![]() Dantonio said in his deposition that Blackwell had told him about an offer from Michigan, and "we don't want to lose any coach, any person to the University of Michigan, or to any other program."īut just one year later, Dantonio said there were a number of issues with Blackwell's employment, including a new NCAA rule on satellite camps that limited the effectiveness of Blackwell, hired mainly for his Metro Detroit athlete connections built through years of running the Sound Mind Sound Body camps, plus some "feelings of friction," and a "disconnect," Dantonio said.ĭantonio said much of this came to light to him during the time Blackwell first was suspended, in February 2017, and when he was let go, in late May. In March 2016, Blackwell was given a significant raise, to $129,000 a year, plus a one-month retention bonus. Dantonio called the phone conversation relatively one-sided, and said Blackwell responded, "I understand."īlackwell filed his lawsuit 18 months later, in November 2018. Blackwell's wife was pregnant at the time, and was worried about insurance ramifications.ĭantonio said the phone conversation lasted no more than three minutes, adding he told Blackwell it was "philosophical" but didn't go into details. ![]() Dantonio made the call from a train in Italy, where he was vacationing. In his deposition, Dantonio recalled a late May 2017 phone call with Blackwell, telling him he wouldn't be retained. More: Ex-MSU football staffer Curtis Blackwell: 'This is me standing up for myself' More: MSU reviewed Auston Robertson's sex assault record, then admitted him anyway More: Inside the sex assault scandal that threw MSU football for a loss Jones Day's report, which was released to the public just days after Blackwell was let go, cleared all Michigan State staff members of wrongdoing, except Blackwell. He also declined to be interviewed by the Jones Day law firm, hired to complete the outside investigation. He declined to be interviewed, was released, and never charged. MSU Police arrested Blackwell in February 2017, accusing him of obstructing their investigation into the alleged sexual assault. Blackwell insists he was made the scapegoat by a university eager to show it had learned its lesson from the Larry Nassar scandal.īlackwell is suing Dantonio, the university, Hollis and Simon, and in a separate suit he's seeking up to $5.5 million from two MSU Police detectives over wrongful arrest. 1, 2014, than he was the team's 3-9 record in 2016.īlackwell, 42, was told by Dantonio in late May 2017 that his year-to-year contract wasn't being renewed, after he had been on paid suspension for three months as lawyers performed an outside investigation into how the football program reported and handled reports of a sexual assault at a January 2017 campus party involving three players on the football team.ĭantonio told reporters at the time the decision was "philosophical," and re-stated that several times in his deposition, while expanding on it. is able to say, I recruited that guy, it was all me.'"ĭantonio said Blackwell was no more responsible for, say, the Rose Bowl appearance of Jan. Every single person that's at the university is involved in the process, from the lowest member of people to the tallest - the highest, everybody's involved. "You see the results of recruiting at the tail end of things, usually two or three years later. that was on the very beginning of Curtis Blackwell's time there," Dantonio said, according to a 57-page excerpt of his deposition which was filed in federal court in Grand Rapids on Wednesday night. "Team performed very well in '13, '14 and '15. This is Mike D'Antoni.Blackwell arrived at Michigan State in 2013, and Dantonio quickly called him a "game-changer." The Spartans then went to a Rose Bowl (and won), then a College Football Playoff (and lost). So it's time for us to put an end to this, once and for all. However, people still get their similar names mixed up. At some point, pretty much every publication has made the error, including ESPN.ĭantonio has been Michigan State's coach since 2007 and was head coach at Cincinnati for three years before that.ĭ'Antoni was first an NBA head coach in 1998 and was a head coach for two of the NBA's most prominent teams, the Knicks and Lakers. It's a mistake many people have made many times. This all stems back to the confusion between Dantonio and former NBA coach Mike D'Antoni. c2hMjyNa0sĪlso Thursday, the Wall Street Journal referred to Dantonio as "Mark D'Antonio." "How Mike Dantonio rebuilt the Spartans" appears on this SI cover leading into the playoff. ![]() Thursday, Sports Illustrated published a regional cover referring to Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio as "Mike Dantonio."
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