When Pat Fitzgerald signed a 10-year contract extension in January 2021 to continue coaching Northwestern football, the program was riding high.

The Wildcats had made it to the Big Ten title game for the second time in three years during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and multiple NFL teams reportedly inquired about Fitzgerald for head coaching vacancies, according to ESPN. Fitzgerald was the school’s most prominent figure and cheerleader, usually ending his interviews with the same two-word phrase: “Go Cats!”

But 3-9 and 1-11 seasons in 2021 and ‘22 brought Northwestern back down to earth. And Friday, the school’s all-time winningest football coach was suspended without pay for two weeks after an outside investigation confirmed an anonymous report of hazing by Wildcats players.

The report did not implicate Fitzgerald in the incidents, which the university described in an executive summary as “hazing activities” by players that often occurred in the locker room and “may have started at ‘Camp Kenosha,’” the team’s longtime preseason training site.

Citing confidentiality reasons, the summary did not detail the findings of outside investigator Maggie Hickey but said there was no “sufficient evidence to believe the coaching staff knew about the ongoing hazing conduct.”

“They determined, however, that there had been significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct,” the summary said.

The university also announced the discontinuation of training camp practices in Kenosha along with monitoring of the program and implementation of anti-hazing measures to deter such activities in the future.

Northwestern included a statement from Fitzgerald in which he said he was “very disappointed” when he heard of the hazing allegations and was not aware of the incidents.

“We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward,” Fitzgerald said.

NU President Michael Schill in a statement repeated the narrative about the school holding its athletic programs “to the highest standards.” He said hazing is “unacceptable” and the university’s actions would “prevent this from ever happening again.”

Schill made no mention of Fitzgerald or the coaching staff, but the slap on the wrist for Fitzgerald — suspending him in the summer instead of sidelining him for actual practices or games — was an indication of the university’s unwavering support for the veteran coach, who has a 110-101 record in 17 seasons.

All that was missing in the statement was a “Go Cats!” at the end.