Michigan State’s mishandling of sexual assault allegations reportedly extended to football and basketball programs

The failures at Michigan State in handling allegations of sexual assault were not limited to the Larry Nassar case, according to ESPN’s Outside The Lines. An OTL report published Friday detailed “a pattern of widespread denial, inaction and information suppression of such allegations” that included both the football and basketball programs.

On Dantonio’s football program:

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. Even more, Dantonio was said to be involved in handling the discipline in at least one of the cases several years ago. As recently as June, Dantonio faced a crowd of reporters who were asking questions about four of his football players who had been accused of sexual assault. Six questions in, a reporter asked Dantonio how he had handled such allegations previously.

”This is new ground for us,” Dantonio answered. “We’ve been here 11 years -- it has not happened previously.”

On Izzo’s basketball program:

Outside the Lines also has obtained never-before-publicized reports of sexual or violent incidents involving members of Izzo’s storied basketball program, including one report made against a former undergraduate student-assistant coach who was allowed to continue coaching after he had been criminally charged for punching a female MSU student in the face at a bar in 2010. A few months later, after the Spartans qualified for the 2010 Final Four, the same assistant coach was accused of sexually assaulting a different female student.

Read the full Outside The Lines report at ESPN.com

“Whatever protocol or policy was in place, whatever frontline staff might normally be involved in response or investigation, it all got kind of swept away and it was handled more by administration [and] athletic department officials,” a former Michigan State sexual assault counselor told Outside The Lines. “It was all happening behind closed doors. ... None of it was transparent or included people who would normally be involved in certain decisions.”

Hours before the OTL report was published on Friday, Mark Hollis stepped down as Michigan State’s athletic director, announcing his retirement. He had been Michigan State’s AD since January 2008. In the story, ESPN reported that it requested interviews with MSU officials, including Hollis, just two days earlier.

Hollis was the second high-profile administrative departure in the aftermath of Nassar, a former MSU medical trainer, being sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for criminal sexual misconduct on Wednesday. That same day, Lou Anna Simon resigned as university president.

The same day that Nassar’s seven-day sentencing hearing concluded, the NCAA sent a letter of inquiry to Michigan State regarding possible violations related to the case.