Michigan staffer named in lawsuit by former Northwestern football player

Published Aug. 02, 2023, 5:10 p.m.
By Aaron McMann |
A staffer on the Michigan football team has been named in a lawsuit against the University of Northwestern for allegedly making insensitive remarks to players and not reporting instances of hazing within the football team.
Bret Ingalls, who joined the Michigan staff as an offensive analyst in March 2022, is one of several former coaches listed in a suit filed Wednesday on behalf of Ramon Diaz Jr., a former Northwestern football player who claims Ingalls degraded him during his time on the team.
According to the suit by Diaz, who is being represented by Chicago-based law firm Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, Ingalls is alleged to have made “racist, embarrassing, degrading, and harassing remarks” to Diaz and other minority players on the team, according to ESPN.
Diaz alleges Ingalls made comments about his Latino race and heritage “that haven’t left me since I finished playing,” with an anonymous former Northwestern offensive linemen who witnessed the incident telling ESPN:
“We were in Kenosha watching film (one day), and Coach Ingalls said something to the extent of ‘Man, this room is really dirty. It’s a pigsty. Ramon: I know your parents clean up after folks like this. How should we do it?”
Diaz also alleges that Ingalls, who coached at Northwestern from 2006 to ‘08, witnessed firsthand the hazing that went on between players and did not report it. He says he never challenged Ingalls on his comments or behavior.
In a statement, a Michigan athletic department spokesman said Ingalls “proactively came and addressed the accusations” with head coach Jim Harbaugh and the school’s human resources department “and understands the expectations of his employment at the University of Michigan.”
The school says it has not received a single complaint against Ingalls, who issued a separate statement through a team spokesman that called the accusations “baseless.”
“I have dedicated my entire career to mentoring and coaching young men of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds,” Ingalls wrote. “I respect all individuals and have continued to do that throughout my coaching career.”
Diaz, a licensed clinical therapist, is the ninth former Northwestern football player to sue the school since Pat Fitzgerald was fired on July 10, accused of operating a football program rife with hazing.
Several current members of the Northwestern football program have defended their former coach, while Diaz praised Fitzgerald in 2019 for having an “influence on my life today.”
“He expects his athletes to be exceptional students,” Diaz wrote on social media. “The culture he creates at NW is one that I speak of with great admiration to youth athletes daily. I am proud to be a Wildcat.”