A newly hired offensive coordinator for the Grand Valley State University football team is already on the outs after telling a student newspaper he wants to get dinner with Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany responsible for millions of deaths.

Morris Berger has been suspended amid an investigation into the comments made to the student newspaper Grand Valley Lanthorn, according to a statement Monday from the university.

Asked in a Q&A conducted and published on Jan. 23 about which three historical figures he’d take to dinner, Berger named two leaders of mass genocides, according to the published piece.

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Berger got a degree in history from Drury University, Lanthorn sports editor Kellen Voss said in his question. Voss didn’t allow for sports figures to be considered.

“This is probably not going to get a good review, but I’m going to say Adolf Hitler,” Berger said, according to the piece. “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,” he said. “Bad intentions of course, but you can’t deny he wasn’t a great leader.”

The student journalist then responded.

“The way he was able to get people to rally around him was crazy," Voss said.

Berger then named former president John F. Kennedy and Christopher Columbus as his other dinner guests.

“Think about putting yourself in the setting of that unknown, and then to take it all in as you arrive is crazy,” he said of Columbus.

The current story “is a direct transcription of the full, recorded interview,” according to a Jan. 26 editor-in-chief’s note on the story.

The responses at the end of the interview were mistakenly removed from the story after initial publication, but later reverted to their original version, according to the note.

Nick Moran, editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and a 21-year-old third-year college student, said a representative of the athletic department reached out on Saturday to ask that the comments about Hitler be removed.

“He said it would make their life a whole lot easier,” Moran said.

Voss gave Moran a heads-up that he intended to remove that section of the story and they agreed but began a larger conversation on the ethics of the choice, Moran said. The Lanthorn team decided to put the comments about Hitler back up on Sunday.

“It’s intimidating when someone in power reaches out to you … and you’re a student and it’s a professional here on campus saying to take it down,” he said. “... But I think at the end of the day we’re really satisfied with our decision to keep everything up.”

Moran said the final choice showed the professionalism of the Lanthorn staff and advisers, after an “amateur-ish” choice earlier on.

Moran also said he was influenced by the journalistic integrity of Michigan Advance reporter Allison Donahue, who reported when state Sen. Peter Lucido, R-Shelby Township, told her that high school boys “could have a lot of fun with you."

Asked about Voss’ response to Berger, Moran said his editor’s response was that of a young reporter still processing something he considered “shocking” and having to continue the interview.

In a statement provided by Moran, 20-year-old Voss, a senior, stood by the veracity of the quote.

“The quote was not taken out of context and I hope our paper gets the credit it deserves for it's good, honest journalism,” he said.

Berger’s comments don’t reflect the university’s values, according to its statement.

The university athletic department announced Berger’s hiring on Jan. 20 on Twitter.

Contact Darcie Moran: dmoran@gannett.com.