Grand Valley State Suspends Football Coach Who Said He’d Have Dinner With Hitler

Grand Valley State has suspended offensive coordinator Morris Berger after he said of Adolf Hitler “the way he was able to lead was second-to-none.”

Denny Medley/USA Today Sports

Division-II Grand Valley State University has suspended recently hired offensive coordinator Morris Berger after he told the school’s student newspaper that he’d like to have dinner Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. 

Berger’s hiring was announced by the Lakers on Jan. 20. Three days later, he conducted an interview with Kellen Voss, the sports editor for The Lanthorn, GVSU’s student newspaper. Voss asked Berger, who majored in history at Drury University in Missouri, which three historical figures he would most like to have dinner with. 

“This is probably not going to get a good review, but I’m going to say Adolf Hitler,” Berger replied. “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 [sic] a great leader.”

John F. Kennedy and Christopher Columbus were his other two choices.

The school announced Monday that Berger has been suspended, pending an investigation.

“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 said in a statement. “Berger has been suspended and the university is conducting a thorough investigation.”

Berger joined GVSU from Texas State, where he served as tight ends coach for one year. He had previously been an offensive quality control coach at Oklahoma State and a graduate assistant at Missouri and Missouri Western. In addition to his bachelor’s degree in history from Drury, Berger also holds a master’s in educational psychology from Missouri.