Report: Northwestern Associate HC Matt MacPherson Allegedly Witnessed Hazing | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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Former Northwestern offensive lineman Ramon Diaz and another unnamed source told Josh Peter of USA Today that Wildcats associate football head coach Matt MacPherson allegedly witnessed team members do naked pull-ups and other hazing activities.

“He would come in and laugh at the guy(s) who was doing the naked pull-ups,” Diaz texted to Peter regarding MacPherson’s alleged behavior.

Diaz, an offensive lineman who played from 2005-2008, also alleged that MacPherson would come in and out of the locker room during the activities. The pull-ups reportedly occurred during the team’s week-long preseason retreat to Camp Kenosha in Wisconsin.

The other source, described as a “person in contact with several former players,” claimed that MacPherson allegedly witnessed the team engage in a hazing ritual called “running.”

A former player described that practice in detail in a July 8 report written by Nicole Markus, Alyce Brown, Cole Reynolds and Divya Bhardwaj of the Daily Northwestern:

“The former player said he reported his experiences to the University in late November 2022. He alleges that much of the team’s hazing centered around a practice dubbed ‘running,’ which was used to punish team members, primarily freshman, for mistakes made on the field and in practice.

“If a player was selected for ‘running,’ the player who spoke to The Daily said, they would be restrained by a group of 8-10 upperclassmen dressed in various ‘Purge-like’ masks, who would then begin ‘dry-humping’ the victim in a dark locker room.”

Northwestern president Michael Schill initially suspended longtime head football coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay on July 7 following an investigation led by attorney Maggie Hickey, which did not find “sufficient” evidence that the coaches knew about the hazing. However, the investigation reportedly stated that there were “significant opportunities” to discover and report such conduct, per Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press.

Three days later, Schill changed course and announced that he relieved longtime head football coach Pat Fitzgerald of his duties on July 10.

“During the investigation, eleven current or former football student-athletes acknowledged that hazing has been ongoing within the football program,” Schill wrote.

“In new media reporting today, still more former Northwestern football student-athletes confirmed that hazing was systemic dating back many years. This has never been about one former student-athlete and his motives; this is much bigger than that.”

Schill also wrote that “the hazing included forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature, in clear violation of Northwestern policies and values.” He stated that no student-athlete suffered physical injuries to his knowledge as a result of the hazing behaviors.

While Fitzgerald was fired, the assistant coaches and support staff remained on board. David Braun, who just joined Northwestern this offseason as its new defensive coordinator, has been named the interim head coach.

MacPherson is listed as the associate head coach in charge of defensive backs. Per Peter, the 46-year-old joined Fitzgerald’s staff in 2006. He worked with the running backs before switching over to defensive backs in 2018.