Kichibe Otsuka, president of Nihon University, addressed reporters at a news conference held in Tokyo on Friday, saying that he felt "responsibility" regarding Nihon University's handling of the dirty tackle scandal, and that he "couldn't apologize enough" to the victim.

The news conference was held amid mounting media criticism against Nihon University for its delay in addressing a late hit by one of its football players, and for holding a hastily planned and acrimonious news conference on Thursday that failed to address whether the team's coaches had ordered the illegal action or not.

Otsuka deflected questions about whether the head coach had ordered a player to make a late tackle of the opposing team’s quarterback, saying that “an independent committee will be set up to investigate the issue,” so he couldn’t comment.