‘EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED’

Northwestern Rebukes Football Coaches for ‘Offensive’ Shirts

Several assistant football coaches and team staffers were criticized after paying tribute to former head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired amid a hazing scandal.

The embattled Northwestern football team took another hit Thursday when university officials were forced to denounce the actions of several assistant football coaches and team staffers who paid tribute to former head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired amid a hazing scandal that prompted several former athletes to sue the school. The team employees wore T-shirts that read “Cats Against the World” and featured Fitzgerald’s former number from when he played for the team nearly 30 years ago. “I am extremely disappointed that a few members of our football program staff decided to wear ‘Cats Against the World’ t-shirts,” Vice President for Athletics and Recreation Derrick Gragg told CNN. “Neither I nor the University was aware that they owned or would wear these shirts today. The shirts are inappropriate, offensive and tone deaf.”