I encourage you listen to the Comparoni VCast about "Moving Forward".
Following the months of waiting and the recent sexual charges, the message from Comparoni as unofficial spokesman for spartan nation seems to be:
1) Mark Dantonio did everything correct so do not criticize him. And NOW, Comp is even stating (in a separate article "1..2..3") that "The decision to let Curtis Blackwell's contract expire .... was not related to his failure to follow proper protocol after learning of this situation". This Comparoni view is apparently based solely on MD's comment that this was a "philosophical change". So, he seems to be arguing that not only is there no attempted cover up but no mistakes were even made by Blackwell.
2) MSU does not have a "cultural problem" [for which coaches should be blamed]. Rather as we have heard from Valenti as well, "it was a lack of senior leadership".
3) The media's bias against MSU has resulted in an unwarranted level of coverage related to this situation. He actually complained that this is getting too much attention given that there are "1500 sexual assault cases in Detroit every year and those do not get this much attention"
As to these positions, I would suggest:
1) Incredibly conveniently, no one has heard from Blackwell, including the Jones Day hired "investigators" whose comments say that as far as they know, everything was done correctly .... by Mark Dantonio and the majority of his staff. And no one has seen any real detailed timeline for this process. However, the Jones Day document sure left some doubt about some aspects of this story as they went to some lengths to say that Dantonio left on his recruiting trip NOT knowing that this was a sexual assault situation. He left the day after a player very emotionally told him something about the three players which was disturbing enough for MD to initiate a school Title XI investigation. So an internal investigation is warranted but MD does not want to know the details so he can sit on this story for weeks until AFTER National Signing Day and then have plausible deniability. REALLY? Something STINKS there. And Jones Day also neglected to name Blackwell as the involved coach. Why? They certainly knew who was involved. Even Comparoni talked about him doing it but with the excuse that "he knew these kids since they were 15" so he felt compelled to call the parents to alert them. He even suggested that Blackwell was doing it to maintain "his clean reputation" since he was involved in recruiting those kids. But then in a separate article Comparoni says that Blackwell's release had nothing to do with this situation? Again, REALLY?
2) MSU slappys (including, Mike Valenti) keep referring to this as an isolated situation and bristle to the suggestion that this is a cultural issue. So listen the to Comparoni VCAST. .......The freshmen class felt entitled ..... even at signing day the entitled attitude raised some red flags.....They needed to be disciplined ...... MSU lacked the leadership [in this case argued to be strong seniors] to keep these kids in line. HOW ABOUT LEADERSHIP FROM THE COACHES? Where was that this last year?
3) It makes me laugh to hear Jim Comparoni and Mike Valenti argue that the media is unfairly going after MSU for this issue. So, both of them commented extensively for weeks and months about UM's "major" NCAA violation related to extra supervised stretching ("stretchgate") as if we lacked institutional control. But, SEVERAL sexual assault cases by MSU football players (the Mumphery incident, Robertson case and the Jan case) should be seen as just another news story?
Comparoni talks about "turning the corner" and moving on as Sparties everywhere want to put this behind them and hope that possible unflattering details may forever be hidden. I have a feeling that the story will be a recurring theme for the months to come. The trial testimony alone should reveal much more about this case and will keep it in the spotlight. It will be interesting.
Following the months of waiting and the recent sexual charges, the message from Comparoni as unofficial spokesman for spartan nation seems to be:
1) Mark Dantonio did everything correct so do not criticize him. And NOW, Comp is even stating (in a separate article "1..2..3") that "The decision to let Curtis Blackwell's contract expire .... was not related to his failure to follow proper protocol after learning of this situation". This Comparoni view is apparently based solely on MD's comment that this was a "philosophical change". So, he seems to be arguing that not only is there no attempted cover up but no mistakes were even made by Blackwell.
2) MSU does not have a "cultural problem" [for which coaches should be blamed]. Rather as we have heard from Valenti as well, "it was a lack of senior leadership".
3) The media's bias against MSU has resulted in an unwarranted level of coverage related to this situation. He actually complained that this is getting too much attention given that there are "1500 sexual assault cases in Detroit every year and those do not get this much attention"
As to these positions, I would suggest:
1) Incredibly conveniently, no one has heard from Blackwell, including the Jones Day hired "investigators" whose comments say that as far as they know, everything was done correctly .... by Mark Dantonio and the majority of his staff. And no one has seen any real detailed timeline for this process. However, the Jones Day document sure left some doubt about some aspects of this story as they went to some lengths to say that Dantonio left on his recruiting trip NOT knowing that this was a sexual assault situation. He left the day after a player very emotionally told him something about the three players which was disturbing enough for MD to initiate a school Title XI investigation. So an internal investigation is warranted but MD does not want to know the details so he can sit on this story for weeks until AFTER National Signing Day and then have plausible deniability. REALLY? Something STINKS there. And Jones Day also neglected to name Blackwell as the involved coach. Why? They certainly knew who was involved. Even Comparoni talked about him doing it but with the excuse that "he knew these kids since they were 15" so he felt compelled to call the parents to alert them. He even suggested that Blackwell was doing it to maintain "his clean reputation" since he was involved in recruiting those kids. But then in a separate article Comparoni says that Blackwell's release had nothing to do with this situation? Again, REALLY?
2) MSU slappys (including, Mike Valenti) keep referring to this as an isolated situation and bristle to the suggestion that this is a cultural issue. So listen the to Comparoni VCAST. .......The freshmen class felt entitled ..... even at signing day the entitled attitude raised some red flags.....They needed to be disciplined ...... MSU lacked the leadership [in this case argued to be strong seniors] to keep these kids in line. HOW ABOUT LEADERSHIP FROM THE COACHES? Where was that this last year?
3) It makes me laugh to hear Jim Comparoni and Mike Valenti argue that the media is unfairly going after MSU for this issue. So, both of them commented extensively for weeks and months about UM's "major" NCAA violation related to extra supervised stretching ("stretchgate") as if we lacked institutional control. But, SEVERAL sexual assault cases by MSU football players (the Mumphery incident, Robertson case and the Jan case) should be seen as just another news story?
Comparoni talks about "turning the corner" and moving on as Sparties everywhere want to put this behind them and hope that possible unflattering details may forever be hidden. I have a feeling that the story will be a recurring theme for the months to come. The trial testimony alone should reveal much more about this case and will keep it in the spotlight. It will be interesting.
