Big Ten Reprimands Michigan State and Michigan Coaches Over Pregame Incident
An incident prior to last Saturday’s Michigan-Michigan State game that garnered national attention has led to a $10,000 fine and several reprimands from the Big Ten Conference.
It stemmed from the pregame Spartan Walk, which Michigan State does before every home game. The players all lock arms and walk about a mile from the Kellogg Center to the stadium, weaving through campus and going past fans and tailgaters as a show of unity.
The Spartan Walk typically starts at 9:45 a.m. and takes about 15 minutes. On Saturday morning, as the team entered Spartan Stadium arm in arm, there were some Michigan players on the field warming up, including Lawrence Marshall, Devin Bush and Lavert Hill.
Players getting into it and the Spartan logo getting defaced?
Yup, it’s time for @UMichFootball vs. @MSU_Football. pic.twitter.com/iquUXIBRf8
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 20, 2018
The Spartans kept right on marching, right through the three Michigan players who stood on the field and did not move. The Michigan players broke through the human wall of Spartans and scuffles ensued momentarily, but the team regrouped and kept right on marching.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpMvt4VDJWY/?utm_source=ig_embed
Afterward, Bush showed his displeasure with being walked through by kicking and scuffing up the Spartan logo at midfield.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game, which Michigan won 21-7, that he had asked MSU about the timing of the Spartan walk so his players wouldn’t be in the way, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“We were aware they did a traditional walk and we contacted them. They send us a book, pregame operations, the most detailed and finest I’ve ever seen. Has everything in it in writing. But that part was not. So we called them and said ‘what time are you guys doing your walk, we don’t want to put our players out until you do your traditional walk,'” Harbaugh said. “They gave us a time. ‘It’ll be at 9:45 (a.m.).’ Said OK, great.’ Then, ‘well, it might be 9:55, now it is going to be 9:55 a day later.’ That walk happened another 10 minutes after that. At no point was there any kind of heads up or, ‘hey, could you guys please leave the field.'”
Harbaugh went on to call the move “bush league” and unsportsmanlike.
"That could have been a real unfortunate incident."
– Jim Harbaugh on pregame scene at Michigan State pic.twitter.com/KGvvgImNPQ
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 22, 2018
MSU coach Mark Dantonio, who Harbaugh accused of smiling on the sidelines while the team was doing its walk through the Michigan players, had a curt response when told of Harbaugh’s remarks.
“That’s BS,” Dantonio said, according to the Free Press. “That’s BS. You guys get your cameras out. It’s on Fox. I’m not going to go all into that.”
And the war of words did not stop there. Harbaugh doubled down on his comments about the incident at a press conference Monday.
“That’s not BS, that’s fact,” Harbaugh said. “I think now the two athletic directors need to get together and talk about it. Hell, I’ll go one step further and use coach Dantonio’s words from a few years back. Its not a product of the team but their program. Again that’s using his words, but that could have been an unfortunate deal and I’m proud of our guys for keeping their cool.”
Which brings us to Wednesday, when the Big Ten made its feelings known on the matter.
The conference basically slapped both schools on the wrist for the incident. MSU got a $10,000 fine for initiating contact while Michigan players were legitimately on the field during warmups. Dantonio was reprimanded for failing to take action to mitigate the situation.
Also, Michigan’s Bush was reprimanded for his actions in scuffing the logo, while Harbaugh was also reprimanded for his comments about the incident and the opponent.
“We are fortunate the series of events that occurred prior to the Michigan-Michigan State game did not escalate into a much more serious matter,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said in a statement. “While traditions hold great importance on our campuses, traditions do not supersede the values of good sportsmanship or the requirement for player safety. We expect more from our coaches, students and administrators and will continue to work with our institutions to prioritize good sportsmanship moving forward.”
This will just add to an already intense rivalry between the two schools.
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