Michigan State received another black eye on Monday afternoon as first-year athletic director J Batt follow his president and left the university over shaky leadership in East Lansing.
Batt left for the Kentucky athletic director job just a year after taking the Michigan State job and leaving Georgia Tech. His departure is a tough one because Batt was considered one of the rising stars in college athletics and he was touted as an elite fundraiser.
His departure, however, pales in comparison to the loss of Kevin Guskiewicz who Tom Izzo has called maybe the best president in school history.
Speaking of Izzo, he’s now looked at as the leader of the university as the longest-tenured publically-recognized employee. He was asked about his thoughts on the situation on Monday afternoon and he didn’t hold back, going scorched-earth on the current state of Michigan State’s administration and leadership.
Strong words from Tom Izzo about the current state of MSU. pic.twitter.com/TBLqyGSYdx
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) June 15, 2026
You could tell by Izzo’s tone and his message that he’s very much biting his tongue regarding his real thoughts on the situation, but he plans to share what he actually thinks soon.
Tom Izzo has had enough
Izzo said that he’s disgusted by the current state of the university’s leadership, pointing to the “self-inflicted” wounds suffered by losing Guskiewicz. Basically he believes that this could have all been avoided if the leadership didn’t work against itself. The university deserves leaders who look out for the best interest of Michigan State and not their own selfish personal agendas.
You could tell just how much this situation irks Izzo just by his tone. He “can’t stand what’s going on” and that Spartan Nation needs to rally together to fight what’s going on.
It’s not often we hear Izzo talking like this about his own university and leadership, but he witnessed what he called maybe the best president in school history get chased off by a selfish board of trustees who couldn’t get on the same page.
Calling on the 600,000 living alums to stand together against what’s happening within the university is a jarring call to action from Michigan State’s most trusted and respected leader.
Izzo was already done with the NCAA antics and now he has to deal with a circus in his own backyard. Let’s just hope that the “dominoes” he’s speaking of don’t mean that the board of trustees’ shortcomings is speeding up his retirement timeline.
It’s time that all 600,000 of us speak out against what’s happening and get Michigan State back in the right hands because it’s currently compromised.
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