AD out; more assaults alleged
EAST LANSING, MICH.» Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis announced his retirement Friday, the same day an explosive ESPN story detailing a number of allegations of sexual assault and violent attacks on women occurred with Spartans football and men’s basketball players.
Hollis had been athletic director since he took over for Ron Mason on Jan. 1, 2008.
Hollis’ resignation came just days after Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor who also was employed by Michigan State, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting more than 150 girls and young women, including some Michigan State athletes.
“Michigan State University is a great institution, and its greatest strengths are the people that call themselves Spartans. Many if not all of those Spartans are hurting, especially the courageous survivors of Larry Nassar’s abuse,” Hollis said Friday. “My heart breaks, my heart breaks thinking about the incomprehensible pain all of them and their families have experienced. Along with many I was brought to tears as I listen to statements. There simply aren’t the right words to express our sympathy.
“Our campus and beyond has been attacked by evil, an individual who broke trust and so much more. As a campus community, we must do everything we can to ensure that this never happens again and make sure that any sexual assault never occurs.”
Hours later, the Big Ten school named its vice president to serve as acting president after the departure of president Lou Anna Simon. Bill Beekman is expected to serve briefly in the role until the board of trustees can hire an interim president and then a permanent leader.
Also on Friday, USA Gymnastics confirmed to The Associated Press that its entire board of directors would resign as requested by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The USOC had threatened to decertify the organization, which besides picking U.S. national teams is the umbrella organization for hundreds of gymnastics clubs across the country.
And later in the day, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he was considering whether to launch an inquiry of Michigan State in the wake of the high-profile sentencing of Nassar. Spokeswoman Anna Heaton said the governor was studying whether the poten-
tial move could interfere with other investigations.
ESPN released an in-depth investigative story about two hours after Hollis announced his retirement, and scrutinized the way football coach Mark Dantonio and men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo handled allegations of sexual assault against their players.
ESPN’s report details incidents within the Spartans’ football program involving 16 players since Dantonio took over in 2007. Four Spartans football players — Josh King, Donnie Corley and Demetric Vance in a January 2017 incident, and Auston Robertson in an April 2017 incident — were dismissed last year and are facing criminal sexual conduct charges.
The ESPN report overlapped a Detroit Free Press investigation that began in 2017 and uncovered four more allegations of sexual assault against Spartans football players, bringing the total to six cases under Dantonio. Each of the four incidents were investigated by authorities, but no charges were filed. The Free Press investigation found 11 players were accused in the six cases on Dantonio’s watch since 2007.
The four sexual assault allegations run countercurrent to what Dantonio said in June when he discussed the two sexual assault cases opened against four of his players.
“We’ve been here 11 years. It’s not happened previously,” Dantonio said. “This has been a little bit of a learning experience. As you all know, when you look across the country right now, there are issues. There are issues that need to be explored, and people need to continue to be educated. You do the very best that you can do in that endeavor.”
Attempts to contact Dantonio on Friday were not successful.
ESPN also detailed two incidents that allegedly involved former Spartans point guard Travis Walton that were made during his time as a student assistant coach for Izzo during the 2009-10 season, in which the Spartans went to the Final Four. Walton reportedly punched a woman in the face at a bar in one incident.
Walton, along with two members of the men’s basketball team, also were alleged to have sexually assaulted a different woman off campus, according to ESPN. The network said no police charges were filed in that case, but reported the woman went to Hollis with the allegations that she was raped.
According to records obtained by the Free Press, Keith Appling and Adreian Payne were accused of sexually assaulting a woman during the fall of their freshman year in 2010. Dunnings declined to press charges in the matter, citing insufficient evidence.
In 2015, the Office for Civil Rights determined that Michigan State’s handling of some Title IX cases had created a “hostile environment” on campus for individuals who complained about relationship violence or sexual misconduct. The federal oversight agency also found there was confusion among MSU’s athletic department staff about who should report sexual assault claims to the school’s investigation office.
In the two most recent cases, law firm Jones Day investigated and found that Dantonio followed the policy and procedures for employees to report suspected sexual assaults to Michigan State’s Office of Institutional Equity. The OIE handles Title IX investigations into cases involving relationship violence and sexual assault allegations.
Izzo has been the men’s basketball coach at Michigan State since 1995 and has been on the Spartans’ coaching staff since 1983, when Hollis was a student manager for coach Jud Heathcote.
Dozens of Michigan State students gathered Friday night on campus to protest the school’s handling of the Nassar crimes. Some were expected to march to the Breslin Center, where the men’s basketball team was hosting Wisconsin in a Big Ten game.