observers are stunned by the awkward-at-best handling of two high-profile contracts worth millions of dollars. If the cases wind up in court, it would be in everyone’s best interest to seek a quick resolution, said Marty Greenberg, a Milwaukee attorney specializing in coaches’ contracts and terminations.
“A lot of these things end up settled because no one wants to hang their dirty laundry out,” Greenberg said.
Northwestern originally suspended Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay July 7, saying a law firm’s investigation did not find sufficient evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing. On Monday, following the publication of stories alleging not only hazing but racism in the football program by the Daily Northwestern student newspaper, the school changed its stance and fired Fitzgerald. President Michael Schil said the hazing was “widespread” and not a secret within the program. Northwestern’s assistant coaches and support staff are being retained.
A lawyer for Fitzgerald told ESPN that the school breached an oral agreement.
“Without a doubt the Northwestern one is most puzzling for the fact that the university told him he was getting a two-week suspension,” said Andrew Rhoden, a Dallas lawyer who has represented college coaches. “For them to reverse the decision is actually the most puzzling thing I’ve heard of.”
Fitzgerald signed a 10-year contract in 2021 and he reportedly had more than $40 million coming though the life of the deal.
The Fitzgerald situation is “kind of a mess because nobody outside of there really even knows what all of the allegations are,” said Bill Robers, who teaches sports law at the University of Colorado and has represented sports entities, athletes and coaches in contract negotiations.
If Fitzgerald’s case is messy, Huggins’ predicament is downright bizarre.
West Virginia announced the day after Huggins’ June 16 arrest that he had resigned, based in part on a text message sent from the cell phone of Huggins’ wife sent to a deputy athletic director. A week later, an interim replacement was named for the 2023-24 season.
It wasn’t until July 8 that Huggins released a statement saying he never officially stepped down and wants to keep his job.
“It’s very odd, obviously, to come back and say ‘yeah, uh, nevermind,’” Robers said.
West Virginia is sticking with its stance that Huggins resigned, even though the coach accused the university of issuing a “false statement” sent in his name that he didn’t write or review.
Add to that Huggins’ use of a homophobic slur and denigration of Catholics during a radio interview in May. After that incident, Huggins was suspended for three games, his salary of $4.15 million was cut by $1 million and his contract was reduced to a year-by-year review.
