Dantonio refrains from talking football, vows to 'do the right thing'
Jim Comparoni | Editor
EAST LANSING - Unable to speak about legal processes, and unwilling to talk about what he said were “trivial” matters of day-to-day football, Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio met with media for the first time since allegations of sexual assault against three players arose in early February stemming from an incident in mid-January.
The case is in the hands of the Ingham County prosecutor’s office. No charges have been brought against the players.
The 11th-year football coach answered questions for 27 minutes but repeatedly refrained from offering specifics about the players involved in the alleged assault.
“I can’t comment on an investigation,” he said. “That’s not my place.
“This is an ongoing investigation. No charges have been brought. We want to honor that investigation and the process and respect it.”
As for his team, which is closing out its spring practice season this week and will play in the annual Green-White Game at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Spartan Stadium, Dantonio said: “Football, I don’t think is important enough to talk about right now. I think everybody understands how serious we are taking this. I hope everybody understands it is not business as usual.”
Dantonio had not met with media since his recruiting signing day press conference on Feb. 1. Dantonio usually meets with media at least once a week during spring practice and makes players and assistant coaches available for interviews to bring the public up to date on football happenings. Dantonio has shut down those interviews this year.
“We’re faced with this situation and I don’t want to minimize that in any way, so that’s why we have taken this action,” Dantonio said. “I didn’t want to talk about depth charts. (I) felt that was trivial. To have our players come out here and be interviewed and act like nothing is going on, I just thought that was inappropriate.”
The three players under investigation have been suspended from the Michigan State football team and have been removed from university housing, according to a release from MSU athletics director Mark Hollis in February. They are still enrolled in school, but their names have not been made public by the university or the prosecutor’s office.
The university announced the suspensions and acknowledged an investigation into sexual assault allegations on Feb. 9.
The university suspended Curtis Blackwell, the football program’s director of college advancement, on Feb. 9. The university has not confirmed whether Blackwell’s suspension is related to the investigation.
Michigan State hired an outside law firm, led by Rebecca Veidlinger, to investigate the university’s compliance with Title IX laws in relation to the incident and its aftermath.
MSU also hired the Cleveland, Ohio law firm Jones Day to investigate the football program staff members’ compliance with university policy in the handling of the incident.
“There are some players that are suspended,” Dantonio said on Tuesday. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
As for the decision not to reveal the names of the suspended players, Dantonio said “it’s a systematic approach by our university and myself. So we’re in agreement on that.”
Dantonio said the suspensions were made by MSU’s administration and the football program.
Dantonio wouldn’t speculate on how long the investigation may take, but “anticipated this would be finalized in terms of the investigative process” earlier.
So why speak to media about the situation on Tuesday?
“Because we have a spring football game on Saturday, because it’s a community event,” Dantonio said. “We wanted to come forward today and step out in the light a little bit.”
Dantonio said brief considerations was given to the possibility of canceling the Green-White Game, or keeping it closed to the public.
Dantonio only spoke about macro-aspects of the program on Tuesday.
“I think this is a time to reset our program as people and move forward,” Dantonio said. “When there is a crisis situation, my experience is that people collectively come together, identify the problem and find a solution. That's what we'll do. In doing that, you regain your focus, your centering and you process forward. That's what I'm here to do.
"I’ve stood up here in the highs and the lows. I’ve stood up here after winning the Rose Bowl and the Big Ten Championship. I’ve stood up here in very difficult times before. That’s never going to change.
“I’ve had tough times before, tough situations I’ve had to talk about here. It’s been quite awhile. But this is part of the job. There are no easy challenges. To me, this is part of the deal, this is part of the reason I was chosen as head football coach here, to lead in difficult times. Those are my intentions, and not to put a hat on and walk around and say, ‘Hey we won the Rose Bowl.’ There were no easy challenges when I came here.”
When asked if Blackwell’s suspension has had an impact on recruiting, Dantonio said: “We have closed ranks, picked up the pieces and recruiting has gone very, very well so far, but I again I don’t want to talk about aspects of football right now. I think that’s unfair.
“What I’ve tried to do is say, ‘Hey, football isn’t more important than what’s going on here.’ I don’t want to do that. We need to get to a point where we can talk about football, but at this point in time with the investigation not completely done, I don’t think that’s fair for me to talk about (football). We have a situation ongoing. I’m doing everything I can to cooperate with everybody involved with this, so that’s my focus. My focus is to get our guys together, coach them on the field, get them ready to play, but not make it too public where it sends a message that this isn’t that serious. This is serious. Extremely serious.”
“How do you correct it? Make sure it never happens again? That’s a tough question. All I can tell you is we educate our football team. We have people coming in front of them. We have people coming at them and talking to them in a very raw manner. It’s education. We try to address every facet, within our program, that we see as a threat to them. We talk a lot about them, about reputation and their reputation and their accountability and their responsibilities. But that doesn’t mean it always gets done. But we do our very, very best.
“I do my very best to protect our community, protect our environment, protect my family. The message that I would send to everybody out there is that I’m going to do the right thing to the best of my abilities.”
As for news items, Dantonio did reveal that third-string defensive back Drake Martinez has decided to transfer. Martinez’ decision is not related to the allegations. Dantonio acknowledged Martinez’ departure when asked if any further attrition had taken place within the program since his last press conference on Feb. 1.
Dantonio also said other players are suspended at this time "for other reasons."
Jim Comparoni | Editor
EAST LANSING - Unable to speak about legal processes, and unwilling to talk about what he said were “trivial” matters of day-to-day football, Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio met with media for the first time since allegations of sexual assault against three players arose in early February stemming from an incident in mid-January.
The case is in the hands of the Ingham County prosecutor’s office. No charges have been brought against the players.
The 11th-year football coach answered questions for 27 minutes but repeatedly refrained from offering specifics about the players involved in the alleged assault.
“I can’t comment on an investigation,” he said. “That’s not my place.
“This is an ongoing investigation. No charges have been brought. We want to honor that investigation and the process and respect it.”
As for his team, which is closing out its spring practice season this week and will play in the annual Green-White Game at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Spartan Stadium, Dantonio said: “Football, I don’t think is important enough to talk about right now. I think everybody understands how serious we are taking this. I hope everybody understands it is not business as usual.”
Dantonio had not met with media since his recruiting signing day press conference on Feb. 1. Dantonio usually meets with media at least once a week during spring practice and makes players and assistant coaches available for interviews to bring the public up to date on football happenings. Dantonio has shut down those interviews this year.
“We’re faced with this situation and I don’t want to minimize that in any way, so that’s why we have taken this action,” Dantonio said. “I didn’t want to talk about depth charts. (I) felt that was trivial. To have our players come out here and be interviewed and act like nothing is going on, I just thought that was inappropriate.”
The three players under investigation have been suspended from the Michigan State football team and have been removed from university housing, according to a release from MSU athletics director Mark Hollis in February. They are still enrolled in school, but their names have not been made public by the university or the prosecutor’s office.
The university announced the suspensions and acknowledged an investigation into sexual assault allegations on Feb. 9.
The university suspended Curtis Blackwell, the football program’s director of college advancement, on Feb. 9. The university has not confirmed whether Blackwell’s suspension is related to the investigation.
Michigan State hired an outside law firm, led by Rebecca Veidlinger, to investigate the university’s compliance with Title IX laws in relation to the incident and its aftermath.
MSU also hired the Cleveland, Ohio law firm Jones Day to investigate the football program staff members’ compliance with university policy in the handling of the incident.
“There are some players that are suspended,” Dantonio said on Tuesday. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
As for the decision not to reveal the names of the suspended players, Dantonio said “it’s a systematic approach by our university and myself. So we’re in agreement on that.”
Dantonio said the suspensions were made by MSU’s administration and the football program.
Dantonio wouldn’t speculate on how long the investigation may take, but “anticipated this would be finalized in terms of the investigative process” earlier.
So why speak to media about the situation on Tuesday?
“Because we have a spring football game on Saturday, because it’s a community event,” Dantonio said. “We wanted to come forward today and step out in the light a little bit.”
Dantonio said brief considerations was given to the possibility of canceling the Green-White Game, or keeping it closed to the public.
Dantonio only spoke about macro-aspects of the program on Tuesday.
“I think this is a time to reset our program as people and move forward,” Dantonio said. “When there is a crisis situation, my experience is that people collectively come together, identify the problem and find a solution. That's what we'll do. In doing that, you regain your focus, your centering and you process forward. That's what I'm here to do.
"I’ve stood up here in the highs and the lows. I’ve stood up here after winning the Rose Bowl and the Big Ten Championship. I’ve stood up here in very difficult times before. That’s never going to change.
“I’ve had tough times before, tough situations I’ve had to talk about here. It’s been quite awhile. But this is part of the job. There are no easy challenges. To me, this is part of the deal, this is part of the reason I was chosen as head football coach here, to lead in difficult times. Those are my intentions, and not to put a hat on and walk around and say, ‘Hey we won the Rose Bowl.’ There were no easy challenges when I came here.”
When asked if Blackwell’s suspension has had an impact on recruiting, Dantonio said: “We have closed ranks, picked up the pieces and recruiting has gone very, very well so far, but I again I don’t want to talk about aspects of football right now. I think that’s unfair.
“What I’ve tried to do is say, ‘Hey, football isn’t more important than what’s going on here.’ I don’t want to do that. We need to get to a point where we can talk about football, but at this point in time with the investigation not completely done, I don’t think that’s fair for me to talk about (football). We have a situation ongoing. I’m doing everything I can to cooperate with everybody involved with this, so that’s my focus. My focus is to get our guys together, coach them on the field, get them ready to play, but not make it too public where it sends a message that this isn’t that serious. This is serious. Extremely serious.”
“How do you correct it? Make sure it never happens again? That’s a tough question. All I can tell you is we educate our football team. We have people coming in front of them. We have people coming at them and talking to them in a very raw manner. It’s education. We try to address every facet, within our program, that we see as a threat to them. We talk a lot about them, about reputation and their reputation and their accountability and their responsibilities. But that doesn’t mean it always gets done. But we do our very, very best.
“I do my very best to protect our community, protect our environment, protect my family. The message that I would send to everybody out there is that I’m going to do the right thing to the best of my abilities.”
As for news items, Dantonio did reveal that third-string defensive back Drake Martinez has decided to transfer. Martinez’ decision is not related to the allegations. Dantonio acknowledged Martinez’ departure when asked if any further attrition had taken place within the program since his last press conference on Feb. 1.
Dantonio also said other players are suspended at this time "for other reasons."
