EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio said he is angered by the alleged actions of three of his players who now face criminal sexual conduct charges.
The coach spoke Tuesday afternoon after players Josh King, Donnie Corley and Demetric Vance were charged with criminal sexual conduct. They are accused of raping a woman in a bathroom during a party in January at an apartment on campus.
STORY: Michigan State football players raped woman in bathroom during party, police report says
"Sexual assault has no place in this community," Dantonio said. "I want to share my deep concern for the young woman affected."
The coach said he removed King, Corley and Vance from the program immediately because he feels they were educated enough to know not to put themselves in such a situation.
- Watch Dantonio's comments above.
"There has been a numerous amount of education thrown at our players, especially our freshmen group, from the time that they've gotten here," Dantonio said. "The education, I felt, was there and they compromised themselves by getting involved in the situation."
Dantonio has been the head coach of Michigan State's football team since 2007. Under his tenure the team has won three Big Ten conference titles and a trip to the College Football Playoff. The coach said this will not, and has not, eroded the moral values he has worked to bring to the program and his players both on and off the field. He emphasized his program will only be strengthened by adversity.
"Sometimes it takes a crisis to recenter yourself," he said.
'I'm angry. I don't want to say betrayed. I'm angry.'
Dantonio answered questions about his investment in student athletes. He said the focus is on bringing them into a family, and he is angered by the alleged actions.
"I'm angry. I don't want to say betrayed. I'm angry. I feel like the education was there. I feel like I've talked about their sense of responsibility ... not to be a good football player but to be a good person, to do their very best," he said. "When you're a coach at a major college, or any college or high school, you're used to disappointment and you deal with disappointment. And you factor in things and say, 'OK, we're gonna get better.' But as this has gone on, there's been a lot of sleepless nights."
Michigan State Athletic Director Mark Hollis said three faculty members have been assigned to oversight roles for the football program.
"It is to ensure that we have programmatic systems in place that are efficient and effective," Hollis said.
When asked about the oversight, Dantonio said anything that can help keep his program on task is a positive.
"That's how I would see it," he said.
Dantonio stressed he is committed to being the football coach at Michigan State and that adversity is what people like him are hired to deal with.
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