Words by Roman White
Michigan State University is under fire again with a new report revealing Men’s Basketball Head Coach Tom Izzo, Athletic Director Mark Hollis and football coach Mark Dantonio have all been complicit in keeping allegations of sexual misconduct and assault involving their players and staff a secret.
A scathing report following an investigation by ESPN’s Outside The Lines revealed a trend of suppressing information and mishandling of complaints about sexual misconduct at Michigan State University. The report alleges that this trend of sexual assault and victim suppression extends further than just Dr. Larry Nassar who was recently sentenced to 175 years in prison for the sexual assault of more than 150 female athletes.
The report reads, “Since Dantonio’s tenure began in 2007, at least 16 MSU football players have been accused of sexual assault or violence against women.” The report also revealed that Dantonio instead of reporting a sexual assault to the university had made a player sit down with his mother to discuss his alleged actions. Dantonio has maintained that the reports against him are “completely false.”
As for Tom Izzo, Outside the Lines obtained a report of an undergraduate student-assistant coach who was kept in his position after being criminally charged with assaulting a female student at MSU and then later in 2010, was accused of sexually assaulting a different female student.
ESPN spoke to former Michigan State sexual assault counselor Lauren Allswede who said that Michigan State Athletic Director Mark Hollis was the root cause of failed investigations into sexual assault on the campus. Allswede stepped down from her position in 2015. On Friday, following the various reports relevant to MSU’s athletic department, Hollis announced he would be stepping down from his position and retiring from MSU.
After the Spartans win on Friday over Wisconsin, Izzo contradicted reports that he could retire as well saying he’s, “definitely not retiring,” and plans to cooperate with any and all investigations that are being conducted throughout the MSU athletic department.
