(WTTW News)

Former Northwestern football players who are suing the university after alleging they were subjected to extensive hazing are now set to have their cases heard alongside their former coach.

Attorneys for the group of players on Wednesday announced that a judge has granted a motion to consolidate their various cases with that of ex-Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald.

“Both the hazing litigation and the Fitzgerald lawsuit name Northwestern University, and all cases have multiple overlapping issues, most notably the nature and extent of the alleged abuse and the action (or inaction) of Northwestern University,” the former players’ attorneys said in a statement. “The same allegations of abuse cited in the hazing litigation are the same allegations that became the catalyst for Fitzgerald’s termination, of which he complains in his lawsuit.”

Fitzgerald was suspended and later fired following reporting last year that a player said he’d seen “egregious and vile and inhumane behavior” as part of a yearslong hazing scandal that allegedly took place under Fitzgerald’s watch.

The player said some of that hazing involved coerced sexual acts and that Fitzgerald may have known that hazing took place.

The seven players who are suing the university in these cases claim they were subjected to racial discrimination, hazing, physical abuse and retaliation while they were members of the university’s athletic program.

Fitzgerald has denied the allegations. His trial had been set for April 2025 — a timetable Northwestern’s attorneys have called “very aggressive” — but that date has been stricken.

Attorneys for the players said they expect to file a second motion in which they would seek to proceed with consolidated trials, where a single jury would hear the players’ cases at the same time as Fitzgerald’s lawsuit.

"Our goal is to proceed to trial in a cohesive fashion that avoids the parties seeking the same information from the same sources and witnesses in two separate court cases,” the players’ attorneys said.