ESPN: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo 'sought out' witness in 2017 criminal investigation of player

[alchemy2u]

Maybe he wanted to find out if he needed to discipline the player right away... super bizarre to think that is wrong. Getting the other side of the story makes sense to normal thinking people.

Wrong... He was trying to get involved in the investigation and handling it on his own. That may have worked in the old days when men's coaches walked on water, sweeped things under the rug and could get away with anything. He should have let the authorities handle interviewing the witnesses. The coaches getting involved before any official statements gives the impression of tampering no matter what their intentions were. The witness was "tamper with", plane and simple.

 

[Goldteam]

Wrong... He was trying to get involved in the investigation and handling it on his own. That may have worked in the old days when men's coaches walked on water, sweeped things under the rug and could get away with anything. He should have let the authorities handle interviewing the witnesses. The coaches getting involved before any official statements gives the impression of tampering no matter what their intentions were. The witness was "tamper with", plane and simple.

Barry Alvarez still sweeps everything under the rug. It's not just the old days!

 

[Keyser Söze]

The fact is that any program that has been successful year after year is cheating. FACT. Either paying players, letting them get by without doing any schoolwork, or getting them out of trouble like this. Start the list. Any program that is consistently rated in the top 15 is guilty.

None of us know for sure, but I think this and the idea that everyone drives over the speed limit are equally true. Most people do, but not everyone.

 

[Holy Man]

Wrong... He was trying to get involved in the investigation and handling it on his own. That may have worked in the old days when men's coaches walked on water, sweeped things under the rug and could get away with anything. He should have let the authorities handle interviewing the witnesses. The coaches getting involved before any official statements gives the impression of tampering no matter what their intentions were. The witness was "tamper with", plane and simple.

Especially in this day and age. That is way too recent to be "just checking the situation out." Whether he witnessed tampered or not from a technical standpoint, it looks really bad that he is in there before the investigators.

 

[gophereric30]

Maybe he wanted to find out if he needed to discipline the player right away... super bizarre to think that is wrong. Getting the other side of the story makes sense to normal thinking people.

Yeah, that's what he was thinking. He contacted the guy to make sure he disciplined his player correctly. Priceless!

 

[BarnBurner]

The silence is telling. Go SParty! Spartyon!

 

[SelectionSunday]

The silence is telling. Go SParty! Spartyon!

I like Izzo. Is there a rule against that? Is that the response you're looking for?

You are free to despise or like whoever you like.

With all due respect BB, you need to find another hobby. I feel sorry for anyone who's lot in life is to be one big, giant, squishy turd.

Keep on stalking, bruh!

Go Green! Go White!

 

[Go Gophs]

Flat out lie.

Bullshit.

 

[Go Gophs]

Not true. Just because there are programs that are cheating and win, doesn't mean that they all cheat. Everyone that associates with those cheaters in the "name of winning" are responsible for that cheating. If fans, schools, players, administrators, leagues, etc. would stop encouraging the cheating by ignoring it, those teams would fail.

Ones that win consistently because they get the top rated players every year most certainly cheat.

 

[BarnBurner]

I like Izzo. Is there a rule against that? Is that the response you're looking for?

You are free to despise or like whoever you like.

With all due respect BB, you need to find another hobby. I feel sorry for anyone who's lot in life is to be one big, giant, squishy turd.

Keep on stalking, bruh!

Go Green! Go White!

We all know you adore Tommy and Sparty, SS. No rules against it from my perspective.

It is interesting, however, that your adoration of St Tommy continues in the face of his exposed cheating. After all, you are the one person on GH that has preached for years about MN Gophers needing morally superiority and top flight ethics on and off the court. Not cheating like so many others.

BTW - I dont despise St Tommy. Call me a stalker, big giant squishy turd, whatever. No issues ss. I call a spade a spade. Most folks appreciate it, others do not.

MAROON and GOLD!!!!

 

[El Amin Fan]

I like Izzo. Is there a rule against that? Is that the response you're looking for?

You are free to despise or like whoever you like.

With all due respect BB, you need to find another hobby. I feel sorry for anyone who's lot in life is to be one big, giant, squishy turd.

Keep on stalking, bruh!

Go Green! Go White!

Bravo! baRRRn buRRRneRRR and his ilk are stalkers.

 

[builtbadgers]

Ones that win consistently because they get the top rated players every year most certainly cheat.

What about the ones that win huge without top rated players. There are several of those.

 

[skiumah1]

What about the ones that win huge without top rated players. There are several of those.

SO Tony Bennett

 

[builtbadgers]

SO Tony Bennett

The idea that you have to cheat to win is a lie.Several coaches have done it. Plus, coaches do their own rankings and often have guys not ranked in the top 100 in their own personal top 10. Sure, use TB as example A but Beard has not had top 10 classes and has won huge, Jay Wright, no cheating, Bo Ryan won huge without top recruits, without cheating.Same for Painter,Holtman and on and on.

 

[WriterGoph]

The idea that you have to cheat to win is a lie.Several coaches have done it. Plus, coaches do their own rankings and often have guys not ranked in the top 100 in their own personal top 10. Sure, use TB as example A but Beard has not had top 10 classes and has won huge, Jay Wright, no cheating, Bo Ryan won huge without top recruits, without cheating.Same for Painter,Holtman and on and on.

Well, Bo Ryan might have been winning, but you should probably ask that wife of his about the cheating, no?

 

[BarnBurner]

The idea that you have to cheat to win is a lie.Several coaches have done it. Plus, coaches do their own rankings and often have guys not ranked in the top 100 in their own personal top 10. Sure, use TB as example A but Beard has not had top 10 classes and has won huge, Jay Wright, no cheating, Bo Ryan won huge without top recruits, without cheating.Same for Painter,Holtman and on and on.

So several coaches have done it.

OK. NCAA tournament is only for those that do not cheat. Would be a pretty large field, eh?

FRAUD.

 

[builtbadgers]

Well, Bo Ryan might have been winning, but you should probably ask that wife of his about the cheating, no?

Never liked him as a person but he did not cheat and won Big 10 titles, got to final 4's and likely finished ahead of us every year without highly ranked recruiting classes. That is what you have is his affair. I do not even want to start on what coaches cheated on their wife.how slippery and slimy they ran programs or worked in slimy programs.

 

[Tredwell]

per ESPN:

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo and two assistant coaches contacted a witness in a 2017 investigation of criminal sexual conduct involving a basketball player before the witness had discussed the incident with police or school investigators, records newly obtained by ESPN show.

MSU student Brayden Smith was with then-freshman guard Brock Washington on the night a female student said Washington forcibly groped her, according to a Michigan State University police report obtained by ESPN through a public records request to the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office. On Aug. 31, 2017, the female student told police that Washington grabbed her butt without her consent, tried to pull her to the floor despite her telling him no, reached toward her vagina and kissed her without her consent, according to the Michigan State University police report.

When police officers interviewed Smith about what he had seen that night in August 2017, he said he had already been contacted by Izzo and assistant coaches Dwayne Stephens and Mike Garland about the incident. They "asked [Smith] if he was OK and if there was anything that he had seen during the evening," according to the report. Smith made a similar statement to a Michigan State Title IX investigator: "Mr. Smith said he was sought out by Mr. Izzo and other members of the basketball coaching staff. Mr. Smith said they asked him what he knew and if he was OK," according to the Title IX report. Smith, who was not present for most of the interactions between Washington and the woman, told police that what he saw he thought was consensual.

W. Scott Lewis, co-founder of the Association of Title IX Administrators and a partner with TNG, a consulting firm that works with schools on Title IX compliance, said the actions of Izzo and his coaches are improper and could open the school up to a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights or a lawsuit.

"You just don't do that," Lewis said.

Izzo contacted witness ahead of school, police

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo approached a witness in a 2017 investigation of criminal sexual conduct involving one of his players before that witness spoke to police or school investigators.

www.espn.com

Go Gophers!!

Friend of the family....swing and a miss for ESPN.

According to ESPN, police said in their report that Brayden Smith's perception of his conversation with the coaches about the night in question "was not to get information out of him, but rather to ensure that he was OK and remind him to be responsible.”

Smith has never played basketball for the Spartans, but his father, Steve Smith, played from 1987 to 1991, when Izzo was an assistant coach. The younger Smith told investigators he considers Washington his "best friend" and the coaches his "godfathers" who check in on him from time to time, according to the Title IX report.

 

[Mountaineer Gopher]

Didn't Izzo also sweep two rapist team members actions under the rug. One of the players was a t-wolf for awhile, can't remember his name at the moment, sorry.

 

[Roland Brooks]

Payne

 

[Just Gopher It!!]

ESZ

Friend of the family....swing and a miss for ESPN.

According to ESPN, police said in their report that Brayden Smith's perception of his conversation with the coaches about the night in question "was not to get information out of him, but rather to ensure that he was OK and remind him to be responsible.”

Smith has never played basketball for the Spartans, but his father, Steve Smith, played from 1987 to 1991, when Izzo was an assistant coach. The younger Smith told investigators he considers Washington his "best friend" and the coaches his "godfathers" who check in on him from time to time, according to the Title IX report.

ESPN was never much of a respectable reporting outfit IMO (the exception is Bob Ley and his work on Outside The Lines).

When you hire someone like Bruce Pearl after he got fired from TN for cheating as an analyst you lose all credibility and are literally part of the problem.

 

[Go Gophs]

What about the ones that win huge without top rated players. There are several of those.

Yep, those are different. Wisconsin is a good example.

Blue blood schools though? All of them cheaters. Book it.