Judge rules that Dantonio must answer questions about Robertson and that his deposition will not be limited to 3.5 hours.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
They'll settle before then.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^
This ruling all but guarantees this.
October 9th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
Any chance we can start a GoFundMe to prevent that?
October 9th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
Can we start a GoFundMe to pay OSU players to shave points against us? It may be our only chance of keeping the game close.
October 9th, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Don't forget the refs, and we have to pay more that the B1G head office and OSU fans.
October 9th, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
you got me there
October 9th, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
I expect our defense will go bonkers against the Ohio State offense and totally discombobulate Fields' cookies.
I expect a lot out of the ordinary.
My inlaws own several hecters over by Ordinary and are divvying up lots
October 9th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
100% true the old administration would settle.
With some turnover at the top, I'm not so sure. How much is the new president and board willing to pay to protect Dantonio? It's not like the money is going to victims. It's very hard to justify paying millions to one of his staffers for Dantonio's misconduct and keep him on.
I expect they will either negotiate the settlement way down, under $1M for sure or let it play out. Their best outcome is that Blackwell can't make a strong case and Dantonio holds up in his deposition. He'll have a lot of time to prepare.
My last question is what does Dantonio want? He can claim vindication if Blackwell loses his case. Paying out big money so he doesn't have to testify will be a stain on his legacy. It shouldn't be a surprise if wants to defend himself.
October 9th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
7-5 MSU at the end of the season is going to use this deposition (or the surrounding) and let him go for cause. Great way to ensure he doesn't get the rest of his contract. It's not going to be State doing the right thing, it's going to be them trying to win.
October 9th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
This is an interesting and realistic take. If they don't settle, this is a good bet as to why. Depends on the language in his contract obviously.
October 9th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^
Let him go for cause? Never happening. Mark Dantonio knows way too much. They can't possibly risk an angry Dantonio telling all.
October 9th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
Urban Meyer to MSU
October 9th, 2019 at 12:33 PM ^
Too funny, no chance!!!
October 9th, 2019 at 3:46 PM ^
Yeah he only takes over programs which have a massive talent advantage.
October 9th, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
Yea, like Utah.
October 9th, 2019 at 7:47 PM ^
Big time programs weren't exactly beating down the doors for him after only 2 yrs HC experience at a MAC school. The narrative has shifted ever so slightly.
October 9th, 2019 at 4:26 PM ^
Holy shit you have just typed out my worst nightmare in 15 characters.
October 9th, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
We just went winless against him living through mine.
1A would be ND. Urb at MSU would suck for us though.
October 9th, 2019 at 5:27 PM ^
He’s not walking into a program with a talent disadvantage. Only fully stocked cupboards for Urb.
October 9th, 2019 at 6:20 PM ^
I thought about ND as I typed that but, we wont play them every year and they are historically better than MSU so whatever if he went there. MSU is worse for me living here as the fans are insufferable without him. I would be forced to move if Urban took the helm at state and turned them into a world beating power house.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
Time to write the check MSU. I just can't see them letting this deposition happen.
October 9th, 2019 at 11:34 AM ^
That is assuming that this deposition is not one of the primary motivating factors behind Blackwell's suit. A lot of suits are about money, most are, but it really depends on how pissed Blackwell is and whether he really genuinely may want to clear his name by way of Dantonio's admissions. He may also just be pissed enough at Dantonio that he wants to personally see him squirm and answer questions that destroy his image and credibility.
October 9th, 2019 at 12:54 PM ^
This makes little sense unless Blackwell is independently wealthy. Either he's paying his attorneys a fortune or the attorneys are working on contingency. I suppose the former is possible if he has the financial flexibility to pursue this for revenge. In the latter case, the attorneys wouldn't consider taking on a case where the primary motivation was plaintiff's revenge and desire to see a person squirm at deposition.
October 9th, 2019 at 1:35 PM ^
The two are not mutually exclusive. If MSU is going to duck and settle at the very prospect of a deposition of Mark Dantonio it may not be a wise move for Blackwell to settle. Just maybe a deposition of Mark Dantonio will be that bad for MSU.
October 9th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
It's both. Blackwell wants the money and he wants Dantonio to suffer. Curtis Blackwell is an angry man. And he has every right to be. Getting hung out to dry and having his reputation besmirched for the convenience of Mark Dantonio and MSU? Fuck them!
October 9th, 2019 at 2:15 PM ^
Please explain why Blackwell has the right to be angry ? I'm not sure I understand. From what I read last week, the Jones Day Report said that Blackwell did not make the mandatory report to the MSU Office of Institutional Equity when he was the first to hear from Robertson about the incident (with Corley and the other players), and instead "launched his own personal investigation". This was why he was arrested. Fuck Mork....but at least he did report it, and then suspended the kids. If Blackwell claims he reported it as required, he should be suing that department, and not the cops, right ????
October 9th, 2019 at 5:04 PM ^
You think Blackwell acted on his own? Really? Given everything we have learned about the MSU culture? Blackwell's biggest mistake was trusting those people. Theory I'm pretty confident of: Blackwell hears about it, tells Dantonio who gives him the "ssshhh" sign and tells him to find out what the story is. Blackwell reports back, Dantonio tells appropriate authorities who then ask Mark what took so long. Mark replies that Blackwell did his own investigation. Blackwell is then arrested. Set up by his boss to take the hit. And then left to twist in the wind.
Does this exculpate Blackwell? No. But he sure has a reason to be mad as hell.
October 9th, 2019 at 6:00 PM ^
You're just speculating a scenario that works for the Blackwell narrative. It didn't take that "long." I read the The Jones Day report. It says Robertson first told Blackwell about the rape the night that it happened, and then told Dantonio the day after the incident. Mork, immediately reported it with Robertson still sitting in his office, and then suspended Corley, Vance and some other kid.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
would the depo be public record?
October 9th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
Yeah, and it would read something like this;
October 9th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
Curious thing here- the right side of that document looks exactly like the right side of a page from one of MSU's most recent redacted releases.
Have to wonder if they've got a highly skilled PR intern secretly googling for best looking legal docs to crop & merge.
October 9th, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Negative, they hired Edelman part way through the Nassar fiasco to navigate PR. I'm not certain at what point exactly, but "WAY too late" is what I was told. No idea if they'd be involved in this as well but if so the legal and PR strategies will be well thought out... nothing will happen spontaneously and any actions MSU admin takes will be to protect the MSU brand over the long term, meaning if there's enough dirt on Dantonio that is likely to leak, they'll force him out one way or another.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
I thought this was covered by another post. 7 hours of deposition after the season is over.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
...up to 7 hours
October 9th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
The only way Dantonio leaves is if it's voluntary, and I don't see him quitting. They won't fire him. They pay up to keep things bottled up and off the record. He's too perfect of a fit for their values. They deserve each other. God, please don't let us lose to them this year.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
“F I F. Fif”
-Mark Dantonio
October 9th, 2019 at 10:28 AM ^
This is hilarious and I upvoted, but I don’t think he can take the fifth here since he did not commit a crime and this is not a criminal case. Recruiting and signing Robertson was stupid and wrong, but not illegal.
October 9th, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^
Yeah, you can’t plead the fifth by arguing that the only way to keep from looking really bad is to commit perjury.
October 9th, 2019 at 11:41 AM ^
It's a deposition. He'll just ask for their supervisor.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^
I'm starting to come around to the idea that this will be his last season. Offensive issues still massive and it's becoming more and more clear that he will be unable to get back to competing for the division and conference. So why not leave before your legacy is tarnished? Unfortunately, the bastard will finish with a winning record against Michigan regardless of what happens in Ann Arbor in November. And I expect MSU and Blackwell to settle far before any of the truth sees the light of day.
October 9th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
I really hope not, he needs to stick around 2 or 3 more years and take his ass whoopings like a man!
October 9th, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^
Unfortunately, the bastard will finish with a winning record against Michigan regardless of what happens in Ann Arbor in November.
Probably true. Harbaugh would have to win the next 5 games against MSU to bring Dantonio's record against Michigan to below .500. Absolutely doable, but that would mean running a 6 game losing streak to us and the collective ego of Spartan faithful would never let it come to that.
It doesn't really matter anyway, because the final, impartial, take on Dantonio will be that of a coach who was exposed as overrated. A coach who built his reputation on a conference that was suffering a down period and came back to mediocrity once that nadir passed. A coach who will have left no coaching tree, no good successor amongst his staff, and a program in tatters. He'll leave a failure.
October 9th, 2019 at 12:26 PM ^
I don't think he's really overrated. Career, he's 10-12 vs top 10 teams. Probably going to be 10-13 after this weekend.This includes going 0-4 his first three years. But that's very very good, especially at a place like MSU. Against top 25 teams, he's 23-29. And that's includes going 2-9 in his first three years.
So once he had his guys, he's got an above .500 record against top 10 and top 25 opponents. Which is still a very good coach, especially for MSU. And more important to Sparty fans, he will be - at worst - 8-5 against Michigan. Yes, that's built on the back of 6-1 vs two of our worst coaches in program history but it is what it is. He's put alot of MSU guys into the draft. Is he one of the greatest coaches of all time? No. But he's a very very good coach IMO, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. No coaching tree, successor, program in tatters, elite stretch of a couple years - He's Lloyd Carr.
October 9th, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
I call him overrated in the context of what people were saying about him in the 2012-2015 timeframe where people were ranking him among some truly elite coaches. I like the Lloyd Carr comparison, because I wouldn't call Lloyd Carr an elite-level coach either.
Is Dantonio the best coach MSU had had since Duffy Daugherty? Sure. But during MSU's heyday people were making him out to be Midwest Nick Saban, which has proven to be bullshit.
October 9th, 2019 at 4:46 PM ^
I don’t know how many have said he was truly elite. During that stretch, he was pretty close. But he’s been one of the better coaches in college football this century. So I don’t know if I’d consider him overrated
October 9th, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
Narduzzi seems to be doing fairly well at Pitt. I'm sure he would be on MSU's short list for a Dantonio replacement.
2015: 8-5
2016: 8-5 (Beat Eventually CFP Champion Clemson on the road)
2017: 5-7 (Beat #2 Miami last game of the year)
2018: 7-7 (ACC Coastal Champs)
2019: 4-2
October 9th, 2019 at 9:25 PM ^
I hope they hire Narduzzi. He’s 4-12 against ranked teams. Which means he’s lost 14 games against unranked in his 4.5 seasons.
October 9th, 2019 at 12:38 PM ^
I would take it a step further and say he will always be a loser. The success he was able to achieve was built on a culture of turning a blind eye to serious criminal activity, as well as PED usage.