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Mich. St. approves Mark Dantonio's contract extension as investigation of allegations vs. players continues

Dantonio is 108-59 at Michigan State. (Getty)
Dantonio is 108-59 at Michigan State. (Getty)

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio got a one-year contract extension Friday.

The school approved the contract extension — a rollover provision of Dantonio’s current contract — amidst a continuing investigation into sexual assault allegations against three unidentified players. The players have been suspended and are currently not permitted to live in school residences.

According to the Detroit News, the school has also retained the services of a law firm to review the athletic department’s handling of the allegations vs. the players. But president Lou Anna K. Simon said after a board of trustees meeting where Dantonio’s contract extension was formally approved that the approval was a sign of support for athletic staff.

Simon spoke following an MSU Board of Trustees meeting where Dantonio’s rollover contract was approved and said that was an indication of her feeling about the program under Dantonio, who is entering his 11th season.

“My sense is that if we weren’t, if we had anything to be concerned about, we wouldn’t have moved forward with the action today,” Simon said. “We’re still looking at everything because it’s in his interest as well.”

She also said that she didn’t believe the investigation would find any “big issues.”

“I have no necessary concerns that there are big issues,” Simon said, “but the confidence of the community requires that we look at it diligently.”

Ingham County Prosecutors received a request from Michigan State University police for three arrest warrants for sexual assault Thursday. It’s now up to the prosecutors whether or not to press charges related to the warrant requests after request to review more evidence. A fourth warrant request was also made, per a Detroit Free-Press report, for obstructing an investigation.

Football staffer Curtis Blackwell has also been suspended for unspecified reasons.

When Michigan State announced the suspension of a staffer along with the suspension of the three players, it said the staffer’s suspension was pending an investigation “into football program staff members’ compliance with university policy in connection with the allegations.” Per the Free-Press, the school won’t confirm that Blackwell is the suspended staffer.

MSU is also conducting a Title IX investigation into the assault allegations.

The allegations vs. football players come as a former doctor for the gymnastics team was indicted on charges of criminal sexual conduct. Dr. Larry Nassar’s preliminary hearing was Friday. The school’s gymnastics coach resigned earlier this week following allegations that Nassar had sexually assaulted numerous former athletes over a 20+ year period.

In her remarks during the board meeting, Simon said there was not a culture of sexual assault or harassment tolerance at the school.

Dantonio signed his contract extension in February 2016. As a provision of the deal, a year is added upon the expiration of a previous one. While Dantonio’s deal went ahead with no issue, Colorado said it’s delaying the approval of coach Mike MacIntyre’s contract extension following the completion of an independent review at the school. The investigation at Colorado is into the athletic department’s handling of domestic abuse allegations vs. former assistant coach Joe Tumpkin.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!