Northwestern University on Thursday fired its head baseball coach, Jim Foster, just three days after firing its longtime football coach amid a gambling scandal, deepening concerns about a toxic culture in the university’s athletics.
The university gave no reason for the firing of Foster, who had been the team’s head coach for a season. Northwestern athletic director Derek Garage said statement Many factors were taken into account before reaching this decision.
This decision came days later The Chicago Tribune reported Foster has engaged in bullying and abusive behavior, made an inappropriate comment about a female employee and talked badly about his staff to other employees, according to an internal human resources document obtained by the newspaper.
The Tribune also mentioned that Foster’s interactions with players can be combative at times. 670 scoreA radio station reported that Foster made racially insensitive comments and that he pressured badly injured players by making them come back up too quickly, which in some cases aggravated their injuries.
Foster told 670 The Score that the allegations of racism were “ridiculous,” and that “maybe the players aren’t good enough and are making excuses or getting pissed off.”
Foster did not immediately return a call or text seeking comment on Friday and it was not clear if he had an attorney. The university said an assistant coach, Brian Anderson, will lead the program.
The sudden shooting was another blow to the school’s athletic department this week.
On Monday, Northwestern fired head football coach Pat Fitzgerald after an investigation found its players engaged in widespread hazing, including forced nudity and sexual acts.
said Michael Schell, president of Northwestern in the current situation that the decision to fire Fitzgerald, 48, came “after a difficult and complex assessment” of his previous discipline: a two-week suspension without pay.
The announcement of Fitzgerald’s firing came next The Daily Northwestern reported On Saturday, a player, who requested anonymity from the newspaper, accused the players of essentially punishing the freshmen with a sexual act that involved nearly 10 teammates restraining a younger player. As reported by the Daily Northwestern on Monday Three former players said there was a culture of racism in the football program.
Fitzgerald said in a statement that he was “surprised” to learn that Schell had canceled their “mutual agreement” on the two-week suspension “without any prior notice and subsequently terminated my employment”.
Foster was hired in June 2022. He was previously the head coach of the Army baseball team.
Through the 2023 season, Northwestern went from 10-40 under Foster.