EVANSTON, Ill. — From the edge of Lake Michigan, you can see forever.
That would be a heck of a marketing slogan for Northwestern football this season. Perhaps the most impressive football facility in the country — those views! — now sits next to a cool pop-up temporary stadium meant to hold 15,000 fans this season, where you can almost hear waves washing up on the shore of this idyllic campus.
But for a Wildcats program slightly more than a year removed from the revelation of a hazing scandal, that marketing slogan wouldn’t be conveying the entire story. While nearby Ryan Field undergoes what is essentially a from-the-studs-up renovation costing nine figures, Northwestern football is undergoing a rebuild of a different kind.
At last count, 40 former Northwestern players have filed suit seeking damages from the fallout of the alleged hazing within the program revealed last year. Meanwhile, former coach Pat Fitzgerald has filed his own $130 million wrongful termination suit against the school.
The Northwestern program he left behind exists somewhat at an emotional, legal and, yes, perhaps even a football crossroads. It is riding the momentum of an eight-win season guided by Big Ten coach of the year David Braun. But as much as there is to celebrate here, there is still a dark chapter in the program’s history yet to be finalized.
“I’ll paint a picture for you,” tailback Cam Porter told CBS Sports. “Two weeks before camp starts, your head coach that recruited you — kind of built Northwestern’s program — just gets fired out of nowhere.”
The view of downtown Chicago from outside Northwestern’s new football facility.
Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports
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