The Latest Breaking News from Pat Fitzgerald

Black athletes long have been involved in battles beyond the athletic field. The university’s culture didn’t become toxic overnight.

With lawyers becoming involved, who knows what lies ahead in this scandal?

The hazing scandal that led to coach Pat Fitzgerald’s firing has shone a harsh spotlight on the school.

CHICAGO — Repercussions from Northwestern University’s football hazing scandal have thrown the Big Ten school’s athletic department into upheaval in just a matter of days, spurring leadership shake-ups, football recruits decommitting from the team and concerns over possible legal action.

NEW YORK — Former Dallas Cowboys standout Ezekiel Elliott was already a street free agent. Then the Minnesota Vikings cut Dalvin Cook. Now Joe Mixon has taken a pay cut to stay on the Cincinnati Bengals.

Voters supported the firing by a large margin, despite Fitzgerald’s claims that he was unaware of the alleged hazing in his program that an independent investigation found likely to have occurred.

Does Gragg have any real authority over the football program, or does that authority quietly reside, as some insiders indicate, with the board of trustees and the school’s preeminent benefactor, former insurance magnate and billionaire alum Pat Ryan?

CHICAGO — Amid fallout from the report of an outside investigation into hazing within Northwestern’s football program, recruits have started to reassess their commitments.

In an announcement posted to Northwestern University's athletics page, head baseball coach Jim Foster was "relieved of his duties effective immediately."