Pat Fitzgerald lawsuit to seek $130,000,000 in economic damages from Northwestern; Dan Webb eyes for more from other categories: Reports

Former football coach Pat Fitzgerald is suing the Northwestern Wildcats for wrongful termination. Today is the first day of the court case, and the amount of money Fitzgerald is suing for is worth nine figures.

However, the $130 million tag people have been using may not be the full extent of the lawsuit. ESPN's Adam Rittenberg posted that Fitzgerald's lawyer, Dan Webb, is seeking additional money. They classify the extra money as infliction of emotional distress, future lost income, and punitive damages.

Whatever the total is, it has not been made public right now. It will definitely be interesting to see what details emerge out of the courtroom on both sides and if a compromise is reached.

What led to the termination of Pat Fitzgerald in the first place?

Pat Fitzgerald was one of the longest-tenured coaches in college football before he was fired, as he was with the program for 17 years. However, some issues arose throughout the previous offseason that alleged hazing situations were happening for years throughout the Wildcats program.

He was suspended for two weeks without pay and claimed he did not know of the hazing. Fitzgerald stated,

"I was very disappointed when I heard about the allegations of hazing on our football team. Although I was not aware of the alleged incidents, I have spoken to University officials, and they informed me of a two-week suspension, effective immediately. ... We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we wil continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward."

However, during the suspension, more stories from former Northwestern athletes came out about the alleged hazing going on throughout the years. Some of the stories included a Shrek clap signaling that the player made a mistake and needed to be hazed and alleged that Fitzgerald would initiate it at some points.

With the rampant reports coming out by The Daily Northwestern and the pressure from the media as well as an independent investigation on the matter, the Northwestern Wildcats decided to fire Pat Fitzgerald "with cause" in July. With Fitzgerald denying any knowledge of the alleged hazing situations throughout the football program, he filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against his alma mater.