MSU coach: Curtis Blackwell had unprofessional rapport, 'conflict of interest'

EAST LANSING – A member of Michigan State football's coaching staff told university police that he felt Curtis Blackwell had unprofessional rapport with some of the Spartans’ players from Detroit and their parents.

That coach, whose name is redacted from MSU Police reports obtained through a public records request, said he had issues with Blackwell’s ethics. The coach told police he questioned Blackwell taking a NCAA basketball tournament trip at the expense of one of the football program’s boosters and called Blackwell’s role with Sound Mind, Sound Body while working as MSU’s director of college advancement and performance “a conflict of interest.”

Multiple messages to Blackwell and his Lansing-based attorney Frank Reynolds have not been returned. The NCAA has not yet responded to an inquiry from the Free Press. MSU also did not immediately respond for comment.

Police said Blackwell was led out of the Duffy Daugherty football building in handcuffs after being interviewed on Feb. 8. He was suspended with pay by the university a day later, the same day now-former players Josh King, Donnie Corley and Demetric Vance were suspended for their role in an alleged sexual assault that occurred in the early morning hours of Jan. 16.

Those players were charged with sexual assault last week by the Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon, who declined to file charges against Blackwell. Her decision on Blackwell came after MSU Police requested a warrant for obstructing their investigation, which would have been a two-year felony.

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The 39-year-old Blackwell was suspended with pay Feb. 9 for "several allegations regarding your conduct," according to a letter from athletic director Mark Hollis in his personnel file. Hollis ordered Blackwell to not have any contact with MSU athletes or recruits on or off campus during his suspension and was not permitted to attend department events or functions.

MSU coach Mark Dantonio said last week his reason for the departure of Blackwell, whose contract was not renewed after May 31, “was outside of” the sexual assault investigation.

“No, I don’t have any regrets about bringing Curtis in. It’s just that things changed this year,” Dantonio said. “Up to that point, I think we were going in the same direction, but in the last four or five months I believed the philosophy just changed.”

During their Feb. 8 interviews with Blackwell and other members of the Spartans’ football staff, a person only identified as a coach with his name redacted told MSU Police that he questioned Blackwell’s integrity and said he “would withhold information related to the Detroit kids.”

Police also asked that coach if Blackwell engaged “in any relationships he would consider inappropriate.” The coach responded that, “He works those avenues,” according to the police report.

The unnamed MSU coach told police it was because “Curtis makes money off these kids’ parents,” through the Sound Mind, Sound Body camp, “so he is loyal to them.”

Blackwell’s “unique relationship” with those players and their parents, the coach told police, goes back to when the players were younger and attending those Detroit-based football camps. The coach referred to a business-type “avenue.”

The coach expanded his view of what he felt were Blackwell’s inappropriate actions, telling police that an MSU football donor, whose name is redacted in the reports, “took” Blackwell to an NCAA basketball tournament. The coach told police it is not illegal, “but it is something that many people would not do."

Another member of the football staff, whose name and role are redacted, said Blackwell contacted him on Feb. 10 – a day after being suspended – to retrieve a checkbook from Blackwell’s office. That staff member told MSU Police he did not respond “because he wanted to completely remove himself from any communication with Blackwell due to his suspension."

The staff member also told police that Blackwell mentors kids from Detroit high schools, has a close relationship with two players, whose names were redacted, and their parents and would meet with the players frequently in his office. The staff member said Blackwell “knows a lot of people in Detroit through his involvement with” Sound Mind, Sound Body.

Corley and Vance are both from Detroit.

Blackwell, a Detroit King graduate, is a co-founder of Sound Mind, Sound Body high school football camps, which are anchored in his hometown and have spread nationally in recent years. He received his undergraduate degree in sports management from Hampton (Va.) University and a master's in sports administration from Baylor.

The unnamed MSU coach told police, “I’m not a big Curtis guy.” He also said Blackwell still worked for the Sound Mind, Sound Body camp while also an MSU employee.

Dantonio hired Blackwell in August 2013 to help coordinate the Spartans’ recruiting in a non-coaching position. According to his LinkedIn page, Blackwell’s duties with MSU included developing and implementing recruiting strategies, mentoring student-athletes, organizing official and unofficial visits for recruits, developing “recruiting mailings,” and promoting MSU football.

Blackwell’s yearly contract was set to expire March 31, but he had been given two one-month extensions. MSU gave Blackwell a raise on March 1, 2016 “for both merit and retention” that bumped his annual salary to $129,000, according to his personnel file. The additional two months of extensions at his pay rate were for roughly $21,500.

Dantonio last week did not say whether other staff members had brought up concerns about Blackwell’s professionalism or behavior before the sexual assault investigation began.

“We were in the process at that point in time of evaluating our entire staff, and responsibilities, and getting feedback from everybody, so I can’t say whether it was before or after, but we had conversations,” Dantonio said. “As I said, philosophical differences.”

A third football staff member, whose name and title were redacted in the police report, told police Blackwell called him after the suspension began to see how the staff member and his family were doing.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!