Michigan State's Tom Izzo: 'I'm Not Going Anywhere'
Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo said Friday he "is definitely not retiring" after ESPN Outside the Lines published a report earlier in the day detailing a culture of sexual assault within the athletic department.
"I'm not going anywhere, in my mind." Izzo said. "I'm definitely not retiring."
Izzo thanked students for honoring survivors after the student fan section wore teal to show support. He said healing is his top priority, and he hopes he's a big part of the healing process since he's been with the school so long.
He's been the Spartans head coach since 1995.
The coach said, "As far as the reports today, we will cooperate with any investigation going forward as we have always done."
He mostly declined to answer specific questions, continually going back to his original statement. No questions were asked about the game itself, unless it related to preparing and dealing with the past few days.
Before the game, football caoch Mark Dantonio denied the Outside the Lines report that alleged the Michigan State football program did not report three instances of sexual assault and three incidents of physical violence.
He said, "Any accusations of (his) handling of any complaints of sexual assault individually are completely false."
Outside the Linesreported that at least 16 Michigan State football players have been named in accusations of rape or violence against women since Dantonio took over in 2007.
The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach reported Friday that NCAA president Mark Emmert was informed in 2010 of 37 reports involving MSU athletes accused of sexually assaulting women in the previous two years.
According to the article, Redmond reached out to Emmert because he was new at the time and seemed open to changes. Redmond said she brought up concerns about former Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon's, who resigned Wednesday night amid the scandal, handling of a report accusing two basketball players—Keith Appling and Adreian Payne—of sexual assault.
The NCAA announced plans to open an investigation into Michigan State on Tuesday.
The Outside the Lines report details a culture of sexual assault within Michigan State's football and basketball programs. The university's athletic department has been in headlines for its mishandling of the Nassar case; Nassar was a faculty member at the university for decades and sexually abused multiple students under the guise of medical treatment during his time there.
Nassar, the former Team USA gymnastics doctor, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 women and girls, including Olympic medalists McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Jamie Dantzscher, Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles, under the guise of providing medical treatment.
He was already sentenced to 60 years for possession of child pornography.
