Folks, we got him. Clemson thought that they had hired their next school president away from Michigan State, but Kevin Guskiewicz had a shocking change of heart.
According to Justin Thind, Guskiewicz decided to stay with Michigan State for personal reasons after originally deciding to take the Clemson job amid some uncertainty with the board of trustees. He accepted the Clemson job earlier this summer, citing the fact that Michigan State’s board of trustees was not on the same page with him and they were preventing him from doing his job effectively.
That seemed like a done deal and he was even introduced as the next president at Clemson, but he had some time to think it over and the news became official on Monday.
There had been rumblings of a return for weeks but those were just rumors with more hope than anything else, but Thind broke the news on Monday that gave every Michigan State fan a nice jolt to start the week. I don’t think anyone expected this to be possible after he accepted the Clemson job but Michigan State didn’t give up. It helped that Tom Izzo spoke out publicly about his departure, slamming the board of trustees for driving him away.
He had a point. The board of trustees was acting in a selfish manner and even after voting to approve a raise for Guskiewicz, they were not acting in the best interest of the university but instead putting their own personal agendas ahead of Michigan State.
Now that he’s back, Michigan State finally has the leadership it needs to make an athletic director hire with the departure of J Batt and the fact that the Spartans don’t have any interest in retaining him.
This was a big win for the university.
Michigan State needed this news
It’s always concerning when Izzo speaks out publicly the way he did against the board of trustees and the fact that they were letting Guskiewicz walk. He called Guskiewicz one of the best presidents that the university has ever had, and making Izzo happy should be a priority seeing as he’s always been loyal to Michigan State when he’s had several NBA opportunities.
This also means that it’s going to be easier for the Spartans to find an athletic director now that it has a president and you have to trust Guskiewicz to hit a home run with his next hire.
Plus, the Spartans were able to retain Guskiewicz and extend him for five years, worth $1 million per year which is a lower number than the previously voted-upon raise that he was set to get before accepting the Clemson job.
This is what you call the heist of the century. Michigan State desperately needed this.
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