OT: Michigan AG has police seize evidence from MSU re Nassar

Submitted by JetFuelForBreakfast on

NBC reporting that Michigan AG had the State Police seize evidence today from MSU. Interim MSU President Engler spokesman then accuses AG Schuette of election politics given his run for governor, commenting that "[s]omebody’s playing politics. It lets us know what we are in for.”

[T]he AG’s office demanded emails and texts for a raft of MSU officials, from trustees down to sports trainers, be turned over by Feb. 9., but some items it demanded immediately, according to NBC's report.

This scenario underscores the importance of Brian's well-done "Looking Internally" articles, with 3 basic concepts in mind:

1. DO THE RIGHT THING. ALWAYS. It's not a cliché, it makes miserable situations less miserable when you can at least emerge with your integrity intact and hopefully having helped others;

2. DON'T STONEWALL AND TRY TO HIDE. It almost inevitably will blow up in your face...even if you don't actually have anything to hide, people will assume you do and that you're guilty. Worse, when trust is lost, people do things...like storm your offices, which was probably not fun; and,

3. DON'T DRAG THINGS OUT UNNECESSARILY. Would MSU have perhaps responded more expeditiously had they known they would find themselves not far removed from having a former governor serving as interim president, his preceding governor as interim vice president, an AG running for governor investigating you, and a former prosecutor linked to the very scandal you're embroiled in running for governor as well? That's a fairly undesirable scenario for a plethora of obvious reasons.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the young athletes impacted by this man and anyone who empowered him, as we've been naively surprised and saddened at the number of lives with whom we've crossed paths and who have been directly impacted by his actions. Also, contra mundum submitted a very poignant post from a very personal and insightful perspective for those who haven't found it yet.

Link is below, but cannot be embedded (to my knowledge) from Android mobile:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-ag-has-police-seize-evide…

 

Tampa 2

February 2nd, 2018 at 11:56 PM ^

Claiming that politics are being played is sad. Msu is in big trouble and they are still trying to play games and make excuses.

M Ascending

February 3rd, 2018 at 7:55 AM ^

The fact is, politics is definitely being played -- but by both sides.

No doubt Schuette is playing this publicly for all it's worth to help his campaign. But Engler hurling the politicization charge is clearly the pot calling the kettle black. MSU is playing its political insider connections for all they are worth to try to circle the wagons. And Engler was probably the most politicized Governor we have had in my lifetime.

Mike Damone

February 3rd, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^

She destroyed the state.  She was the union's bitch, and drove companies and people out of the state.  Look where she left it compared to today.  And compare that to Illinois, 10 years ago v today.  I will take our great state...

Bottom line - why the hell did they put any politician in charge of MSU during this crisis?  This is getting worse and worse for them.

MGlobules

February 3rd, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^

has all sorts of political nuances. By political a lot of people just mean party/partisan politics, and there's an undercurrent of that, of course. In our current tribalized state that's a third rail here, rightly so.

Issues like the privatization of education or hostility to women's rights are also political, and don't neatly fit two-party constraints. I would describe myself as a political opponent of Engler, but would hardly think that disqualified him for any job. And I don't see how his desire to privatize education figures here, as is being alleged. 

Some of the lack of basic sympathy he displayed during the prison rape fiasco, his handling, is completely germane though, in my view. And the fact that he's a grad, on the board of a company of one of the trustees. . . these diminish confidence that he is intent on identifying crimes by higher-ups and seeing them prosecuted fully. His complaints this morning alreadly place him firmly on the side of entrenched interests at MSU when simply remaining quiet might have suggested he was working to maintain independence. 

My point: I don't think we want to waste time painting this with a broad brush, at least not until a lot more evidence that that's what's happening emerges. But a lot of it IS intensely political in the broader sense. So far it's not casting a pleasant light on Michigan politics. I don't even know what party Schuette is, but if you watch that introductory press conference. . . he doesn't look like a very. . . inspired individual. 

https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2018/01/27/follow-…

Never forget that this bit of grandstanding--the seizure--could have been coordinated quietly with Engler himself, right down to the complaints about it. 

tybert

February 3rd, 2018 at 12:11 AM ^

He expects that the scandal will look and dig deep into the FB and Hoops programs. His take is that Izzo is likely a casualty because the Travis Walton plea-down and departure (I know nothing!) will be embarrassing once people realize how did Hollis know and Izzo not know the guy living in his basement assualted a woman, at least until it was reduced to a lesser crime? WTF with that?

His biggest fear is losing Mike Dantoni. He thinks it won't happen but knows that neither Engler nor Blanchard have any more political careers to worry about and just MIGHT dump MD if they determine he and or his staff tried to influence police or MSU police. Both former Govs are MSU grads but also care about their legacy to MSU in rooting out the evil.

Schuette is a more dangerable spot. If he goes too deep into EITHER program, he risks losing voter support from a very large MSU alumni group. His likely oppoent, Gretchen Whitmer, is also an MSU grad but can afford alienating a few people who think 8-2 in his last 10 vs. Michigan excuses negligent leadership.

ANYWAY, in spite of a lousy 8-5 FB season, at least we've run our sports programs with integrity - win or lose. 

These brave 150+ women (and others who are nameless but got abused by Hoops and FB players) deserve the RIGHT action regardless of records vs. Michigan. 

rc15

February 3rd, 2018 at 8:15 AM ^

When the Nassar trial was happening, people kept saying how it was worse than PSU. And while I agreed the crimes were, I thought “at least the fans/alumni aren’t defending the people who covered it up (JoePa)”. That was naive. Nobody cares about the school’s president or AD, they are willing to throw them under the bus, but people will throw away all morals to defend a beloved coach.



I truly hope that if something ever came out about Carr, Bo, or Harbaugh, we’d be better than that. There are more important things in life than sports, and enabling people that ruined countless lives should far outweigh the legacy of any wins a coach got for your team.

LSAClassOf2000

February 3rd, 2018 at 8:21 AM ^

I've run into a mix of both among MSU acquaintances this week. There is a crowd out there at fully expect other coaches to eventually be casualties of either the criminal or NCAA investigations, which seems like it is an increasingly likely scenario although one can only speculate on the timeline at this point. There are the ones too that try to dismiss it, saying it happens everywhere and all schools do it and the only reply I can normally muster is, "Perhaps it does happen in other places, but it happened at YOUR SCHOOL, so focus on that."

wildbackdunesman

February 3rd, 2018 at 8:39 AM ^

I also know Sparties who are saying this happens everywhere, it is just we were caught, you can't punish us for doing what everyone does.

If it happens at other schools to the same or worse degree as MSU, Baylor, and PSU....then this is even more reason to start hammering schools as hard as the NCAA can to put a stop to this BS.

If the internal MSU memo that ESPN obtained is true MSU basketball needs a 3 year postseason ban for failure to follow Title IX law.  Other MSU sports like gymnastics where head coaches didn't follow Title IX law need post season bans.

Make schools scared to not follow Title IX law.  We are talking about the lives and safety of students.

wildbackdunesman

February 3rd, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^

ESPN OTL claims that they obtained an internal memo sent to the MSU administration that claimed that Walton and 2 unnamed basketball players were alleged to have raped a girl.  Per the memo: (1) Hollis knew about it, (2) Izzo knew about it, (3) no players were reprimanded, and (4) the situation was handled internally within the Athletic Department.

It is against the law for both Izzo and Hollis to not report this to the Title IX department.  ESPN asked MSU about this and if Title IX was contacted as the memo implies that it was not - MSU gave a non-answer that they sometimes fail to live up to their high standards.

 

http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/22265078/travis-walton-denies-m…

wildbackdunesman

February 3rd, 2018 at 8:33 AM ^

I am in the same boat as you are.  MSU fans I work with are fine with Izzo and Dantonio's actions.

They are fine with the internal MSU memo whereby Walton and 2 bball players were accused of a gang rape, Hollis investigated, told Izzo, no one was punished....and Izzo and Hollis didn't follow the law and turn it over to Title IX.

I also fear the public and local media will be fine ignoring this as Nassar if the focus. 

We need to squash rape culture and that includes looking ourselves in the mirror as Brian did.

mGrowOld

February 3rd, 2018 at 12:12 AM ^

The Detroit media had declared this story dead and buried. Why must the damn AG keep bringing it back up????

Now they have to protect their favorite sons Dantonio and Izzo all over again. This is getting tiring.

Robbie Moore

February 3rd, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^

When these kind of things get politicized. Lou Anna - Play It Straight - Simon made that clear. The head honcho has to take one for Team MSU and is unfairly forced to resign. 

Arb lover

February 3rd, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^

It's a sign of how bad the culture is there, that when the State's special prosecutor requests documents immediately, you don't give them anything for five days, and then when they send the state police in to raid certain offices you get all huffy.

Do you still not realize what you did, what's happening, and what's going to happen?

redjugador24

February 3rd, 2018 at 1:19 AM ^

Truscott says “Somebody’s playing politics. It lets us know what we are in for.”

Engler, he said, “won’t be happy to hear about this.”

Cool story bro. The AG and the Michigan State Police don't work for your interim president, but thanks for letting us know. EL could not be any more of a shit Show if they tried right now.

wildbackdunesman

February 3rd, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^

Our entire state is an embarassing crap show.

MSU hires an MSU slappy to right the ship.

Our MSU slappy AG who gets $$$ from MSU big wigs that will be investigated appoints an MSU slappy who gets $$$ from MSU big wigs that will be investigated to be the lead investigator and then we call it an "outside" investigation.

Meanwhile, we have PFAS poisoning following Flint's issue - neither fully resolved. 

Bando Calrissian

February 3rd, 2018 at 1:40 AM ^

Watching this all unfold on Twitter this afternoon, I had to admit, the state doing a "storming of the castle" for documents lacks drama when all it involves is someone handing over a thumb drive and not a truckload of legal boxes carried out in procession. The whole thing seemed like it took about 30 seconds.

Hard-Baughlls

February 3rd, 2018 at 5:30 AM ^

Just not exposed as of yet?  Who knows what will come out, but it's starting to look really bad for their football program if there is merit to the idea that he let a bunch of violent student athletes and sexual assulters run around campus in order to keep his football team competitive.

Could get even uglier in EL in the coming weeks.

CowCat

February 3rd, 2018 at 5:42 AM ^

Ohio State fan here. Both the Ohio State and U of M fanbases need to keep the heat on MSU. Fire everyone as far as I'm concerned. Nobody should tolerate systematic sexual abuse.

Keep shouting out. This defiles Big Ten sports as a whole.

WindyCityBlue

February 3rd, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^

My uncle was a cheerleader at OSU several decades ago. Talking with him about the MSU situation, he says he hopes they don’t turn up any rocks at osu. He said he can’t comment on how things are today, but several decades ago at osu had some serious culture (and coverup) issues with regards to football players and sexual misconduct.

CowCat

February 3rd, 2018 at 4:33 PM ^

I can't comment on what may or may not have happened at OSU years ago, before the advent of YouTube and social media.

What I can say is that Urban Meyer and the university will not tolerate any unwanted actions towards women. Our football team's 5 unbreakable rules are pretty simple: Honesty, Treat Women With Respect, No Weapons, No Drugs, No Stealing. They're written on a large wall at the practice facility.

Carlos Hyde was suspended for slapping back at a woman in a bar. Brionte Dunn was dismissed for alleged date rape. There was another player that was dismissed from the university for getting too cute with a female tutor.

There are bad apples and bad things happening at every school. The difference lies in what the program and university do about it. This is where I take issue with MSU. What I smell is a coverup to keep their programs competitive, at whatever cost. The victims don't count.

 

xtramelanin

February 3rd, 2018 at 6:38 AM ^

and we sure as heck didn't look like an eddie bauer commercial doing it, nor were there any TV cameras following us around.  they'd have had to be wearing bullet proof vests cause it was no media show-time.  it was guns out, doors kicked in, show me your hands!, everybody on the ground right now type of gig.  

not a great day for msu.  would be fun to get the IT report from the AG's team in a few days.  figure out the search terms and see what comes up.  

Arb lover

February 3rd, 2018 at 8:56 AM ^

If MSU is like any other large institution I've dealt with, it's a CYA mentality. If for example a department chair was told to get Nassar back to work even after allegations, he or she would have made sure to CYA so if things hit the fan, they are covered. While speculative, I would not be surprised if the department head saved all the evidence they had that directives came from higher up, etc. That's why they wanted these specific items immediately.