Grand Valley State University has suspended offensive coordinator Morris Berger as the school investigates comments Berger made to a student newspaper regarding Adolf Hitler.
Berger was interviewed in the Grand Valley Lanthorn paper and was asked which three historical figures Berger would have dinner with. Berger responded by saying one of his choices would be Adolf Hitler, because of his leadership skills.
“This is probably not going to get a good review, but I’m going to say Adolf Hitler,” Berger said in the interview. “It was obviously very sad and he had bad motives, but the way he was able to lead was second-to-none. How he rallied a group and a following, I want to know how he did that. Bad intentions of course, but you can’t deny he wasn’t a great leader.”
The school is now investigating his comments and has suspended him as the investigation is ongoing.
“The comments made by Offensive Coordinator Morris Berger, as reported in The Lanthorn student newspaper, do not reflect the values of Grand Valley State University,” The school’s statement said. “Berger has been suspended and the university is conducting a thorough investigation.”
Berger was only officially announced as offensive coordinator by the school on Jan. 20, after being hired away from Texas State. He had been on staff at Oklahoma State from 2017 to 2018 and was at Missouri before that.