Last week, longtime Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired amid a university investigation into “disgusting” hazing rituals that allegedly permeated the program.
A group of players, including former Wildcats wide receiver/safety Rico Lamitte, have gone on record to chronicle the allegations against the program.
Lamitte played for former head coach Randy Walker from 2001-05. Fitzgerald served on Walker’s staff during that time.
Lamitte recalled offensive linemen “racing back up the hill and into the showers, lathering themselves with soap and lining up at the only entrance to the showers,” per reports from Kalyn Kahler and Brian Hamilton of The Athletic.
The linemen would allegedly force underclassmen to squeeze past to get into the showering area.
“It was absolutely disgusting,” Lamitte said. “Touching anybody—that was a hard red line that never should have been crossed ever.”
“I didn’t want to see that s—,” he added. “I didn’t want to have to fight back or anything like that. I would rather smell like garbage than experience that.”
Lamitte said that the coaching staff was aware of these hazing rituals.
“Stuff like that was seen in a very twisted way as team-building and character-building,” Lamitte added. “And if you can’t deal with that, then you don’t have what it takes. That is the core of everything going on right now. They became willfully ignorant to certain things that might be negatively affecting others.”