Michigan St. concerned about assault allegations

EAST LANSING, MICH. >>

“Obviously, I anticipated that this would be sort of finalized to some extent, just in terms of the investigative process, but that’s not been the case,” Dantonio said. “Because we had a spring football game on Saturday, because it’s a community event, because we have a huge youth clinic that last year drew 1800 young people, wanted to come before everybody today and just sort of step out into the light a little bit.”

Dantonio did not discuss specifics about the allegations or the investigation. A staff member associated with the football program also was suspended, and a Title IX consultant was retained to conduct a separate investigation into whether the school’s Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct policy was violated.

“The allegations are something we’re extremely concerned about here. I think we’ve acknowledged that fact as we’ve gone through this,” Dantonio said. “Probably the primary reason I’ve not met with the press prior to this is because of that fact. We wanted to respect the process in all, and everything that goes along with that.”

Dantonio said it wouldn’t have been right for the Spartans to go through a normal spring football routine — with media availabilities for players, for example — while the investigation was ongoing.