BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 60,877
- Reaction score
- 16,429
- Points
- 113
per ESPN:
A former Michigan State football staffer said under oath that head coach Mark Dantonio ignored his assistants' warnings while recruiting a player who subsequently was convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow student on campus and that important information was omitted from an investigation into how the athletic department handled a pair of sexual misconduct allegations involving football players.
Former Michigan State recruiting director Curtis Blackwell is suing Dantonio, former athletic director Mark Hollis, former university president Lou Anna Simon and two university police officers for wrongful termination and unlawful arrest. Blackwell claimed in court records filed on Thursday that he was made a scapegoat amid fallout from the sexual misconduct allegations against Spartan players in early 2017. Blackwell was suspended shortly after the first incident and his year-to-year contract with the football program was not renewed later that year. Dantonio cited "philosophical differences" shortly after they parted ways when asked why Blackwell's contract was not renewed.
Blackwell was arrested in February 2017 on suspicion of interfering with or obstructing a police investigation of the sexual assault allegations involving then-freshmen football players Donnie Corley, Demetric Vance and Josh King. He was not charged with a crime. Michigan State hired the Jones Day law firm to review how the institution and athletic department leaders responded to the sexual assault allegations. Blackwell declined to speak with Jones Day's investigators, who concluded that Blackwell broke school policy by not properly reporting what he knew about the alleged sexual assault. The Jones Day report cleared Dantonio and all other Michigan State employees of any wrongdoing.
"It seems as though Michigan State used Jones Day to clear the football staff of any wrongdoing and make it all look as if I was the only person that did anything wrong," Blackwell said in a deposition for his lawsuit.
https://www.espn.com/college-footba.../ex-staffer-dantonio-ignored-warnings-recruit
Go Gophers!!
A former Michigan State football staffer said under oath that head coach Mark Dantonio ignored his assistants' warnings while recruiting a player who subsequently was convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow student on campus and that important information was omitted from an investigation into how the athletic department handled a pair of sexual misconduct allegations involving football players.
Former Michigan State recruiting director Curtis Blackwell is suing Dantonio, former athletic director Mark Hollis, former university president Lou Anna Simon and two university police officers for wrongful termination and unlawful arrest. Blackwell claimed in court records filed on Thursday that he was made a scapegoat amid fallout from the sexual misconduct allegations against Spartan players in early 2017. Blackwell was suspended shortly after the first incident and his year-to-year contract with the football program was not renewed later that year. Dantonio cited "philosophical differences" shortly after they parted ways when asked why Blackwell's contract was not renewed.
Blackwell was arrested in February 2017 on suspicion of interfering with or obstructing a police investigation of the sexual assault allegations involving then-freshmen football players Donnie Corley, Demetric Vance and Josh King. He was not charged with a crime. Michigan State hired the Jones Day law firm to review how the institution and athletic department leaders responded to the sexual assault allegations. Blackwell declined to speak with Jones Day's investigators, who concluded that Blackwell broke school policy by not properly reporting what he knew about the alleged sexual assault. The Jones Day report cleared Dantonio and all other Michigan State employees of any wrongdoing.
"It seems as though Michigan State used Jones Day to clear the football staff of any wrongdoing and make it all look as if I was the only person that did anything wrong," Blackwell said in a deposition for his lawsuit.
https://www.espn.com/college-footba.../ex-staffer-dantonio-ignored-warnings-recruit
Go Gophers!!