The vibes surrounding Michigan State athletics this week have been immaculate.
First, J Batt decided to fire Jonathan Smith less than 24 hours after his win over Maryland in the season finale to improve his final Michigan State record to 9-15. The Spartans then hired Pat Fitzgerald to be the 27th head coach in MSU football history. Then, he had a fiery intro press conference that won fans over before he signed most of his recruiting class. He also attended the Big Ten opener for Tom Izzo’s team, and they won by 19.
On Thursday night, Alessio Milivojevic announced his return, and then on Friday morning, four-star offensive lineman Collin Campbell signed with the Spartans.
Oh, and Acrisure CEO Greg Williams and his wife Dawn made a record-breaking donation to the university and athletic department. The university made the major announcement on Friday morning.
"Michigan State University today announced a historic $401 million commitment from Greg and Dawn Williams. Made through the university's "Uncommon Will, Far Better World" campaign and in support of MSU Athletics' FOR SPARTA initiative, this is the largest single commitment in the history of MSU and one of the largest single amounts in college athletics history. Their generosity will dramatically transform Spartan Athletics and fuel academic excellence across multiple disciplines, reinforcing MSU's mission to empower students and serve communities across Michigan and beyond."Excerpt from MSU’s press release
This donation will go toward the FOR SPARTA initiative that was announced by Batt earlier this week, and that will immediately help go toward that $1 billion goal.
And you know how donors work. When they see one put forth a massive donation, they usually likely to jump on board and do the same — or at least that’s the hope. Let’s hope the Spartans’ multiple billionaire donors get jealous and try to out-do each other. If that does happen, Michigan State will have no problem reaching that $1 billion goal.
Of the $401 million donation, $290 million will be going toward the FOR SPARTA initiative and $100 million will be used “in an entity to be formed by the affiliated organization Spartan Ventures.”
Another $11 million will be used toward academic and extracurricular initiatives.
Basically, this massive donation covers a little bit of everything, but is heavy on Michigan State athletics and ensuring that the university is one of the leaders in this area moving forward.
Greg Williams just became a household name in East Lansing.