Wednesday was an eventful day for Michigan State fans. It started with bad news as Michigan State President Kevin Guskiewicz departed suddenly for the same position at Clemson, taking an $800,000 paycut just to leave East Lansing. It ended with the return of Jeremy Fears Jr.
That first part still stings, though.
Guskiewicz later explained that Michigan State’s Board of Trustees were the main reason for his departure. While they did vote to double his salary a week ago, he claimed he never asked for that and it clearly didn’t matter to him because he took less money to be Clemson’s president. He cited infighting and undermining to push personal agendas as his reason for leaving.
Michigan State’s Board of Trustees are absolutely to blame for this but thankfully Guskiewicz’s last gift to Spartan fans was Pat Fitzgerald. He fits the Spartan mold and seems like the right coach for the job and on Thursday, about 24 hours after Guskiewicz left, Fitzgerald shared a heartfelt thank you on his personal Twitter account.
All the best to @KevinGuskiewicz and his family as they begin a new chapter. I’m grateful for the belief he showed in me and the tremendous support he showed our program and all of Spartan Athletics. https://t.co/cgPlB9vLTA
— Pat Fitzgerald (@coachfitz51) May 29, 2026
There’s clearly no ill-will on Fitzgerald’s end of things as he thanked Guskiewicz for believing in him and the tremendous support that he showed for the entire athletic department. No one was giving Fitzgerald a shot and Guskiewicz and J Batt took the chance. He’s forever grateful for that.
Guskiewicz’s departure will be worth it if Fitzgerald can turn the program around.
Kevin Guskiewicz was the leader Michigan State needed
Michigan State hired Guskiewicz at an important time for the university. The university hadn’t had a legitimate president worth following in years and it needed some stability in its next leader. Guskiewicz came in and immediately provided that.
The university instantly became more respectable with Guskiewicz at the held and it’s exactly why there were other schools pursuing him so hard.
It’s not going to be easy to find his replacement because he was unproblematic, smart, driven, and he showed great leadership skills. He was a problem solver and Michigan State had plenty of problems.
Now the university needs to figure out the mess that is the Board of Trustees or no potential president is going to want to take the job. No one wants to work with a board that constantly looks out for themselves and can never seemingly get on the same page with each other.
The next president needs to be a home run — again.
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