SIAP: Izzo Responds to Questions after Maryland Game
I am going to let the video do the talking on this one, but I will make a prediction right now: This will be his last season as MSU coach, and he may very well not make it to the end of this season. He looks like a completely beaten man...
https://michiganstate.247sports.com/Bolt/Michigan-State-Spartans-basket…
January 28th, 2018 at 5:19 PM ^
Yeesh, that was uncomfortable.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
More than uncomfortable. Walton left because he "graduated"? No, wait, because he went to play in Europe?? Or, "I don't really remember"????? He is in hot, hot water, because he knows the real answer is: "He was very quietly fired because of assault and gang rape, but we kept all that hidden so at not to tarnish his or the basketball team's reputation." That he wasn't better prepared for that question tells me he is very likely gone, and already knows it...
January 28th, 2018 at 5:23 PM ^
Yeah. The end is near.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:45 PM ^
I think the best way for MSU to save face at this point would be for a new AD to come in and ask Izzo and Dantonio to retire in order to “start a new culture”. Media/public would see that as a significant step, and Izzo and Dantonio could still be involved with MSU because they wouldn’t have been fired.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:51 PM ^
If the next school president or AD wants to have any moral authority, they need to fire both of those coaches, pretty much the entire training staff across all sports involved with Nassar, and try to get the campus police cleaned out too.
No one from the last 20 years of athletics at MSU should ever be involved with college athletics again.
January 28th, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^
Once they are found guilty, they should lose any retirement set up through the university.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:37 PM ^
Here's the thing though...they could retire and be beloved figures for the fans and supporters at MSU but only until discovery starts in the first civil lawsuit, only until the HBO version of MSU sports is cast, only until the survivor books are written and only until one of the players who has kept silent speaks.
However they play this they are gonna get got.
January 28th, 2018 at 7:20 PM ^
future involvement. It will be minimal either way. As far as which is better for media/public perception, that's an interesting question. The downside of letting them retire is that it may look like they have negotiated a sweetheart deal like Simon got. That was a very bad look for MSU.
I was thinking about the Detroit Lions with Matt Millen as the GM. If you were trying to sell the team, firing Millen makes them less valuable. The new owner wants to score some easy positive PR by firing Millen himself.
MSU with Dantonio and Izzo may be the reverse. They're still popular with their fans and maybe their donors. They need to go, but a new AD might prefer to start with a clean slate. With Izzo and Dantonio gone he or she can focus on cleaning things up without as much controversy. ADs do a lot of fundraising too. It's got to be easier if angry fans/donors blame someone else You know a lot of them won't blame Izzo and Dantonio.
The best outcome for MSU might be a new president forcing them out before a new AD is hired. I think the president could use the credit in the national media more than an AD. Either that or I could see them hiring a short term AD who will make the tough calls. We might see a short term president there too.
January 29th, 2018 at 12:54 AM ^
as reported by Crain's Detroit (link), the BoT's plan is to hire a "fixer" president, then a "healer" president.
So yeah, I assume the fixer's job will be to fire everybody and get to some point of rebuilding such that a new president will be able to come in on the upswing.
Mark Murray, Engler, Blanchard, Wilbur being talked about coming in as fixer's.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:57 PM ^
Replying near the top so people can see the video.
Izzo grilled by an @OTLonESPN reporter. pic.twitter.com/L42zVMkpSY
— Josh Stirn (@Josh_Stirn) January 28, 2018
January 28th, 2018 at 6:04 PM ^
handled by your basketball program, do you have any regrets?"
You can tell that one buckled his knees. What a devastating question that was.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:40 PM ^
If nothing else, he seems to be feeling the heat here quite a bit.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:59 PM ^
Well in poor Tom's defense, it has been a tough week.
January 28th, 2018 at 7:08 PM ^
Dead man walking.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
To not even be prepared for the question after Walton was suspended from his Clippers job and knowing you are on the turf of national media in the DC area. Complete failure by the MSU PR machine. Next presser will ask whether Izzo knew about the incident or whether it was properly filed as a Title IX case; the following presser will include questions about Payne & Appling. This isn’t going away.
If that is all the better that he can handle it, he seems like a dead man walking IMO.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:06 PM ^
I would not be surprised to see him retire/resign before the next eviscerating post-game presser. The press will only become more hostile as their questions go unanswered.
January 28th, 2018 at 11:54 PM ^
I have always disliked Izzo.....but that was really hard to watch and ALMOST made me feel bad for him.
Almost. But not quite.
I hope he and Dantonio fry for what they did.....and did'nt do.
They need to be fired and burned in effigy.
January 28th, 2018 at 11:45 PM ^
We've had a few injuries and that is why we haven't done very well.....injuries to our pride.
January 29th, 2018 at 1:26 AM ^
Kudos to that reporter. It's not easy to stand up there and ask questions that make everyone uncomfortable and never flinch.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
He has been advised on what to say when faced with these questions. You know he is wanting to say something else but has to bite his tongue. Then his explanation of the Walton situation made it worse.
You can tell he has regrets. He won’t be able to express them until everything is over.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^
I thought I read Walton lived with Izzo for a period of time?
January 28th, 2018 at 5:50 PM ^
name a child after him? Like the other accused rapist, Mateen Cleaves?
January 28th, 2018 at 7:45 PM ^
The Walton issue must cut very deep with Izzo because the guy was clearly treated like family by Izzo. My goodness, what an ironic situation to have your houseguest involved in 2 supposed assaults on women ...
http://www.limaohio.com/sports/281851/tom-izzos-coaching-dna-runs-deep-…
January 28th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
Read The Limo Ohio Article carefully people........
Walton LIVED with IZZO when Assault covered up n reduced to littering
Walton LIVED with IZZO when 2nd Assault occurred.....
In response to questions, IZZO knew all about it, They lived together
EVEN after both assaults, after Europe, IZZO helps get him a job in NBA.
THIS Will BE IZZO's downfall n lead story tomorrow.
January 28th, 2018 at 11:24 PM ^
Between those lines. There is so much smoke and mirrors in this article, the reader has to have knowledge of the dots that are not mentioned, and connect them.
Izzo, Dantonio, etc. really didn't care about ANYTHING other than wins.
January 29th, 2018 at 1:35 AM ^
"My bet is we will be hearing a lot more from this promising young coach in the years to come."
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
January 28th, 2018 at 5:27 PM ^
I think he is out on a limb, all by himself. flopping in the wind.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:27 PM ^
Thats what I see. School Prez and AD are gone. Is the support system functioning right now? Is everyone in CYA mode? It looked like Izzo had no idea these questions were coming.
If he wants to finish the season he better come up with a better plan.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
Never said he had good counsel or was following it. But he knows he can’t say too much publicly. Even though he’d love to try and explain himself.
January 28th, 2018 at 7:28 PM ^
Yeah and Dantonio doesn’t have to talk to anyone until the fall. He just cancel whatever media availability he was going to have in a few weeks for signing day and cancel any sort of spring practice media sessions too. Just let Izzo take the brunt of it.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
10 I'll cooperate with any investigation
20 Always have
30 Always will
40 GOTO 10
January 28th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
He stayed to the script. That’s the theory of his defense and he didn’t wander. He gets a B+, maybe an A-.
Any fool can meander off script and say something they will later regret. I’ve seen this dozens of times. Would take brilliant lawyering and preparation to better this performance.
January 28th, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^
If he says anything else, is even worse. That was awful but was also as good as could have been.
January 28th, 2018 at 6:13 PM ^
That was brutal. In under 2 minutes he created a mountainous clip of a PR disaster.
That last question showed him how brutal this will get. Imagine if the AG subpeonas him - you cannot duck those questions.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:47 PM ^
He can plead the fifth.
January 29th, 2018 at 1:11 AM ^
it does seem like Izzo is realizing how his lack of discipline fed into the rape culture. He probably thought he was teaching young men and giving them a second chance when all he was doing was enabling more and more bad behavior.
He's the only person involved with anything MSU related that is at least acting remorseful or not completely tone-deaf, whether he actually feels that way or not.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
I thought he would survive this simply because of how powerful he is in East Lansing, but after watching that I’m not so sure. Those were bad answers to fairly straightforward questions. The answer to “do you have any regrets” was the worst, and was the kind of response a guilty man would give. Same goes for the question on the circumstances surrounding Walton’s departure. You don’t remember why a grad assistant left 7-8 years ago? GTFOH with that.
January 29th, 2018 at 12:18 AM ^
Not only were his answers bad, his body language definitely showed me someone with regrets. He’s in a tough spot and he is squirming.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
MSU has got to have some of the most incompetent PR people. He had to know that question was coming and he says I don’t know. Wow. His days are going to be numbered. Many reporters are just going to keep digging now.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:33 PM ^
The tone-deafness has continued from the board of trustees to the football and basketball coaches. You have to admit that everything coming out of East Lansins is remarkably consistent.
January 28th, 2018 at 7:11 PM ^
They still think all of this is going to just go away.
They are caught flat footed.
January 28th, 2018 at 8:53 PM ^
a floor slap or two
might get them to think a bit more clearly?
January 29th, 2018 at 1:21 AM ^
Sometimes when you floor slap, you lose by double digits. MSU knows this already
January 28th, 2018 at 6:44 PM ^
Here is a quote from Cassius WInston today, when asked if the team was trying to drown everything out and just focus on basketball:
Maybe MSU should have Cassius Winston do all their talking, as that is the best, most honest, non-rehearsed thing I have heard from anyone at MSU since this all started.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:49 PM ^
Maybe they should interview him for the AD job opening. Seems better than the guy they had in there before.
January 29th, 2018 at 1:20 AM ^
is either fighting to save their reputation/job or save the university lawsuit dollars.
This is a really mature statement for him to make, but he's not facing possible criminal charges and doesn't have information that could do litigation damage, which is why no one else will admit any wrongdoing.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^
he is not going anywhere. He will stay to have some control over the investigations and to protect his legacy.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
The one thing both he and Dantonio have going for them is there’s no one left to force them out. With both the AD and president gone, and the board of trustees largely incompetent, there’s no one to tell them “you’ve got to go.”
January 28th, 2018 at 5:29 PM ^
This is wrong too. The interim president may end up having the worst job ever: Firing any and all remnants of the old guard before he too is replaced and let go. I heard this AM that the governor is looking to see if he has authority to fire the whole BOT at MSU.