At the risk of facing a prolonged, accusatory glare from society, this reporter is openly admitting to being an alumnus of Michigan State University. Class of 1985.
In light of the unfolding sexual abuse scandal at MSU, that is not a pleasant position to be in these days. Like Spartans across the globe, I am angry, embarrassed and ashamed that a prominent sports doctor at my school used his position as a cover to prey upon girls and young women, and that such an abomination could go on for as long as it did.
So let’s start with a disclaimer: this entire episode leaves a disgraceful mark on Michigan State’s reputation that will never go away. This institution, which was at the forefront of the desegregation of sports in America, is now known as the place that harbored convicted serial sexual abuser Larry Nassar, who was recently sentenced to up to 175 years in prison.
If you are looking for some sort of defense of MSU as it pertains to Nassar, you won’t find it. Not here, not anywhere. Nobody — not even the most fervent Spartan fan — is defending the repugnance of Nassar’s actions, or the school’s sickening inaction.
It is a scar that MSU must own. And anybody who is found to be complicit should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Period. There is nothing that can be said to the many victims that will erase the horrors of the abuse, but experts say part of the healing process will come with the justice of seeing the perpetrators exposed and punished.
Just in the last few weeks, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Education have announced investigations, and the NCAA has jumped on board to see if any of its rules were violated. And those moves were made with unanimous approval from the university. The MSU Board of Trustees actually requested an investigation in a letter to Attorney General Bill Schuette eight days before it was announced.
It all brings us to a second, semi-related topic: The subsequent accusations aired on ESPN’s Outside the Lines program, which turned the spotlight to Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo, and football coach Mark Dantonio. It was not surprising that the high profile programs have now undergone scrutiny, but the end result was a fishing expedition, to be charitable — a hit-piece to be precise.
To understand this argument, it requires the ability to hold two opposing sets of facts concurrently. It requires context, which too often gets lost in a society and a social media culture that often caters to the mentality of the mob. Think of it as angry pitchfork-carrying villagers in cyberspace with bloodlust in their eyes looking to nail the next convenient target.
Is it even possible, in this environment, to believe that MSU was horrible in regard to Nassar, while at the same time sticking up for the rights and reputations of Izzo and Dantonio, who have never previously been accused of any transgressions and have been pillars of the college coaching community for decades?
Please don’t misunderstand; this is not an attempt to blindly defend anybody. But also understand that there is not one scintilla of evidence that either Izzo or Dantonio, or their programs, had anything to do with the Nassar scandal. And you should also know that there has never been so much as a single allegation in this regard.
And yet after watching the ESPN report, it’s safe to say that a large majority of the public, who aren’t familiar with the intricacies of the scandal, now believe Izzo and Dantonio had something to do with Nassar, and that MSU is a place that not only allowed sexual assault, but propagated it.
That’s because ESPN was extremely reckless, not only in the way it framed the accusations, but also in the way it presented them, though a montage of visual quick cuts of Nassar, Izzo, Dantonio and Michigan State landmarks. And that wasn’t the only unfair linkage presented: the report featured an hour of unsubstantiated accusations apparently designed to tie it all together, when nobody has so much as ever alleged a connection.
It leaves the audience with a false narrative, conflating the Nassar tragedy with accusations that Izzo and Dantonio have either covered up or stymied separate sexual assault complaints dating back more than a decade. With a report that is woefully short on facts, heavy on hearsay and lacking in context, ESPN wraps it all up under the headline: “Crisis at Michigan State.”
Trying the two together with zero proof is irresponsible journalism. Where is the litany of sources? The OTL piece relies heavily on antidotal accusations from a former MSU sexual assault counselor, but offered no evidence of wrongdoing.
There is lots of disorienting sizzle, but no steak. Where are the emails of some sort of cover-up like you had in the Jerry Sandusky saga at Penn State? How about evidence that coaches intimidated witnesses, which was documented at Baylor?
All ESPN provides is largely a rehashing of old news presented as new. True investigative journalism shouldn’t take previously published stories, repackage them together and then try to equate it with an unrelated matter.
Anybody who has followed MSU athletics over the years is aware of the previous accusations of sexual assault or violence by football players dating back to 2007. What is more important: the number of complaints, or how they were adjudicated or dropped by the authorities? In the report, we get the former but not the latter. And, more importantly, where is the evidence that Dantonio mishandled any of it?
As for basketball, the only new information was the naming of three former players accused of wrongdoing. Two were never charged, according to the county prosecutor at the time due to a lack of evidence, and the third — Travis Walton, a volunteer assistant coach at the time — wound up pleading guilty to littering. If you’re interested, Walton’s public statement denying any assault includes some credible details left out of ESPN reporting. In fact, Izzo and Dantonio were never interviewed for the piece.
Such an attempt to rewrite history should always require some evidence. What has been aired on OTL looks more like a witch hunt — an attempt to seize on the highly-charged emotions right now by tarring and feathering Izzo and Dantonio. To level these kinds of serious charges, and impugn their reputations, you must have more than accusations presented as truth.
One of the prime complaints from ESPN is that MSU resisted releasing the names of accused athletes, and had to go to court to do it. What goes unsaid is that virtually every college in our country would be resistant to naming any student accused of wrongdoing before they are either charged or exonerated.
For an example of quality investigative journalism, you need to look no further than the Indianapolis Star, which broke the story of the nexus between Nassar and USA Gymnastics in 2016. And the Detroit News offered a well-researched expose outlining the claim that 14 MSU staffers (nobody on the football or men’s basketball staffs, incidentially) were previously warned of Nassar’s abuse.
Make no mistake: If an investigation establishes evidence that Izzo and/or Dantonio handled the ESPN allegations illegally, or that they tried to block an any investigation, I would be the first to call for them to step down. And if it comes to that, it should not take ESPN off the hook for going with an original report so bereft of facts.
The university’s president and athletic director have already stepped down because the Nassar scandal happened on their watch. But to level unsubstantiated unrelated complaints that could cost jobs, and ruin careers as well as legacies — well that is much different. Does ESPN have anything other than conjecture when it comes to Izzo and Dantonio?
The above named investigations should move forward, and everyone needs to see where the truth leads. This is too serious and allegations are simply not enough.
Neil Geoghegan, an alumnus of Michigan State University, is a staff writer for the Daily Local News and Pa. Prep Live. You can reach him at ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NeilMGeoghegan.