College football coach suspended after naming Hitler as dream dinner guest

<span>Photograph: Don Campbell/AP</span>
Photograph: Don Campbell/AP

Grand Valley State University has suspended one of its football coaches after he named Adolf Hitler as a dream dinner guest.

Morris Berger, who is the team’s offensive coordinator, was interviewed by the Grand Valley Lanthorn newspaper earlier this month. Berger studied history at university and the paper asked him which three historical figures he would have dinner with. He named John F Kennedy and Christopher Columbus after expanding on his reasons for naming Hitler.

“This is probably not going to get a good review, but I’m going to say Adolf Hitler,” he said. “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.”

Grand Valley State said Berger has been suspended while they investigate the matter. “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 college said in a statement. “Berger has been suspended and the university is conducting a thorough investigation.”

Berger only arrived at Grand Valley State, a Division II school located in Allendale, Michigan, last week. He had previously been an assistant coach at Texas State, Oklahoma and Missouri.