As Duke football opens practice, head coach Mike Elko again defends assistant coach
Adam Cushing is not a defendant in the latest lawsuit filed by a former Northwestern athlete claiming he was hazed, but Duke head coach Mike Elko came to his current aide’s defense just the same Friday night.
After the Blue Devils held their first practice of the new season, Elko stood by Cushing, the former Northwestern assistant coach who is in his second season on Duke’s staff coaching offensive linemen.
“Since Coach Cushing got here,” Elko said, “he has been an outstanding member of our football organization. He’s a phenomenal coach. He’s a great man. He’s done nothing but help us establish culture in the offensive line room. The players respect him. They love playing for him.”
The 43-year-old Cushing, a Chicago native, was a graduate assistant coach at Northwestern before working as an assistant coach from 2005-2018 in a variety of roles.
Ramon Diaz, who played offensive line for Northwestern from 2005-08, said in his lawsuit and in a news conference Wednesday that he was subjected to hazing that included mocking of his heritage.
He’s the ninth former Northwestern athlete who has sued the school since an internal investigation revealed a culture that included hazing in the football program. Pat Fitzgerald was fired as head coach last month. He’d been the Wildcats’ head coach since 2006.
“The social pressure and hazing on the football team was so severe that even unwilling participants were forced to conform to a culture of abuse, racial discrimination, bigotry, and sexual exploitation to be part of the ‘Wildcat family,’” said Chicago-based attorney Patrick A. Salvi II, who is representing Diaz and other athletes who are suing Northwestern. “Had he known the true culture of the football program, Ramon would not have committed to play for Northwestern. Once he was at school, he was unfortunately under immense social and financial pressure to remain on scholarship at Northwestern.”
Jim Phillips, the current ACC commissioner who was Northwestern’s athletics director from 2008-21, is a defendant in Diaz’s lawsuit, which was filed in Cook County (Illinois) Court.
In his lawsuit, Diaz specifically says Bret Ingalls and James Patton, Northwestern assistants during his career, made “racist, embarrassing, degrading, and harassing remarks” to him and other players. He also said the words “Cinco de Mayo” were shaved into his head while his teammates watched.
The lawsuit says Cushing “knew and/or should have known that harassment, hazing, abuse, and assault, often of a sexual and/or racial tone, was occurring on the Northwestern football team.“
At a news conference in Chicago, Diaz said he was targeted with “bigotry and racism” and recalled teammates and coaches, including Cushing, laughing.
“No one stopped it,” Diaz said. “Adam Cushing was there as well, often times joining in the laughter What would possess any human being anyone that that’s okay that wouldn’t ruin somebody’s life? It certainly did for me. The bigotry that I suffered chipped away in my self worth, my dignity and my desire to play the game of football.”
Elko hired Cushing in January 2022 to coach the offensive line for the Blue Devils. Cushing left Northwestern following the 2018 season to become head coach at Eastern Illinois. After three seasons, he resigned at Eastern Illinois to come to Duke.
“He’s a great husband. He’s a great father. He’s a great football coach,” Elko said of Cushing. “Obviously I can’t comment on anything that happened in the past. I won’t comment on anything in the past but certainly since he’s been with us, I couldn’t be happier with the job that he’s done.”
It’s the second time since the Northwestern scandal cost Fitzgerald his job that Elko has vouched for current Duke staff members who previously coached at Northwestern. Duke offensive coordinator Kevin Johns was on the Northwestern staff from 2004-10. He is not named in Diaz’s lawsuit.
Elko said he has no second thoughts about hiring or retaining them at Duke.
“We have great men in our building,” Elko told the News & Observer on July 21.. “Those two are A-plus husbands, men, coaches, leaders, all of it. I don’t rethink anything whatsoever.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2023 at 6:00 AM.