Time For Michigan State To Change Coaches?

Michigan State is now under fire at all levels, from the top to the athletic department, all because of former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.

Nassar was sentenced to jail for the next 175 years last week, but the statements by the many women during that trail signals to many of us that this is just the beginning of what will be many people losing their jobs and resigning at Michigan State.

Accountability will be the next thing we hold Michigan State to, and according to Magic Johnson on his Twitter this morning, he believes those that were aware of the sexual assault happening to women on that campus should be fired. Here is a copy of his Tweet below:

If anyone was aware of the sexual assault happening to women on the MSU campus from the office of the President, Board of Trustees, athletic department, faculty & campus police, and didn’t say or do anything about it, they should be fired.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 29, 2018

Magic Johnson also says in a series of tweets that he stands in support of victims and their families as they go on a road towards recovery and also said he hopes new people in those roles will help create new policies and procedures so that it never happens again.

The school itself has been accused in covering up these series of sexual assault claims involving the athletic department. So far, University president Lou Anna Simon and athletic director Mark Hollis has stepped down from their roles.

Coming off from the Nassar sentencing, ESPN's Outside The Lines released a report that detailed the school's handling of these numerous sexual assaults and domestic violence accusations against Michigan State football and basketball players.

So far, men's basketball coach Tom Izzo and football coach Mark Dantonio have not resigned from their positions, though the chorus could get loud enough to kick them out. And whether or not they knew, it's always the same thing: You have to take accountability for what happens under your watch.

We knew that an investigation is already happening, as we speak, and I'm glad to see many people, including the board of directors, are stepping down to allow new people to take charge of the university. But there's still plenty of people there that do need to get fired and that might include these two coaches. Look, I can understand if they didn't know anything about it or weren't aware of what's going on, but these are big positions at a school that's already under fire. They may have to go. I mean, look at Rick Pitino. He had to resign as a result of the basketball corruption scandal that was happening at Louisville. I'm not saying these two are on that level, but when you see that there's been accusations at both football and basketball at your school, you need to understand the hot seat you're sitting on. I'm not sure that Izzo and Dantonio understand that.

Izzo and Dantonio are going to continue to face increased pressures to step down from their roles as basketball and football coach, respectively. But I will say this: Accusations in this day-in-age are good enough reasons to fire someone, and the new athletic director, whoever they bring in, may just doom both of them. They may be respected coaches and they may have been unaware of what was going on at Michigan State, but if Magic Johnson is calling out the people who are accountable for this to be fired, you can bet that both of these coaches will be gone before you know it. I can expect that for the next school year, we're going to be seeing some changes at that position and may be the better for Michigan State. Time to start a new chapter and one where it can be a chapter of recovery.