Three days after he was suspended for expressing a desire to dine with Adolf Hitler in an interview, Morris Berger resigned as the offensive coordinator at Grand Valley State, the school announced Thursday.
Berger’s resignation is effective immediately, according to the school.
“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 [Matt] Mitchell as they begin preparations for the upcoming season.”
In an interview last week with the Grand Valley Lanthorn, the school’s student-run newspaper, Berger was asked which three historical figures he would want to have dinner with.
“This is probably not going to get a good review, but I’m going to say Adolf Hitler,” Berger 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.”
His other two choices were John F. Kennedy and Christopher Columbus.
Berger had just been hired as Grand Valley’s offensive coordinator Jan. 20, after being hired away from Texas State. He had been on staff at Oklahoma State from 2017 to ’18, and was at Missouri before that.
“Nothing in our background and reference checks revealed anything that would have suggested the unfortunate controversy that has unfolded,” said Mitchell, the head coach of Grand Valley, a Division II school in Michigan. “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.”