Why does Michael Schill still have a job?
Northwestern's president has been wrong every step of the way. And it's costing his school real dollars.
Northwestern settled with Pat Fitzgerald on Thursday, paying the former coach an undisclosed sum that Fitzgerald’s agent, Bryan Harlan, said he is “very, very satisfied with.” Fitzgerald had initially sought $130 million in damages from the school, and while he almost certainly didn’t get that much, we can ascertain that each “very” in his agent’s statement is worth many millions on its own.
Fitzgerald is a richer man today than he was last week. He is, with no more pending litigation, back on the coaching market as a hirable candidate. And he got something close to an apology — or at least an admittance of no wrongdoing by him — from the place that fired him.
So why is the guy who fired him still employed as Northwestern’s president?
Michael Schill began his tenure in September of 2022. In July of 2023, he suspended, then fired, Fitzgerald amid the fallout of a hazing scandal. Some 25 months later, Fitzgerald has been exonerated, the university is out millions upon millions, and Schill is still on top of the school’s org chart.
Why?
How?