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Mark Dantonio releases statement in response to Outside The Lines story of unreported sexual assault at MSU
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Mark Dantonio is standing firm.
The Michigan State coach addressed the media on Friday night shortly after Outside The Lines released a report claiming that 16 MSU football players were accused of sexual assault since he took over in 2007. ESPN reported that Dantonio failed to properly report the sexual assaults to authorities.
On Friday night in front of media members, Dantonio denied any wrongdoing in his handling of the matter, and claimed the ESPN report was “completely false.”
Dantonio turns to today's report and denies ever dealing with sexual assault cases. "I've always worked with the authorities when dealing with sexual assault."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) January 27, 2018
Dantonio was also asked if he planned to step down as MSU’s coach. He said that was “absolutely false.”
That was hours after Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis resigned in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal. Hollis was named in the OTL report as one of the MSU administrators who did not take proper measures in relation to sexual assault claims against both MSU basketball and football players.
Even though Dantonio wasn’t advised to take questions on Friday night, he did take two questions after his statement. The final one was about if he knew of the unreported sexual assaults.
Dantonio said he always worked with the authorities.
Dantonio addressing ESPN's report, calls accusations false, says every incident "was documented by either the police or the Michigan State Title IX office. I've always worked with the authorities." @FOX2News
— Kellie Rowe (@kellierowe) January 27, 2018
Dantonio says every incident listed in the ESPN story was documented & reported to him "by the authorities."
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 27, 2018
Dantonio is prepared to continue to fight the strong accusations against he and his program. It appears he and Tom Izzo are both denying the OTL report.
Like MSU's Mark Dantonio, Tom Izzo told Fox Sports there is "no truth" to rumors he plans to retire.
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) January 27, 2018
It’s unknown if he’ll address the allegations more in depth in the coming days (video via MLive).
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.