Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio held a press conference Tuesday to speak of the sexual assault charges, victim and players dismissed.
It’s a dark, dark day for Michigan State football. On Monday, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s office announced that it would be charging three unnamed Michigan State players for their roles in an alleged sexual assault from January.
Must Read: MSU Football: Three players charged in sexual assault case
On Tuesday, Mark Dantonio wasted no time in cutting the three loose after their names were released to the public.
Donnie Corley, Demetric Vance and Josh King were all listed as defendants in the case and all three came in as freshmen with the 2016 class. Unfortunately, they didn’t follow what was taught to them by the university. Dantonio claims that each had proper education regarding Title IX and none of them practiced what was preached regarding the incident.
The victim may never lead a normal life after this, and Dantonio and AD Mark Hollis were clearly upset about the situation during their press conference on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Here are some of the quotes from Dantonio’s presser:
Dantonio: "I want to share my deep concern for the young woman affected, and her family in this situation."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "The high standards I have established for this program will not change."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "The (Title IX) education was there and (the three players) compromised themselves putting themselves in the situation."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "This is new ground for us, we've been here for 11 years. This has been a little bit of a learning experience."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "We've got a lot of great young men on our football team."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "It's been a tough nine months... When you see problems, you push through problems."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "I think you always have to stay on task. I think everything is always changing."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "I think that we are re-enforcing our principles."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "We are re-centering ourselves. We are moving forward."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "I'm angry. I feel like the education was there... but as this has gone on, there's been a lot of sleepless nights."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "This is a safe place. Michigan State, the athletic department and the football department are all re-centered."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio on kicking three players off team: "That's my decision (alone). At this point in time that was my decision."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio on leaving program: "No, I don't think you walk away from problems... you're hired here to handle problems."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "I need to challenge myself to be a new coach."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Dantonio: "I don't have any regrets about bringing Curtis (Blackwell) in, but things changed this year."
— Spartan Avenue (@SpartanAvenueFS) June 6, 2017
Overall, Dantonio handled the press conference the right way. He spoke of the victims, his team’s issues, moving forward and re-centering as a program.
Related Story: MSU Football: Donnie Corley, Josh King, Demetric Vance dismissed
Unfortunately, that doesn’t take away what happened to the victim. The program will hope to learn from the mistakes of others moving forward and Dantonio is confident that he’s the right guy to correct what went wrong.