What to make of the cases of Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, Tom Izzo

Although reports seemed to defame Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio, don’t be so quick to rush to judgement as not all facts have been presented.

Mark Dantonio is accustomed to being disrespected as a football coach. While catapulting Michigan State’s football program in his 11-year tenure, his success has defied continuous doubt from media presuming that the success is a passing era destined to fall.

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But the coach isn’t accustomed to being attacked as a person. Despite handling sexual assault cases by reporting the incidents to authorities and kicking players of his team, he has been implicated by controversial reports that claim he has been complicit in such cases. The conjecture against basketball head coach Tom Izzo seems just as flawed.

After former gymnastics coach Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40-to-175 years in prison, ESPN’s Paula Lavigne and Nicole Noren added on to the situation by defaming Dantonio and Izzo..

Outside of rehashed events already public and reported on, the report’s only new material came from a former university sexual assault counselor with no first-hand knowledge who had never spoken with either coach. If the allegations of mishandlings of sexual assault are true, why did the counselor abandon sexual assault victims by never reporting the mishandlings to authorities or media before?

Dantonio and Izzo have coached hundreds of players at the university. Regrettably, criminal cases will occur. Without being blamed for others’ actions, a responsibility of a coach is to handle the situations appropriately.

When three football players were involved in sexual assault in June, Dantonio reported the incident to authorities and kicked the players off the team. Dantonio has never been hesitant to reprimand players. And after handling both sexual assault cases under his tenure promptly and transparently, there is no reason to believe Dantonio is guilty of any wrongdoing.

So, when Nassar was convicted at a university with successful basketball and football programs led by esteemed coaches, it’s not surprising to see an investigation into the other programs, even if it means digging up already-publicized info from previous years.

Don’t fall for certain reporters who are fixated on probing the two coaches and scrutinizing each response. As the attention should be given to the healing of over 100 sexual assault victims, media are reporting on the coaches’ tone while answering questions.

Dantonio’s and Izzo’s success made them targets of defame. Gaining respect through years of honest work, they were pulled into a situation that should have been about Nassar, the university’s handling of that case and the brave survivors and their healing processes.

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If our society values due diligence and rejects guilt by association, the facts will redeem Dantonio and Izzo. They will go forward leading the programs they have honorably led.