Northwestern University and former football coach Pat Fitzgerald have reached a settlement agreement regarding his wrongful termination lawsuit, after he was fired over a hazing scandal in 2023.

Cook County Circuit Court records show Northwestern and Fitzgerald agreed to dismiss his lawsuit on Thursday after agreeing to a settlement. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Fitzgerald had been seeking $130 million in damages against the university, claiming he was wrongly fired over the football program's hazing scandal.

In a statement provided by his attorneys, Fitzgerald maintained he was not aware of any hazing before he was fired.

"For the past two years, I have engaged in a process of extensive fact and expert discovery, which showed what I have known and said all along—that I had no knowledge of hazing ever occurring in the Northwestern football program, and that I never directed or encouraged hazing in any way," Fitzgerald said. "Through discovery, I learned that some hazing did occur in the football program at Northwestern. I am extremely disappointed that members of the team engaged in this behavior and that no one reported it to me, so that I could have alerted Northwestern's Athletic Department and administrators, stopped the inappropriate behavior, and taken every necessary step to protect Northwestern's student athletes."

Fitzgerald said any suggestions he knew about or directed any hazing in the football program are false, and hav caused him and his family "great stress, embarrassment, and reputational harm in the last two years," but he said he is satisfied with the terms of the settlement in order to resolve his lawsuit.

"I am proud to say that I ran a world-class football program at Northwestern. I made every reasonable effort to prevent student misconduct, including any hazing misconduct. I continue to love and have the utmost respect for Northwestern as an institution," he said.

Northwestern said in a statement that they agreed Fitzgerald was not aware of any hazing before he was fired.

"While the litigation brought to light highly inappropriate conduct in the football program and the harm it caused, the evidence uncovered during extensive discovery did not establish that any player reported hazing to Coach Fitzgerald or that Coach Fitzgerald condoned or directed any hazing. Moreover, when presented with the details of the conduct, he was incredibly upset and saddened by the negative impact this conduct had on players within the program," the university said. "Northwestern wishes Coach Fitzgerald the best in resuming his football career."

Northwestern officials said they have taken steps to prevent any future hazing.

Several former football players have filed lawsuits against Northwestern, accusing Fitzgerald and the university of negligence for failing to prevent acts of sexual abuse, racism, and other dehumanizing acts of hazing.

Attorneys for those former players have said coaches at Northwestern had significant opportunities to understand and stop the hazing practices, witnessed incidents of hazing, and in some cases were victims themselves.

Northwestern fired Fitzgerald in July 2023, after releasing an executive summary of an external investigation that found evidence to corroborate a whistleblower's claims of hazing. The university has not released the investigator's report.

Fitzgerald, who led Northwestern for 17 seasons and was a star linebacker for the Wildcats in the mid-1990s, has maintained he had no knowledge of the hazing. His attorneys have downplayed the hazing allegations, questioning whether hazing occurred at all.

Northwestern promoted newly hired defensive coordinator David Braun in the wake of Fitzgerald's firing. Braun, the 2023 Big Ten Coach of the Year, is 12-13 in his two seasons with the Wildcats.

Fitzgerald has yet to return to coaching since he was fired.