Inside the mind of GVSU’s newest offensive coordinator
Inside the mind of GVSU’s newest offensive coordinator
Photo courtesy of gvsulakers.com
Photo courtesy of gvsulakers.com
January 23, 2020
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Editor-in-Chief’s Note – 1/26/20: After its initial publication, the final two responses were mistakenly removed from this story. It has since been reverted back to its original version, and is a direct transcription of the full, recorded interview. For questions or inquiries, please email Nick Moran at [email protected]
The following is an interview that took place between Lanthorn Sports Editor Kellen Voss and GVSU football’s newly-hired offensive coordinator, Morris Berger. In the interview conducted on Jan. 23, the two discuss Berger’s growth as a coach, lessons he has learned, how he looks to coach the GVSU offense, and a few interesting historical figures he would like to have dinner with.
Kellen Voss: So you said started coaching when you were 19 years old?
Morris Berger: Yeah at a high school, Logan-Rogersville outside of Missouri, I did that for five years, was the offensive coordinator there, won a state championship there.
KV: I saw that was in 2011, how was that experience?
MB: Good, we beat (Dallas Cowboys running back) Ezekiel Elliot, he was a junior that year, and we were fortunate enough to beat him. After that, I became a graduate assistant in 2013 at Missouri Western.
KV: What was that transition like, going from high school to college?
MB: It was really good, I just wanted an opportunity. It was actually on defense, it was a graduate assistant job, made $5,000 a year helping with the defensive backs.
KV: What would you say is the biggest difference between coaching high school kids and coaching college kids?
MB: The development, and the (college kids) becoming a man. High school kids, they’re developing but they’re still more at the kid stage, whereas college kids are basically men. Just the different things you’re talking to them about, preparing for life, preparing for marriage, getting job, whereas high school kids, it’s just preparing for college, dorm life. But football’s football, and I’m thankful I was able to get my play calling experience.
(Speaking of his first collegiate coaching position) Missouri Western was good, we were a solid program, we went 8-3, and it really got me into the college game. I was able to go on the road, learn how to recruit, build relationships with coaches. I was basically a full-time coach at that point.
I had a friend at the University of Missouri who got a job to coach with the Seattle Seahawks, and he said ‘if you’re willing to come off the field and accept a recruiting job at the University of Missouri, I’ll hire you. He got me an interview there, and I got hired in the summer of 2014.
KV: When you were at Missouri, you were there when Drew Lock was there. What was it like seeing him develop the way he did now that he is a pro quarterback with the Denver Broncos?
MB: I was there in his younger years, and his true freshman year was tough for him. The leaps and bounds that I saw in that year was huge. What people don’t realize is he went through a lot of adversity as a true freshman in the SEC. We we’re struggling at times on offense, and then when I left, seeing what he ended up being as the SEC touchdown leader, before Joe Burrow broke it, was cool, and to see him do well in the pros is awesome.
KV: You’ve coached a lot of talented guys that went pro, including Drew Lock, Mason Rudolph, Chris Carson, James Washington, Tre Flowers but is Lock the most talented player you’ve ever coached?
MB: At the quarterback position, yeah, but most talented out of all the positions is a tough one. I’d say Washington. James is a very, very talented and was impressive to watch in college.
KV: From Missouri, you transitioned to Oklahoma State. What experience did you take away from there, being that they were one of the top offenses in college?
MB: That’s where I really felt like every day was ‘offensive coordinator school’. The ability to work under Mike Yurcich (current quarterbacks coach at Ohio State) and see how he operates, I actually told him on the phone the other day, all things that people don’t realize about being an offensive coordinator Sunday-Friday that goes on. Every day I was right there next to him, we spent countless hours and he gave me a role that I really took ahold of. Two years of that and the ability he was able to use the talent we had was sweet while getting experience as an offensive coordinator.
When Berger was at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys led the nation with 389.2 passing yards per game while being second in total yards per game. From there, he had a brief stint as the tight ends coach at Texas State before taking this job as the head offensive coordinator at GVSU.
KV: Coming to Allendale now, how does it feel to be moving up the coaching ranks and have control of an entire offense now?
MB: I’m so appreciative of Coach Mitchell, for him to go out on a limb in a guy that hasn’t called it the college, I’m so humbled by this. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and to have an ability to come to a storied program and just step right in with the great staff we have to get this thing going on offense is amazing.
KV: There were obviously a lot of injuries on the offensive side, but the offense struggled at times. Are you looking to revolutionize this offense in a certain way?
MB: Any time you hire a new coordinator, each coordinator is going to have their own twist. I don’t think it necessarily needs to be revolutionized, what we have to do is realize what made Grand Valley good and also things that have been apart of good offenses that I’ve been apart, and marry the two together, but ultimately when you’re good on offense, you are able to run the football, and we’re going to run the football.”
KV: How have you and your family been adjusting to you living in Allendale and everything?
MB: Good, I just have a girlfriend, and she’ll be here around the middle of February.
KV: Being that you’ve coached in Missouri and Texas, you’re probably not very used to the snow that’s coming up here.
MB: In Missouri we got it, it’s nice to be back in some seasons and get some cold.
KV: 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.
MB: 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.
KV: The way he was able to get people to rally around him was crazy.
MB: Yeah, that’s definitely one. You have to go JFK, his experience with the country and being that he was a good president and everything. And this might sound crazy, but Christopher Columbus, the ability to go on the journey he was on and his emotion into the unknown. Think about putting yourself in the setting of that unknown, and then to take it all in as you arrive is crazy.
Kellen Voss is the Lanthorn Sports Editor for the 2019-2020 school year, previously serving as the Sports Editor for the 2018-2019 school year, and writing...
FIRE HIM IMMEDIATELY
This is the article you put up on Auschwitz memorial day? Yikes. Also, I gotta say… this guy has a history degree? If you want to identify great leaders, even of this era, there are numerous examples that are far more accurate. Mohandas Gandhi managed to unite an incredibly fragmented, multicultural society under police state rule for a length of time sufficient to bring down the world’s largest empire. I defy Berger to actually identify what Hitler’s leadership qualities were, other than the ability to establish a cult of personality and the knowledge to scapegoat minorities.
A Hitler fanboy has no place at GVSU.
Do not fire someone for speaking his right to free speech. He is not wrong for identifying Hitler as a leader. No one said leader is always positive. It’s ignorant to think that. He knew what he was saying. We live in such a sensitive world nowadays. I’ll probably get heat for just defending someone’s right of opinion. You all have opinions, why can’t he? If you don’t see what he means, you don’t know what definition leading means.
This man should be nowhere near young minds. For such a thought to even enter your mind, much less have the stupidity to actually vocalize said stupidity, you have no business being in a position of influence. Fire him immediately, or suffer the backlash that rightfully will identify GVSU as an institution that supports such thought.
You can have any opinion you want in this world. However, as an adult, you should know that there are consequences for one’s action. This is not an issue of freedom of speech, to argue such is a display of your constitutional ignorance. Freedom of speech ONLY applies to how the Government can respond, even then, there are restrictions. In the private world, there is no such thing. Accountability is what will happen to this gentleman, not censorship. He had every right to say what he said. And he did. And his employer has every right to determine that such a person has no business being employed in their organization. Actions have consequences.
Let’s even have this discussion. Was Hitler a great leader? No, he led his people and country into absolute destruction that ended in him putting a gun in his mouth. He was not a great leader. He led fools into their end. So to argue that Hitler was a great leader is not only incredibly stupid and foolish, it’s dead wrong.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with his answer! You asked him a personal question and he answered it. He in no way said anything that was inappropriate! He even said WHY he picked Hitler, and there was STILL nothing inappropriate in his reasoning! For you to put out a statement claiming these are not your views, etc… good grief. We KNOW they are not your views, YOU were not answering the question! I never even thought of YOU after reading his answer. He is entitled to free speech and free thought. If this is how you are going to react whenever someone’s thoughts or answers are not aligned with yours, then you need to get out of the journalism business! Your reaction is pathetic!
I do not believe Coach Berger evoking Hitler, no matter the question was a good idea. That being said, he was clear to point out the negatives. A university, like ours, is a place for open thought and debate; where thoughtful disagreement is welcome. The debate professor I had during my masters program even required we study the oratory skills and traits of Hitler. His choice of words in the moment were regrettable, but I believe it would be a failure by the University to relieve Mr. Berger. As our motto states, “Educating students to shape their lives, their professions, and their societies”, let this be a chance to grow and educate. Go Lakers
Fire the bozo who suspended the coach. He was asked a question and he answered it. The snowflake administration apparently is so abhored by the answer they have to suspend a coach over his free speech. I hope the coach takes legal against the school.
This guy sounds like an idiot. A great leader? He led to the killing of millions through genocide and hate and to the defeat and destruction of his own country. The end is not justifiable nor the means. How is that great leadership. I am not sure that this guy could pass a history course on his own. If he finds that as great leadership he should be fired.
NSDAP (Nazi Party), along with financial wizard Hjalmer Schacht, saved Germany, especially after what transpired with the disastrous Versailles and St. Germain treaties following the First World War and Wiemar Republic. Hitler, despite what many think of him, was a brilliant leader and orator. One only needs to cite Britain’s Chamberlain, Churchill (yes, THAT Churchill); Poland’s Pilsudski; Czechoslovakia’s Hácha — all of whom showered Hitler with torrents of praise for leading Germany back from economic disaster that occurred in the post-WWI late 1910s, early 1920s.
To firmly reprimand the comment by “Disgusted”, I have to say that nobody who demands closed thinking and forces certain topics to be off limits should be anywhere near “young minds”. Let’s also keep in mind that these “young minds” are adults who by this stage in their life should be familiar that the world is full of both darkness and grey areas to go with the positive and glorious. It’s one thing to believe that we should give pre-high school children a chance to ease into this reality given their inexperience and innocence, but another to seek to coddle or “safe space” adults. While we’re at it, can we be reminded that the figure being discussed here WAS ONCE THE TIME MAGAZINE PERSON OF THE YEAR?
If you think this coach has reflected poor judgement given the particular nature of his opinion and that such flawed judgement might point to him being poorly suited for his job, that’s one thing. But it’s a devastatingly terrible take to demand that such people be kept away from college-aged academics. No, “Disgusted”, you are the one who needs to stay away from helping steer our educational direction.
“The way he was able to get people to rally around him was crazy.” The writer of this article should go too.
Barbara Walters was asked the same question, Hitler was one of her answers as well as Jesus Christ. Can’t remember who her third choice was. Whats’ the problem here?
More lies have been told about Hitler than anybody else in history JFK said that Hitler will be the most significant leader of the century and will rise from the ashes of all the hatred that surrounds him. I encourage the students to watch a documentary by Dennis Weiss on YouTube called The greatest story never told” his channel is truth will out” there you will receive the real history lesson
This is what’s wrong with today’s world. Suspended because he’d like to air down and talk with Hitler? Honestly, I can see why one might. Plus yes, look at all the people this one man got to follow him and did haynis things. It’s a part of a dark time in history, and to go straight to the horses mouth, as they say, would be very educational. It’s sad that someone can be suspended over something like this.
Let’s be clear:::
I champion Morris Berger’s right to say ignorant horseshit on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I champion Morris Berger’s right to sabotage his own career.
I champion the university’s right to fire this fucking putz for his statements that have drawn negative national media attention.
I champion all the hillbilly racists who agree with Morris Berger to be tied together and dropped into the ocean.
And finally, I champion the thought of Morris Berger never being allowed to instill his fucked up views into young men.
See that blinking red light, Berger?
That’s your career being driven off a cliff.
Have fun being the fry cook at Wendy’s for the rest of your life.
Lololol
I don’t see anything wrong with what he said. He was not advocating for Hitler. Sounds like he was just trying to figure out how such a maniac was able to come to power and sway people in the way that he did.
Am I correct here, that the substantive issue is whether this football coach during an interview with his school’s paper advocated, solicited, promoted or endorsed illegal acts/groups or a immoral philosophical belief? One that is contrary to the probable high standards of his school district. Contrary to the standards demanded and expected of their staff?
The coach is interviewed by the school newspaper and asked questions in several different areas. He talks of his job related experience.
He sounds qualified and comes across as professional. Nothing appears in his answers that leads one to believe he’s a white supremacist or member of any other hateful group.( I admit to some loss of attention to the questions and answers right before the dinner questions. I wanted to get to the Hitler stuff.)
The coach says he was a history major; i.e. is it a surprise he’s interested in historical figures?
At the end he’s asked a fluff question.’ Who in history would you have dinner (meaning conversation) with?’ His first answer (after he gives a warning preface) is ‘Hitler’, and adds (twice I think), that he was not endorsing Hitler’s goals or methods. He would be interested in a conversation with Hitler about his ability to mobilize and lead people.
Should we erase or change history to have us progress forward in a positive direction? Must we censor ourselves to insure we are not taken out of context by people who are too lazy to look at the whole story. Search for the truth before you have an opinion (all of us, journalists included).
His other two figures were: JFK and Columbus. The author of the article throws in a indirect reference to Columbus’ dark history to have us think that this teacher is endorsing Hitler and anther horrible historical figure (Columbus).. The coach want’s to talk to Columbus about coming to America. That’s what Columbus is most well known for( in America). How he treated his enemies and those he took advantage of to get what he wanted is not the first thing most (especially white) people think about when Columbus Day rolls around.
I’m left of center, but am calling bull s++t on this article and its writer. No matter where we stand politically why don’t we all make an effort to find the truth?
Hopefully, the school district will do the right thing here. Give this a full and fair investigation with the coach maintaining his job, pending the results of the investigation. Thereafter, publish a well reasoned opinion and stand behind your coach (assuming there are no blemishes on his record{s} ).
I know how difficult it is for journalists and writers to make money these days. If one decides to be a writer/ journalist (other than in the legal or political areas) I think the first commandment should be ‘Thou Shalt Have Intellectual Honesty’.
And finally, this story is this simply this story. Generalize from it at your own risk.
Definition of leadership: “the action of leading a group of people or an organization”
Being a leader has nothing to do with being a good person or doing great things in history. It’s about leading a group and having people follow you.
He was an awful person who did awful things but that doesn’t change the fact that people wanted to follow him. Wanting to know how someone was able to get millions of people to follow and believe in you, doesn’t make you evil.
I just wish we didn’t take everything so personally.
He said he wants to KNOW how Hitler rallied people… shouldn’t he have learned that when completing his degree in history? I learned that in History 101 at GV. I’m questioning this guys leadership if he wants to model his own leadership on Hitler. I don’t think there are many great coaches in sports that admire Hitler’s leadership.
This guy is a dum dum. Not only did he mention Hitler, but also Christopher Columbus. Sounds like his idea of a great leader is a man that can convince a bunch of dummies to kill others because they’re different. If you believe that leading dummies into death makes a great leader, I’m surprised he didn’t replace JFK with Jim Jones.
oh my goodness, what has become of our society where we are no longer allowed to express ourselves without retribution from the offended class? Would his response have been more acceptable if he had named a Chinese ruler like Mao, or another barbarian figure like Genghis Khan, or perhaps (dare I say it, the murdering Mohamad?) They are all interesting people, with a story to be told.
When did our society turn this callous where one’s own personal bigotry is turned into absolute disdain for other’s opinions?
My expectations of my fellow citizens is one of more forgiveness and understanding, especially from those associated from a supposed place of higher learning.
It’s not a good look Grand Valley, very disappointing.
Who are those white Supremacist defending this idiot. Do they go to school, get names and boot them oout!
I cannot believe people’s reaction here. The man was asked a question and gave an honest answer. He provided validity to his reasoning. He wasn’t profane or disrespectful to anyone. This country has gone PC crazy. If your offended, tough crap. A man loses his livelihood and his family suffers because some of you PC police are offended. I’m 62 and I’m glad I probably won’t live long enough to see the total destruction of this country
As know one has ever heard of Grand Valley, I’m sure you have not heard of the 1st Amendment.
If he thought he was being funny – yeah, fire the guy. ‘This is probably not going to get a good review…’ So he had a clue.
Wow! Fire the guy? His comments seemed thoughtful and interesting to me. He explained that he was not supporting Hitler’s doctrine, but wanted to see if there was anything to learn from his method. I hope you guys are being taught to have a lot more of an open mind that I am seeing reflected in some of these comments. Leads me to wonder who is actually behaving like a Nazi here.
Typical White guy who has taken little time to educate himself. But let’s be real. This guy is a college football coach. In theory he has a 1st Amendment right to free speech. Like it or not Hitler was able to take over a country. This guy appears to know little about him or he would have some idea Hitler used racism, anti-semitism and genocide like many have in the past. Remember, he was Man of the Year for Time magazine. Many Americans extolled his accomplishments, e.g. Charles Lindberg, Henry Ford. (Also remember FDR snubbed Jesse Owens. JFK didn’t support civil rights for Black Americans for a long time and Columbus wasn’t all that great either. This guy is dumb. He will hurt recruiting. He is just plain ignorant and a poor example of whatever school gave him a degree. I wouldn’t keep him unless he agrees to get some decent education.
He should have just said Fidel, Mao, and Stalin and the little Commie snowflakes would have demanded he be promoted to head coach.
The wrong person is being punished. The OC made a misguided choice when prompted by indicating that he wanted to meet a historical sociopath. The true horror is a calculated attempt from the athletic department to threaten the jurnalistic duty of the school newspaper. Whomever approved that cover-up decision should be removed from their position of power in any public institution.
Are we just supposed to forget our worlds history? Are we not allowed to speak to those people who are horrible/evil minded? Look around the world, there are these type of evil leaders all over, leading countries. So why not speak with one of the worst, and learn from that individual? To learn is to see both sides of a coin, study both sides of a story and then you can not only apply that knowledge to “how to”, but also “how not to”. If we don’t acknowledge the wrongs of our past, how are we supposed to avoid making the same mistakes tomorrow? Does that really make him a racist? Or just someone who wants to gather as much knowledge as possible? I would never want to speak to Hitler, but that’s my opinion. It’s a free country, with free thoughts and ideas. It’s his right to want to speak with whoever he wishes. He warned his answer isn’t a popular one, but he explained the reasoning and I completely understand his reasoning. Being educated is learning from the success and from the failures of our past, that’s how me move forward and become good leaders. Isn’t that the job of a coach, to become and be the best leader possible? Anyone who desires to be a successful leader can learn a great deal from studying Hitler, regardless of Hitlers evil agenda!
Question: if someone reads a book or watches a documentary about Hitler — are they bad too?! Of course not. It is not a crime for taking an interest in one of the most significant events in recent history. Hitler’s story is fascinating — doesn’t mean he was a good person.
It is absurd this coach was suspended for an honest answer on a fluffy editorial piece.
It was embarrassing for Berger, as someone with a degree in history, to give the answers he did. This guy’s an offensive coordinator and first historical figure he names famously led a terrible offensive into Russia. You’d think he’d be able to come up with some names beyond elementary school history, too. I could see naming two perpetrators of genocide if you wanted to understand the nature of evil, but Berger talked about Hitler’s leadership and Columbus’s exploration. Hitler wasn’t a great leader, just a racist demagogue with a talent for speeches. And there are plenty of other explorers out there to pick.
Obviously, the “offensive coordinator’s” remarks transcend appropriate and are nothing less of reflective of a dark heart. On this 75th Anniversary of the return of the “children of the Holocaust “ to the infamous crematorium where no less than 1,000,000 people of the Jewish religion were gassed and then cooked. All at the life forfeiting of 500,000 American soldiers . This soon to be permanently unemployed “coach” obviously hasn’t paid attention to the facts of history and the beyond reprehensible, pure evil doings of a racist, pathological dictator.
At this juncture, GVSU needs to hold itself to the highest standards and clean the proverbial plate! This is not a question of “free speech”., It’s about “thought content” of a so-called pedagogist whose remarks transcended his moral and professional obligation to self-regulate his Speech as a public school employee. Calling the most evil person ever “a great leader” is not just an oxymoron, it is a slam to all of the people of the world!
He said don’t take it the wrong way and he was right, people are idiots who cannot accept a free thought. He said Hitler was bad, but he did have a way of leading people. Or is history to be ignored?
For those of you who think this man should be fired, I know you are mostly young people and have little of no knowledge of how Hitler to power. Hitler fought in WWI so he had some tactical background. He was a 32 year old, out of work painter with mental health issues. So the question is how did a 30 something man with mental health issues, who was a painter and started shouting from street corners bring the work to his knees. I agree with the coach, it was an excellent choice. You learn from the past, if you could find a way to learn from him and use his influential for good, Hitler was a bad man but an excellent leader. Not all great leaders are good.
Oh my goodness, why are we so politically sensitive that people cannot express what they honestly feel? No one supports what Hitler did; however, he must have had amazing persuasive skills to mentor an entire country. A university is a repository of ideas, values and lifestyles. We should embrace the diversity of opinion.
Hitler was Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1938.
Joseph Stalin snagged that honorific not once, but twice.
Really – go look it up.
Despite little red hats that ask us to make this country “great” again, the word “great” does not equal moral uprightness. In short, great does not equal good.
In the first Harry Potter book, there’s a line where Harry is told that Voldemort (the Harry Potter Hitler) did “great things, terrible things, but great.”
So while I think this coach made somewhat pedestrian choices, the question of whether or not Hitler was a “great” man is beyond dispute. He was indeed “great, terrible, but great.”
If the university fires this coach, they will send a signal far worse than this coach’s comments ever will, a sanitization of speech and the free exchange of ideas that would make Hitler proud.
Snow flakes………you are going to try and ruin this man’s life because of the answer to a question? Let’s try and look at this without viewing it through your lens of political correctness and the “got you” mentality. This man has a bachelor’s degree in history from Drury University and a master’s degree in educational psychology from Missouri. Do you this his interest in history and historical figures or how people think might have been the foundation of his answer? Of course it couldn’t be that….it must be his evil heart and someone finally got him to break and reveal his evil self.
Rather the snow flake crowd has decided “he is a Nazi in disguise” or a horrible person for wanting to explore the mind of an evil person to see what motivated him. Maybe he should explore the minds of the idiots who are calling for his firing because they want to be ingratiated to the politically correct class that runs the colleges in the US.
Shame on the school that purports to support free thinking to suspend this man based upon the rush to judgement by the politically correct ruling class at GVSU. Coach leave that program and find a school that truly considers itself a place of learning.
I am almost 64 years old. The interviewer eliminated the entire sports community from being candidates … and we are complaining that a man with a history degree selects 3 dead historical figures?
We are upset because he did not pick who we think he should have picked? Do you think you have the right to impose our will on the university, simply because his choice is not our choice?
I think his choice was a poor one! And off the top of my head, my three choices would have been Clare Graves, Mohammed, and Jesus. (My interest lies in the area of motivation – not history.)
But I get that he is intrigued by the man’s ability to lead. There have been several (horrible) characters in history that I am baffled by their leadership and how they convinced masses of people to follow their leadership to their own doom. That is both scary and uncanny.
Frankly, I am unable to conceive how men (and women) and do some of the most horrific things to other humans.
I get it you are mad and offended. If he had chosen Jesus – some would have been made and called him a religious fanatic.
But for you to ignore his disclaimers (twice) and to determine that YOU have the right to determine his list – is beyond autocratic – it is despotic.
Let us try to reason together and politely and respectfully disagree with each other.
The GOP is always putting the values of minority religious groups ahead of American interests. Can we afford to have a person willing to teach our children sitting on the sidelines? Since the GOP insists on pandering to the Christian right, which means of course you have to have Israel intact so their God can inflict the end times on the Jewish people and kill all the Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity, and inviting foreign leaders to insult the president of the United States from the floor of Congress. The GOP will do anything to lower their taxes.
Some of these comments are idiotic.
nazis are absolutely horrible to america and our nations freedoms.
I’ve been wanting to tell a large amount of people this but freedom of speech isn’t freedom of consequences.
the government cant silence anyone based on what they say, the college isn’t apart of the government they can do as they please.
The coach said a couple of times, that this is probably not a good answer but… I would be sitting right next to him. I would want to know where Hitler was coming from & how he could do that to people. Not all leaders were good people but they some how managed to get others to follow and believe in them. That doesn’t make this coach a bad person that he wants to rally the team around him and believe in his program. The university is doing a disservice to the students by not having a discussion as to why history continually repeats itself and encourage students to think for themselves. ( My own children came home from university half brain washed because of professors shoving their thoughts down their throats. ) I think the GVU organization ought to take a better look at themselves for being so judgmental. No matter what, no one can please everyone.
Fred Friendly, you are the ignorant one! I was born raised, and educated in the south. I received a PhD from Virginia Tech. Your use of the word hillbilly is offensive and moronic. This coach can say anything he pleases, along with the consequences. Your unrestrained use of the word “hillbilly “ shows you
Have no intellectual value . Continue to drag your knuckles like the Neanderthal you are today.
So disgusted with gvsu’s choice to suspend this man. He had/has every right to answer HONESTLY, after all, everyone has their own opinion. Would the reaction be different if he would have said Jesus Christ first? What if he would have said Hitler last, as an almost after thought? Clearly he had to preface his response in an attempt for all this drama to NOT occur. Some people need to pull their heads out of the sand.
Hes a “history guy”, why wouldn’t he want to have dinner with Hitler? I’m a “history gal” and would have replied with Hitler too. Am I a bad person? NO! Do I want to perform or support others performing acts such as Hitler did? NO! For those crying about the fact that this all occurred around the 75th anniversary of the liberation, HELLO!, don’t you think that he would have made the same response if it was the middle of August? Why aren’t we asking the school why they released this interview right now instead of in 2 weeks? I call poor timing on the schools part, it almost seems as if there was a set up for this poor man. This man deserves to keep his job, if he even wants it anymore…..
As an Alabamian, I say thank you to the people of Michigan for making us look reasonable. Jesus, nobody in their right mind would say this out loud.
Yep, looks like a Nazi, talks like a Nazi…
How could this coach get fired for this?
This is so ridiculous and sad that a history teacher could lose his job in America for this.
The administration of this school must be a big joke.
He’s from SW Missouri and coached at Logan-Rogersville? That says it all. Racism ground zero…
Freedom of speech does not apply to a person expressing themselves while acting as a representative of an organization. He can talk about how great he thinks Hitler was all day long. But, he shouldn’t expect to do that AND be employed. GV is totally in their rights to fire this guy. And if I was associated with the school I wouldn’t want him being a representative. Regardless of whether or not you think Hitler had the ability to rally people toward a common goal (in this case the systematic extermination of 6 million Jews) invoking Hitler’s name in a positive light is not a good career move. That’s just common sense. As a previous poster mentioned, this guy should be flipping burgers.
The question “If you could have dinner” indicates hospitality, celebration. There is a community created during a meal. It is breaking bread. This is not the same as interviewing someone or asking a question.
I disagree that Hitler was “second-to-none” of a leader. This statement indicates admiration. He led Germany into infamy and led his own people into acts of unspoken evil. Watch the Netflix Einsatzgruppen https://www.netflix.com/title/80134093 or read about Shoah by Bullets.
“How he rallied a group and a following, I want to know how he did that.” – this is well documented by eye-witnesses, media recordings, scores of documents. Eating a meal over it sickens me.
Hitler was not a great leader. We need to stop the admiration of efficiency, cheap labor, and all that started the Holocaust. This GVSU employee is leading students to admiration of Hitler. Likely his comments in the interview are not the only time this came up between him and students.
By the way, this is not the first time I personally have witnessed Nazi admiration from GVSU athletic leadership. German science, the financial success of Germanic counties, their engineering has been admired for a long time, especially in 20s and 30s. It survives to today in people who esteem efficiency over values. Shameful.
The admiration of Germanic culture led to Nazi success. The actions of Nazi leaders was already copied in Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, Burundi, Syria, and Myanmar well after 1945. How the Germanic nations admired and allowed Nazi values to take control is a process that is being repeated.
I am from German loins,I am married to a Peruvian and it still shocks me that Hitler was able to turn a people into a mob. But if it is 2020 and his army is not available I would also like to observe this madman with protection and a translater.To suspend a man for honesty and curiousity. I can see why a university would not want those traits in their school. THATS WHY WE CAN NOT SIT AND HAVE A CONVERSATION. Because we cannot stand to let a person speak. Who differs from me. (You)
The guy is a moron. Surprised he doesnt jump off a cliff.
Many coaches, asked to name a leader they wish they could meet, would name John Wooden. Coach Wooden’s leadership style focused on bringing out the best in each of the young men he taught…teaching them to be good men, not merely good players.
Mr. Berger wishes to learn about leadership by studying the monster, Adolph Hitler, who obtained his position of power by murdering millions of innocent people. Mr. Berger should know that there is a huge difference between the type of leaders sought by American universities versus the type of leaders employed by criminal gangs and by authoritarian dictatorships.
Mr. Berger was fired by Texas State University in December after its football team’s offense had its second disastrous season in a row. Being fired by one of the worst teams in college football suggests that Mr. Berger is not yet ready to be a successful offensive coordinator.
Mr. Berger is entitled to free speech. And GVSU is entitled to hire the very best qualified person for an important leadership role. I hope Mr. Berger grows both as a person and as a coach so that he can someday be entrusted with a leadership position. However, he is not currently qualified to be a leader at GVSU.
My dad fought in World War II in the Infantry. His division was part of the liberation of Auschwitz. He saw the death, and the concentration camps where tens of thousands were murdered. And collectively all the concentration camps murdered millions of Jews and non-jews that weren’t perfectly white Aryan. These concentration camps were under the control of the megalomaniac known as Hitler.
People here try to disseminate the fact that he was a leader, he was no leader. He forcibly with massive deception and pure evil took control of Germany, and pronounced himself fuhrer. Through fear and murder, and oppression, forced his control over the nation of Germany. Hitler was under the influence of heavy psychotropic drugs, and he was schizophrenic. That is no leader, that is a lunatic on drugs. The Third Reich was replete with massive drug usage to power their warped leadership in the oppression of the peoples of Germany. His SS that worked under Hitler were as evil or worse than he was.
Hitler was never a leader, he was an oppressor and evil tyrant. Anyone to argue that he had any sort of positive leadership skills, is simply misguided and does not know history. This football coach should never have any sort of influence of anyone, especially young people.
To Ryan (one of the early commenters). The First Amendment protects speech against retribution from the government. Free speech doesn’t cover one from consequences rendered by anyone else. This university has every right (indeed an obligation) to fire someone for being a nazi sympathizer. People were supposed to have learned that lesson in 1945.
“strange quark” must be stupid or something. Grand Valley STATE University was established by the Michigan legislature, and therefore, the First Amendment applies. Get gased.
Hitler did lead Germany out of its economic recession in the 30’s, and by all accounts was extremely charismatic. Huge numbers of people were spellbound by him, personally. There is nothing in this coach’s comments that indicates an admiration for any of the atrocities committed by him or his party, only an interest in understanding what it was about this man that made what he did possible. I’m not sure personally that my intellectual curiosity could overcome my moral repulsion, but I can certainly understand someone’s interest in seeing the man’s personality in action.
Wow. Apparently a lot of Hitler-loving, Nazi-apologists in Michigan. Disgusting.
Here’s my thinking. Berger said a very stupid thing, in an ungraceful way (he should’ve explained his answer much more thoroughly), at a terrible time (in his first month working here??), in a thoughtless setting (he knew it would be published). He really should’ve thought about the consequences of his actions much more before answering this way to the school newspaper. This obviously wouldn’t end well–and he knew that!
That being said, the school didn’t handle it quite as well as they could have. Rather than trying to get the article taken down, they should have just issued a statement clarifying that they didn’t share this viewpoint. Berger said what he said, and the Lanthorn was within its right to publish it. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, you know?
So, I think that GVSU wasn’t wrong to suspend Berger; he made a bad decision without thinking of the overall good of the school–or even himself. This was a thoughtless move. However, he does have the right to Freedom of Speech, and ultimately, these are just words; unless they find evidence that he is a neo-Nazi, I don’t think he deserves to be fired.
And I saw a comment saying that the writer should be fired. That’s ridiculous; all he did was ask an innocent question, write down the answer, and publish it. A journalist’s job is to accurately relay unusual and newsworthy events, and this interview response is nothing if not unusual and newsworthy. Berger knew that whatever he said could and would be published, so the reporter had no reason not to publish.
(Also folks, you gotta calm down in the comments; everyone has opinions, and everyone’s entitled to them, but that doesn’t mean we can cuss people out for disagreeing. Goodness.)
For Coach Berger’s level of education and life experience, it’s extremely sad to see him continue the myth of Hitler as an effective, strategic leader from whom we can learn these types of skills.
Berger said that “the way he [Hitler] was able to lead was second-to-none.”
Berger stated that “you can’t deny he wasn’t a great leader.” (I’m guessing that Berger meant to say that “you can’t deny he was a great leader.” ( Apparently the English language as well as modern European history are not strong suits of his. Fortunately, that’s not why he was hired).
As Berger believed that Hitler was a great leader, he finds it worthwhile to understand the mechanisms behind his leadership strategies. Sounds okay. Presumably he can glean some generalizable lessons that he can use. Berger has to rally groups as well.
Unfortunately, Berger’s assessment of Hitler as a leader is simply wrong. And, what can be generalized from Hitler’s ability to rally a group runs completely counter to any common conception of leadership.
That Hitler had quite poor leadership skills doesn’t rest on the evil destructiveness of his actions,
That Hitler had poor leadership skills doesn’t even necessarily rest on the facts that he didn’t achieve his goals and that his extraordinary failures led to his suicide.
A simplification of the model here, but see what leadership tips you can take away from Hitler’s strategic leadership methods for rallying a group.
Start with a society suffering from transition from war and a ravaged economy.
Strategically misidentify the cause of your people’s suffering (there must be a leadership/motivation tip in there somewhere?)
Strategically scapegoat a group of vulnerable people (Leadership 101).
Strategically create false narratives and analyses. (Leadership tip; check your reality at the door)
Strategically play on a suffering people’s fear and vulnerabilities so that they too will be blinded to reality. (Leadership tip: create your own psychotic reality for your people to inhabit with you).
Strategically use this scapegoating, fear, and false narratives to create a false sense of victim hood. (Creating a false sense of victim hood is crucial. Very powerful but also fairly complex to pull off. So, kudos to Hitler here… Incidentally, instilling a shared sense of victim hood, coupled with the creation of a scapegoat, is a requirement for genocidal leadership 101)
Strategically lead/motivate others to ramp up this false sense of victim hood. Now, here’s where you capitalize on those leadership team building strategies you employed above.
Strategically stoke the flames of victim hood to the point where the team really pulls together in their collective anger and collective delusion. Now you can have them perform actions they would have previously thought unthinkable. Obviously, for a leader, having your followers reach beyond their capacities is just a beautiful sight.
Leadership strategy to conquer others and to break their wills: Willingness to subdue opposition with death, violence and destruction. (This strategy of Hitler’s has to be carried out literally for it to work. No generalizable lessons here. So, bonus points if you have the leadership balls to include this one in your leadership portfolio).
Strategically use the fear of invasion to have others enter into cooperative, team building treaties. (Leadership tip: superior strength and demonstrated use of destructive strength is an efficient means for getting people on board with you. Again, this method of rallying a group requires direct use. Any watering down breeds hesitancy and resistance to joining to the group rally),
Strategically break those treaties and agreements. An efficient trick when you have the most fire power and have shown that you will use it. (Leadership tip: Superior strength and demonstrated viscous use of strength is simply more efficient than the leadership style that requires all of those inefficient trust building activities and other methods for rallying a group. Good leaders know the importance of ruthlessness in instilling actual fear of invasion and death).
In the end, where Hitler’s actual efficiencies lay, were not in his leadership methods for rallying a group. This required mania, delusion, vast resources, and a unique historical moment. His efficiencies lay in creating a supply chain, from boots on the ground, to the building of camps, and showers, and ovens, and the transportation infrastructure to move people. The goal of overpowering the weak and transporting them to death camps was ruthlessly efficient. Unfortunately, Berger is interested in leadership: Hitler’s ability to rally groups rather than to transport groups. Maybe Berger can switch careers so that he could benefit from studying Hitler’s skills at supply chain management. It is a growing field.
Free speech. He was asked his opinion and he gave it. He did not say admirable he said great. Ghengis Khan and Mao too great leaders for those that buy into propaganda. All powerful leaders of the world are in this camp. Dick Chaney convinced US Congress and Americans to invade Iraq on complete bogus claims…great leader there.
The sports editor’s response as well as GVSU’s response to the Morris Berger “Hitler” answer shows all the earmarks of a novice and sadly clueless journalist. And a university that chose to suppress freedom of expression instead of choosing a higher mission in support of intellectual exploration. Sports editor Kellen Voss’s wide-eyed response — “KV: The way he was able to get people to rally around him was crazy.” — to Berger’s answer was immature, naive and journalistically irresponsible. In fact, Voss seemed to endorse the Hitler response in a “Wow, how cool man” sort of way. And it turned his later faux outrage into a disingenuous muddle. As for the university itself, what a lost teaching opportunity.
All in all, this was a fiasco; an embarrassment for everyone involved.
Re: John on 1/27…”As know one has ever heard of Grand Valley, I’m sure you have not heard of the 1st Amendment.” Seriously??? You are a student at an institution for higher education and your spelling and grammar is below a 4th-grade level? Sheesh
All the man is doing is giving his opinion. All of you should watch “Europa – the last battle”, free on the internet and educate yourselves on the true history before giving your uneducated, ill-informed opinions. World War II is not as black and white as “they” make it out to believe, and people who actually study history know this. And no, I am NOT a racist and have absolutely ZERO hate in my heart.
To the newspaper staff: I’m a football coach. Don’t expect to interview another coach and get anything but official “Bio” answers from now on.
Didn’t realize Michigan had this many closeted nazis
Well, that was an interesting read – glad to see most people understood the context and although many didn’t agree with the “choice” they were not calling for the coaches head but understood it for what it was – as some others alluded to this was a teachable moment and it seems the paper, the students and professors who immediately went alarmist as well as the school administration all greatly failed – this would have been a great multi-series article for the paper discussing a multitude of topics from Hitler to the Constitution to the roles of public institutions to advancing dialogue on topics that may be inflammatory, etc. anything other than fire the person who said or thought something different then the current PC crowd – it became an overreaction and quick dismissal that shows only a closed attitude and an institution void of academic curiosity – as an alum, its disappointing to read the absence of intellectual thought and inquisitiveness and certainly the loss of the true meaning of the word “school”: from the original Greek, “a place for discussion” – none of that at GVSU unless you tow the line and agree with everything the professors and administration think – sad.
Apparently it’s 2020 and the National Socialist Party is back in full force right in my home state of Michigan. Lovely. Plus he’s just flat out wrong. I haven’t heard of too many “great leaders” who committed suicide because every plan they made came crashing down (literally) on their head.