Michigan State athletics could be a tricky inquiry for NCAA
A lack of institutional control. A failure to protect its athletes from harm. Conduct worthy of the so-called NCAA death penalty.
All of those descriptions are being given by critics regarding the behavior at Michigan State, where disgraced doctor Larry Nassar was employed as he sexually abused girls and young women for years under the pretense of treating their injuries.
The NCAA sent a letter to Michigan State earlier this week asking for any potential rules violations related to Nassar, the first indication an investigation by the governing body might be next. But the NCAA could be wading back into territory where its authority is unclear and its track record is marred by memories of trying to punish Penn State for what assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky did in another horrific case involving child sex abuse.
“It’s Penn State all over again,” said Scott Tompsett, a veteran attorney who has represented coaches, athletic directors, athletes and schools in more than 100 NCAA infraction cases.
Tompsett said the NCAA’s authority over recruiting, eligibility, financial aid, practice and competition doesn’t mean it should be involved in high-profile cases such as those involving Sandusky or Nassar, who was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison for abusing seven women.
Many victims said they reported Nassar’s abuse to various members of Michigan State’s staff. Campus police got its first report regarding Nassar in 2014, but the Ingham County prosecutor declined to file charges. The school continued to employ him after he was the subject of a sexual assault investigation in 2014. Former Michigan State gymnastics coach Kathie Klages resigned last year after she was suspended for defending Nassar over the years.
The Michigan attorney general and the U.S. Olympic Committee are among those announcing plans to investigate how the Nassar allegations were handled. Attorneys handling civil cases against Michigan State and USA Gymnastics, among others, are also looking into those details.
And now the NCAA could be in the mix. Tompsett and other NCAA experts interviewed Wednesday said that could prove problematic.
“I think what Nassar did was egregious, terrible, awful, worse than paying a prospect to come to your school, worse than a shoe company paying a player to come to your school, worse than academic fraud,” said Josephine Potuto, a law professor at Nebraska and a former chair of the NCAA infractions committee. “But I don’t believe it belongs in the NCAA enforcement area. I just think the NCAA enforcement staff is not set up to investigate this. I don’t think there are bylaws set up for it. Nassar is being prosecuted; Michigan State is being sued.”
Michigan State’s Board of Trustees were set to gather Friday for a “work session,” according to school spokesman Jason Cody. The status of embattled school president Lou Anna Simon would likely have been a hot topic, if not the only one discussed behind closed doors, along with the future of athletic director Mark Hollis.
But on Wednesday night, Simon — who earned her doctorate at Michigan State in 1974 — announced her resignation from the job to which she was promoted in 2005.
Trustees voiced their support of Simon last week only to have one of them, Mitch Lyons, issue a statement the next day saying she should resign. On Wednesday, a second trustee, Dianne Byrum, and U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters joined the chorus calling for Simon to step down.
The fallout also includes Michigan State professor Sue Carter stepping down as the faculty’s athletic representative.