EXCLUSIVE: The Only Man Who Can Save Michigan State From Itself
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The Michigan State University Board of Trustees is an absolute dumpster fire, and it has been that way for several decades now.
Now, the issues are compiling. First, Michigan State lost its school president, Kevin Guskiewicz, who took significantly less money from Clemson University a few weeks ago to become the school's next president. Guskiewicz cited continued issues with the MSU Board of Trustees as a huge reason for his leaving.
Then, MSU athletic director J Batt, a highly sought-after athletic director on a national scale, was reported by Michigan State On SI to be finalizing a deal to take over as the athletic director at the University of Kentucky.
Guskiewicz brought in Batt nearly a year ago, and Guskiewicz's departure triggered a clause in Batt's contract that shrunk his buyout from $5 million to $2.5 million. Michigan State's BoT was not fearful of Batt's immediate departure after Guskiewicz left, but it appears they should have been.
Fundraising
In today's age of college athletics, generating revenue is the focal point of any operation. Just look at where Batt left East Lansing for. Kentucky has potentially the highest NIL budget of any men's basketball program in the country, almost famously spending over $20 million last season on a roster that went 22-14 overall and lost in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.
While at MSU, Batt began Spartan Ventures, an independent company featuring direct school representatives that sought to maximize revenue and NIL opportunities for student-athletes.
If things don't get better in East Lansing soon, Michigan State will be put in a tremendously difficult position going forward. The BoT has continuously failed the university and its athletic department.
Whoever takes over next will be handed a complete and utter mess, but will have to be willing to shut the Board down. There is only one man for the job.
Tom Izzo Is the Answer To Saving Michigan State
It starts at the top, and there likely is no man in America with more influence on Michigan State University than its long-time men's basketball coach, Tom Izzo.
In 43 years with the program, Izzo has led it to 27 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, which include eight Final Fours and a National Championship in 2000.
Veteran Michigan State beat writer and founder of Spartan Nation, Hondo S. Carpenter Sr., believes Izzo is the only man who can save the university.
"The only way to fix this is they have to get a strong president who is willing, and the community and Spartan Nation gets behind, who is willing to tell the Board, 'Stop it.' And then go public with the tom-foolery and the idiocy and the ignorance, and stop it. And there is only one person that I know who is bigger than the university, and has the ability to tell the Board, 'I'm going to go public,' and the public would respond in kind. And that's Thomas Izzo," Carpenter said on The WILS Morning Wake-Up.
Now, Izzo doesn't fit the makeup of a typical university president, but all that is changing. Presidents who raise revenue and have the fans' backing are the ones who succeed today.
"Tom Izzo is, in my opinion, one of the smartest human beings that I've ever met," Carpenter continued. "Because he is smart enough to know what he doesn't know."
Izzo has been a fantastic fundraiser throughout his tenure in East Lansing. Massive projects, such as a $26.2 million expansion to its hockey arena that was done in 2022, don't happen without Izzo.
But perhaps above all of that, Izzo absolutely loves Michigan State. He has not held back in expressing his frustrations with the current state of the university, both with where it stands and where it could be headed. He has the passion, the love for the school, and potentially the desire to leave a legacy that could push him toward a presidential role.
"Anyone put in that chair not named Thomas Izzo is not going to have the political capital, because if he goes and tries to rally the fans, are they going to be like, 'Yeah, who are you?'" Carpenter later added.
Now, Izzo is 71 years old. It would be a lot to ask of him to take on a major administrative role now. Still, he is the only man connected to Michigan State who is bigger than the institution itself.
"If I had to guess today, no," Carpenter said on whether he thinks Izzo would take the job today. "But I'm going to tell you this. Tom Izzo is a man who was raised by the right people. About duty. About, you know, responsibility, and I'm going to give you this. Legacy."
"If the right people sat down with Tom and said, 'Tom, we know you don't want to do this. We know. We know. But we're asking you, this is your legacy. You'll be able to say, you didn't just impact Michigan State raising all this money. You didn't just impact Michigan State by winning all basketball games. Please come fix this,'" Carpenter said.
"I believe, and this is only my opinion. I believe because of his sense of duty and his utter love and devotion for this amazing place, that Tom Izzo would at least give it strong consideration."
No man represents Michigan State better than Tom Izzo, and no man has the authority or public pull as he does. He's the man to step into MSU's administration and save the current joke of a Board.
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Hugh Straine is an accomplished writer and proud Bucknell University alumnus, holding a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing. He has served as editor of The Bucknellian, worked as an analyst for ESPN+ and Hulu, and currently reports on college sports as a general reporter for On SI.