As fallout continued from hazing allegations within the Northwestern University football program, a former player opened up about alleged racist and abusive behavior by both coaches and players.
Ramon Diaz, who played on the university's football team from 2005 to 2009, said in the end, he felt alienated by the program.
"I didn't even walk in my graduation, because I wanted to leave Evanston as quickly as I could," he said.
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Diaz told NBC Chicago's Natalie Martinez that he was the first natural born citizen in his family and that locker room jabs were common on Fitzgerald's watch.
"Living on dirt floors and living here now, I should know better, I don’t have to keep a dirty floor underneath me...That to this day I’m still talking to my therapist about," he said, detailing the claims.
Diaz said for years he fought to get those memories out of his head.
"My dad grew up only with dirt floors," he explained. "So the idea to insult that to make it a point of a joke where I was surrounded by white athletes and no one said anything is almost mocking my father and mother who didn’t have the privileges that I have now."
The former team member said he and his roommate, who was Black, somehow looked past it all.
"He would often say to me 'I want to fit in so I can play.' I refused to do that," Diaz said. "And I paid dearly for that."
Diaz told NBC Chicago that he removed his belongings from the locker room when no one else was there, and that move was "was fairly indicative" of his experience on the team.
"I never thought my career would end that way, when I spent most of my time training for those four years, to feel like it was taken from me through an oppressive culture," he said.
Northwestern on Monday afternoon relieved head football coach Pat Fitzgerald of his duties amid the continuing fallout from an investigation into hazing at the school.
In a letter to the school, President Michael Schill confirmed that he had spoken to Fitzgerald and informed him of the decision.
"The decision comes after a difficult and complex evaluation of my original discipline decision imposed last week on Coach Fitzgerald for his failure to know and prevent significant hazing in the football program," Schill said. "Ultimately, the decision to originally suspend Coach Fitzgerald was mine and mine alone, as is the decision to part ways with him."
Fitzgerald had served as Northwestern’s coach since 2006, compiling a 110-101 record and leading the team to 10 bowl games.
The decision comes in the wake of a scandal involving allegations of hazing in the football program. Fitzgerald had been suspended for two weeks on Friday, but as new revelations came to light, including interviews with players who had witnessed or been the subject of the alleged hazing, the school said it was reevaluating the situation.