Last week was a terrible week for the Northwestern football program. Certainly the worst in in the 17-year tenure of now former head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Ever since Northwestern announced last Friday that Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks as the result of a six-month hazing investigation, WildcatReport has been reaching out to Wildcat football players to get their input. Then, after the The Daily Northwestern published a story with graphic hazing allegations made by a whistleblower and corroborated by another player, the story exploded, and our efforts intensified.

Even as Fitzgerald went from a two-week suspension to fired within three days, we continued trying to reach players. We tried to contact current players, players from the recent past, players who played in Fitzgerald’s early years leading the program. Anyone who could shed some light.

Our goal was to answer several questions: Did the players experience or witness any of the incidents described in the Daily report, like “running” players or the “car wash”? Did Fitzgerald know about the incidents and, as the whistleblower alleged, even identify players to be hazed?

We had very little luck. We understand the reluctance for players to speak up, even as we offered anonymity. The story seemed to get worse by the day and the anger on all sides rose, mostly directed at the Northwestern administration. There was also a lot of enmity directed at the media.

Current players, as expected, rallied around Fitzgerald on social media. They didn’t necessarily deny the allegations, but they all supported their coach and vouched for his character as the leader of the program. A letter, purportedly from “The ENTIRE Northwestern Football Team” was posted on Twitter saying that the allegations were “exaggerated and twisted” and that Fitzgerald was not involved and “had no knowledge” of the allegations described.

Several players questioned the motives of the whistleblower, who, we were told, was “massively disgruntled” about playing time and had “an axe to grind” with Fitzgerald. Several players blamed a media “hit job” as part of the problem. One player told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg that the whistleblower was intent on taking down Fitzgerald and that "the truth is none of that stuff happened in our locker room."

In his statement explaining his firing of Fitzgerald for cause, president Michael Schill said that a total of 11 players acknowledged that hazing had been ongoing within the program. Two former program staffers – one who left the program nearly 10 years ago and another who was very recently with the team – told us that “running” players and “car washes” were common knowledge within the program and that if they knew, it’s very likely that Fitzgerald did as well. Former players verified hazing to the Daily and InsideNU, and three described a racist environment, as well.

We continued trying to reach players and, slowly but surely, more and more answers to our questions started trickling in.

The responses we received are certainly not enough for a consensus, or to definitively say what did or didn’t happen. In fact, many of the players’ statements seemed to contradict each other, and some players who were on the same team told us different things. (In order to protect players’ anonymity in this story, we will categorize them in five-year increments.)

We only received one response, via Twitter direct message, from a player who played with the alleged whistleblower. You can read into that silence what you will, but current and the most recent former players weren’t eager to talk to us, on or off the record.

The one most recent player we reached corroborated the whistleblower’s allegations emphatically. What’s more, it was his understanding that hazing incidents like running players and car washes had been in place for quite some time. Interestingly, he also felt that a lot of the responsibility for hazing and the team culture that allowed hazing incidents to happen lie more with the players than Fitzgerald or his coaching staff.

"I’m not trying to get involved in all the drama. But yes, many of the incidents described happened and have been tradition at NU for a while,” he said. “I really hoped more of the upperclassmen would [have] stepped up to claim responsibility, because it’s on them more than the coaches.... The team’s culture is in their hands."

As to the question of whether Fitzgerald knew of the hazing, he said he can’t say for sure. No one, it seems, can. But he categorically denied that the coach identified players to be hazed with the “Shrek clap” or anything else, as the whistleblower alleged.

"It’s tough to say if he knew about it or not, I know that hazing has quite the history with the team, so maybe he knew a little being a former player,” said the player. “Either way, he should [have] known, it was a big and rather visible part of the culture on his team. But him identifying players is completely false, he preached a no-hazing policy and nothing ever happened with him present."

So, to sum up his experience: hazing incidents consistent with the whistleblower's accusations happened last season, Fitzgerald may or may not have known about the hazing but should have known in either case, and the coach didn't participate in any way.

Schill agreed with the player about Fitzgerald's responsibility. The president did an about-face from his initial punishment and decided that, even if Fitzgerald plausibly didn’t know hazing was going on within the team, as the leader of the program he should have known. That’s why Schill terminated him.

Unfortunately, that’s as clear-cut as the player comments get. We talked to one other player who last played fewer than five years ago, and several others who played up to 10, or more than 10 years ago. Of all of those, just one said that he knew of hazing within the program.

“The ‘car wash’ was a thing,” said one player, who last played a dozen years ago. “But I never witnessed it. I’m pretty confident it went on my freshman year... Don’t remember it being talked about as much after that. The Gatorade shake challenge happened for sure. Definitely didn’t force anyone to do it. The guys that did it seemed happy to participate.”

That brings us to the question on the mind of many fans and players: were traditions like the shake challenge hazing if players actively volunteer to take part? Is it only hazing if they are forced to participate?

On top of that, as one player pointed out, two people can look at the same incident and see different things.

“Read the [Daily] article and I think there are things that some people would consider hazing and others may not,” said the player, who last played more than 10 years ago. “I’ve even had this discussion/debate with teammates.

“There were things that made me uncomfortable, some were extreme and others weren’t. Some things would be embarrassing to repeat and discuss, but also, in a locker room with 100+ young men, won’t that exist? I know that maybe sounds unclear but I think it’s a fair assessment. The effect of those incidents on me is different vs another one of my teammates [and] how the university handles those incidents is another thing.”

That’s one area where all factions in this mess seem to be united: anger at the way the Northwestern administration – Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg – handled the entire crisis. Players, parents and fans all seem to agree on that point.

So you might read those first two player quotes and conclude that hazing was going on within the program for quite some time. However, we talked to a lot of players – some of whom were teammates with Player No. 2, who verified hazing above – who told us that hazing didn’t happen when they were on campus.

The only other player we talked to that played within the last five years had this to say.

“I can only go off of my experience from while I was playing and coach always made an emphasis on hazing and had every check in place to stop something like this from happening,” he said. “I lived in the program and some of the stuff I read was disgusting and not like anything I went through or teammates that I know would put up with.

“…I think a lot of us are struggling with the difference between our experience, what the allegations and the severity of [the allegations] say.”

Another player, who played more than 10 years ago, was the most direct of anyone: “There was no hazing at my time at Northwestern.”

One player, who played more than a decade ago, also denied that hazing took place – though he acknowledges that there can be different definitions of hazing.

“I can tell you in my five years at NU, hazing was not a thing and the culture of the program would not allow for something like hazing,” he said. “There was plenty of ‘locker room’ stuff that went on, but to say that hazing is prevalent and that Coach Fitz is responsible for things that happen in the showers is completely absurd.”

He went on to say that “there was absolutely zero racism in that locker room.” Yet, as it turns out, his career overlapped with that of Ramon Diaz, the one accuser who came out and attached his name to his racism allegations in a Daily Northwestern story.

Another player on that same team with Diaz wasn’t aware of any hazing within the program at the time but thinks about what he could have done to help stop it.

“If I could go back, I would have been a better teammate to those guys,” he said.

What every player we spoke with agrees on is that, while they can't say for sure, they don't believe that Fitzgerald knew of hazing within in the program, and furthermore, if he did, he would have put a stop to it immediately.

This is where the players – the captains and the Leadership Council in particular – may have let Fitzgerald down. All of them said that the locker room is the players’ domain, and that coaches are rarely in there outside of game day. They are disappointed that no one seemingly brought the hazing to Fitzgerald’s attention.

Here are some of their comments, via text or Twitter DM, about Fitzgerald's involvement:

“There is no way coach knew any of this was going on, he is not the man, person or coach that would stand for any of that. It’s honestly ridiculous.”

“Speaking from a former player's experience, I would guess almost every player would tell you that if they ever had a problem like this arise and they went to Coach Fitz first, he would have set a team meeting immediately and had it stopped. Again, I’m a nobody when it comes to former Wildcats. And a walkon. Hell, I played in like two or three games. …There is quite literally zero doubt in my mind that if I raised something like this to Fitz, he would have handled that. He treated everybody equally during my time, whether you were a walk on, freshman, a part of the leadership Council, etc.”

“Former players like myself will not agree that hazing exists [at Northwestern]. We will agree that things take place in every locker room that other people simply wouldn’t understand outside of a locker room. That is why we defend Coach. And we always will. That’s not a dirty program and he wouldn’t condone hazing or isolating anyone, period.”

"I definitely don’t know everything. Haven’t stepped foot in that locker room in a very long time. But the Coach Fitz I know wouldn’t have stood for the behavior at allegedly was going on."

“As a former leader on the team, I’m disappointed that there are allegations that Fitz knowingly knew of the hazing and didn’t go through the appropriate channels to report it. Fitz transformed the culture at NU and it led with his open door policy and respect for every person that walked through his doors.”

“Fitz’s door has always been open. As a captain I met with him weekly. As a former player I can call him anytime. … He isn’t hard to find but for the players on this team that is especially true.”

In the end, maybe the two most significant takeaways from our discussions with players are these:

- The most recent player confirmed that hazing existed as recently as last season. He is the only player we communicated with who actually played with the whistleblower. He is, to our knowledge, the fourth player to come forward to publicly corroborate that hazing took place at Northwestern last season

- No one can say with absolute certainty whether Fitzgerald knew of the hazing or not, but all of the former players agree that, if someone would have brought it to his attention, he would have stopped it at once.

Unless Northwestern releases the investigation's final report, there may not be any more conclusions we can draw beyond that.