EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio on Friday called accusations about his handling of sexual assault allegations throughout his tenure with the program "completely false."
Since Dantonio's tenure began in 2007, at least 16 MSU football players have been accused of sexual assault or violence against women, according to interviews and public records obtained by Outside the Lines.
"I have received many questions and inquiries about today's reports and latest reports. I'm here tonight to say that any accusations of my handling of any complaints of sexual assault are completely false," Dantonio said in his statement. "Every incident reported in that article was documented by either police or the Michigan State Title IX office. I've always worked with the proper authorities when dealing with the cases of sexual assault. We have always had high standards in this program and that will never change.
"The values that we teach to everyone in this program will be enforced. We've also always tackled problems here head on and dealt with issues. When we find out about the problems, it has come from the police or university authorities. I can assure you, as in last year's incident, I also immediately reported them through the proper authorities."
Dantonio spoke for just under three minutes prior to Michigan State's basketball game against Wisconsin, reading a prepared statement and taking two questions from the media before cutting off more questions. He said he was advised not to take any questions at all.
In those questions, he called rumors of his possible resignation "absolutely false" and reiterated that he learned of sexual assault claims when they came from the authorities. Dantonio said that when he learned of allegations of sexual assault against players in his program last year, he went to the authorities to report it "immediately."
This comes the same day that his boss, former Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis, resigned.
He opened his statement by expressing sympathies for the survivors of Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State doctor who was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison Wednesday.
"During this extremely difficult and challenging time for our community, I would first like to express our deepest sympathies and my deepest sympathies to the courageous survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse," Dantonio said. "It is absolutely heartbreaking to hear their stories and the pain and suffering they went through, and we are only in the beginning of the stages of the healing process for the community and, even more importantly, for the survivors and their families."
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