Sports

AG Nessel Takes Shot At Engler For Sitting Courtside But Dodging Investigators

March 20, 2019, 11:52 AM

Featured_john_engler__fb_photo_33910

Update: 11:36 a.m. Wednesday --  The optics of ex-acting MSU President John Engler sitting courtside at school basketball games is costing the man. First the sports-news website Deadspin ripped him for keeping a high-profile at courtside after being disgraced and pushed out of the job for being the bull in the china shop in wake of the Larry Nassar scandal.

Attorney General Dana Nessel has jumped on the bandwagon, chiding Engler for ducking interviews with her investigators, claiming he won't be in the state even while sitting court-side at MSU home basketball games, David Jesse of the Detroit Free Press reports. 

Nessel fired off a letter to MSU board chairwoman Dianne Byrum, asking that the board force Engler to sit down for an interview.

"We must lead from the top," the letter says. "The reluctance of the former interim president of the University to cooperatively participate in a law enforcement investigation into the largest sexual assault scandal in the history of higher education — yet happily sit court-side to watch the men's basketball team on multiple occasions — speaks volumes about allegations of a culture of indifference on campus."

---------------------------------------------------------

Report from Tuesday 

Deadspin, the sports-news website/blog, brings news that leaving office with a boot in his behind is not keeping Michigan State University's former interim president, John Engler, from enjoying being a very high-profile Spartans fan.

The site ran photos from a tipster of Engler scoring primo courtside seats for Sunday's Big Ten title game in Chicago. Engler, in a green sweatshirt, settles in with his wife, Michelle, and ardent fan Peter Secchia, a Grand Rapids executive and former U.S. ambassador to Italy. An MSU media relations professional who didn't sign his or her name to an email reports the seats were not part of Engler's presidential perks, and in fact weren't even his:

"John Engler did not receive athletic tickets as part of his departure as interim president. For the games mentioned in the article, he was the guest of the person who had those tickets," the email read. No word on who the ticketholder is. 

Deadspin doesn't go easy on the former governor, calling him "repulsive and incompetent" like his predecessor, Lou Anna Simon: 

If there’s anyone who deserves an egg to the back of the head, it’s this goon.

A tweet from a sports journalist shows him in a similar seat for the earlier game against Ohio State:


Read more:  Deadspin


Leave a Comment:

Photo Of The Day