Back to the Northwestern Wildcats Newsfeed

Johnnie Vassar lawsuit sheds light on Chris Collins’s “culture change” at Northwestern

There were grumblings.

If you were around the Northwestern men’s basketball program over the past few seasons, you heard them. Some became louder or more public than others. But mostly, they remained unsubstantiated murmurs.

Until Monday.

Lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of former Northwestern basketball player Johnnie Vassar against Northwestern and the NCAA. The complaint details Northwestern’s alleged efforts to force Vassar to transfer from the school and relinquish his athletic scholarship.

The document lays out a number of alleged grievances relating to Northwestern’s handling of Vassar and the NCAA’s rules about student-athlete transfers that, if true, would lead to sweeping changes to the University’s athletics department.