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Thought some of you might find this interesting. 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/grand-valley-state-assistant-morris-berger-resigns-after-hitler-controversy-215843062.html

Yahoo Sports

Grand Valley State assistant Morris Berger resigns after Hitler controversy

Sam Cooper
Yahoo Sports
 
 
(Grand Valley State University)
(Grand Valley State University)

Morris Berger has resigned from his position as offensive coordinator at Grand Valley State. 

Berger was suspended earlier this week for comments he made in an interview with the Grand Valley Lanthorn, the university’s student newspaper. Berger was asked which three historical figures he would like to have dinner with. His first answer was Adolf Hitler

Q: So you graduated from Drury with a degree in History, you’re a history guy. If you could have dinner with three historical figures, living or dead, who would they be? And I’m ruling out football figures.

A: This is probably not going to get a good review, but I’m going to say Adolf Hitler. 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.

That interview was published on Jan. 23, just three days after Berger was formally announced as the Lakers’ new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The school announced its suspension for Berger on Jan. 27. On Thursday, the school said it reached a “mutual agreement” with Berger offering his resignation and the school accepting it. 

“Over the last 11 years I have taken great pride in the responsibility and privilege of being a teacher, coach, mentor and a valued member of the community,” Berger said in a statement. “I was excited and proud to be at Grand Valley, and am disappointed that I will not get the opportunity to help these players in 2020. However, I do not want to be a distraction to these kids, this great university or Coach Mitchell as they begin preparations for the upcoming season.”

In a statement, GVSU head coach Matt Mitchell said it was in the best interests of the team to accept Berger’s resignation. 

“Nothing in our background and reference checks revealed anything that would have suggested the unfortunate controversy that has unfolded,” Mitchell said. “This has been a difficult time for everyone. I accepted Coach Berger’s resignation in an effort for him to move on and for us to focus on the team and our 2020 season.”

Berger: ‘I mistakenly communicated something absurd’

In an “open letter” posted on his Twitter account earlier Thursday — before the school announced his resignation — Berger tried to explain himself. He said the answer, in which he said Hitler’s ability to lead was “second-to-none,” was a “poor effort to give an outside-the-box answer.”

“I mistakenly communicated something absurd. There is no justifiable excuse. It was insensitive and not my intent,” he wrote. “I failed myself, my parents and this university. The answer I attempted to give does not align with the values instilled in me by my parents, nor represent what I stand for or believe in. I mishandled the answer and fell way short of the mark.”

Below is the full letter, which includes an apology:

 

An Open Letter.

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That's today's world. 

Someone asks you a question, puts perimeters around it--Not a sports hero. 

The person gives an answer. It becomes a problem. They lose their job. 

I have read the story several times. Did he make a mistake in saying that Hitler was a great leader? I would say yes. 

But is that a historical figure you'd want to have dinner with, just to learn or ask about what/why he did things--I think that could be something educational. 

I mean, we know so much about Hitler and all the bad things he did, I don't disagree that he was a terrible human. But what if you could ask him some of the following questions. 

Why would you invade Poland, when you had already returned all the Germans, out of the former German empire, to their former homeland--without any war like bloodshed?

How can a person like yourself sit at a restaurant and draw on a napkin a family car (designed like the Volkswagon Beetle) that every German should have, and then destroy families the way you did? 

What happened to you that would make you invade a foreign nation, instead of continuing to rebuild your own nation and helping your own people? 

We should all think about what Hitler would have been like had he never invaded Poland in 1939, to start World War 2. 

Having brought Germany back from their worst Depression ever--

Having built the autobahn---

Rebuilt the countries military--

Even worse, would he have developed the atomic bomb before the United States had the war not been going on. 

Lots of questions there. 

But again, knowing the history--I will state that he was a bad man, a terrible human being, a pure racist, and I would have fought against him had I been alive at the time also. So don't think I am siding with Hitler, but I do think that the report got the best of the coach, because the coach did not give a "politically correct" answer of a historical figure. 

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I don't think he should have resigned.  I think he stated his answer as honestly as he could.  Hitler was a terrible person, but he was a mastermind of manipulation of people and had he let his generals do their job he could have destroyed the world.  Hitler was even admired in the United States by Time Magazine, Charles Lindbergh, and Henry Ford.  https://time.com/5414055/american-nazi-sympathy-book/ .  As a person that loves History, I would like to interview him  Sun Tzu, Napoleon, George Patton, George A. Custer, Erwin Rommel, Alexander the Great, Xerxes, Cyrus the Great, Peter the Great, Leonidas, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Atilla the Hun, William the Conqueror, William Wallace, George Washington, Henry "Light-Horse" Lee, Benedict Arnold,  Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other great generals and tacticians throughout history.  One of my favorite games of all time was Risk, and while battles are done with the roll of a dice I enjoy the tactical aspect of it far better than Chess or even Stratego.  

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