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ESPN personality: MSU should 'have the death penalty'

March 20, 2018
Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo is interviewed after the first half of the men's basketball game against Purdue on Feb. 10, 2018 at Breslin Center. The Spartans trailed the Boilermakers at the half, 36-31. (Nic Antaya | The State News)
Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo is interviewed after the first half of the men's basketball game against Purdue on Feb. 10, 2018 at Breslin Center. The Spartans trailed the Boilermakers at the half, 36-31. (Nic Antaya | The State News) —

After MSU lost during the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Syracuse, ESPN "First Take" personality Max Kellerman said during Monday's show that head coach Tom Izzo should go and MSU deserved the death penalty.

He said a team with a coach as decorated as Izzo should not have any problems while playing in March Madness, and after seven Final Four appearances Izzo should think about leaving MSU.

“If you're a coach that's won a national title, and you've been to more than half a dozen Final Fours, you can coach,” Kellerman said in the video. “That doesn't happen by accident. You can recruit, you can develop, you can coach. I don't think that's the issue. I would not be thinking about letting Tom Izzo go."

In January, an ESPN "Outside The Lines" report alleged MSU basketball might have a culture of sexual and physical violence against women.

During the press conference Sunday, Izzo said he plans to stay at the university.

"Michigan State deserved and should presently have the death penalty,” Kellerman said in the video. "Obviously. Duh. And if Tom Izzo is not culpable for anything that went on there — and by the way, he should start talking, I think, now the tournament's over (for MSU) — but if he's not, and I don't have any reason to believe he is, he should not want to be associated with that institution right now. He's a great coach and if I were him, I would be looking for a landing place elsewhere."

On Saturday, interim president John Engler called out ESPN during an interview with a reporter who asked how MSU has handled the ongoing sexual assault controversies in the past few months. 

After being asked how MSU is handling the cases, Engler told ESPN to look at how they handle their situations after the Associated Press reported a former ESPN employee alleged a culture of sexual harassment within the company.

“The 50,000 students on campus are going to class, and they want a safe environment. I think you have a safer environment today, and with the changes we are making, we’re making significant progress,” Engler said in a Detroit Free Press article. “That’s very much to the good and that response to the larger national debate that ESPN is wrapped up in.”

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