Dakich: Feud with Izzo, MSU fans ‘really overblown’
Dan Dakich was back on the air Thursday and he wasn’t offering up any apologies for some of the comments he posted on Twitter last week that were critical of Michigan State fans.
During his daily talk show on The Fan in Indiana, Dakich said he “talked with the Michigan State people, and they're cool about it.”
Following Michigan State’s victory over Ohio State on Tuesday, a game Dakich called for ESPN and was bombarded with “I hate Dakich” chants from the Breslin Center crowd, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo bashed Dakich and said he owed Michigan State fans an apology.
His ire was drawn from a reply Dakich had to one Michigan State fan that read, “@loading_ai @SpartanAvenueFS @ofcadamwalters u crazy? Sparty not only whines but now just dumb!! Couldn't get into UM??”
By late Tuesday night, Dakich had deleted the tweet. On Thursday, Dakich tried to make it clear he was responding to one specific person, not an entire fan base.
“I was talking to that guy right there,” he said, adding he never said Michigan State students were too dumb to get into Michigan.
“The whole thing to me is really, really overblown,” Dakich said. “Again, I don’t blame Tom Izzo. If Tom Izzo feels his program is coming under attack then he should come at me. That’s how I look at it. I just don’t like the fact he had to deal with it, because really, I think the context got lost. But that’s part of the world we live in and no big deal.”
Dakich didn’t say whether he had spoken to Izzo but did say he had talked with assistant coach Dane Fife and team spokesman Matt Larson.
In his postgame press conference on Tuesday, Izzo began by going after Dakich, whose son, Andrew, plays at Michigan.
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“But saying our students couldn’t get in there and he’s doing games for Michigan when his son’s there? That is a disappointment and that is ridiculous,” Izzo said. “And I think it’s funny because I got no respect for him for that and I’m gonna publicly say it. You can tweet it, you can read it, you can do whatever you want with it. But Twitter got him in trouble and he earned it and I’m surprised ESPN would let somebody say something like that that works for them.
“Danny owes our fans and our students an apology. And I probably won’t get it.”
Dakich is set to be on the call for Michigan State’s game at Purdue on Saturday and said he thinks Michigan State is playing better in what could turn into an interesting matchup.
“I think Michigan State is the kind of team Izzo thinks is good but can’t get out of its own way,” Dakich said, referencing turnovers and a rash of offensive fouls. “To me, Purdue is playing great and two things are involved here. Michigan State has a real opportunity on Sunday, but I think Purdue has a real opportunity to start putting itself on (a higher) seed line (for the NCAA Tournament).”
mcharboneau@detroitnews.com
Twitter @mattcharboneau