What’s Next for MSU Athletics after Guskiewicz Changes Course?

In what must be viewed as a major win for the university amidst a turbulent summer, on Monday Kevin Guskiewicz stated that he would continue to serve as Michigan State’s president.  This comes over a month after announcing his planned departure for the same role at Clemson University, citing an unworkable situation with MSU’s Board of Trustees.

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Justin Thind and the State News were among the first outlets to report Guskiewicz’s change of heart, with Thind writing that five board members, major donors, and men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo helped convince Guskiewicz to stay.

While this group worked extremely hard to retain Guskiewicz, they apparently did not apply the same effort to athletic director J Batt, who announced his departure for Kentucky shortly after Guskiewicz’s initial decision to leave.  In the same article, Thind reported that Batt was not given the option to return to MSU.

Batt is still listed as the AD in MSU’s staff directory, even though his bio had been previously removed from the athletic department site, while also appearing in Kentucky’s online directory.

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A little over a week ago we wondered why Michigan State had yet to name an interim athletic director following Batt’s announced departure and speculated if Deputy AD, and Spartan Ventures CEO, Jon Palumbo or perhaps former Spartans AD Mark Hollis might get the nod, at least on an interim basis.

However, according to Jacob Cotsonika of MSU Spartans on SI, because Guskiewicz and Batt have not left MSU, the university was not able to name an interim AD or President.

Additionally, as Steve pointed out, Batt’s $5 million buyout would have been cut in half if Guskiewicz were no longer president.  Batt may have been pulling double duty in an attempt to save Kentucky $2.5 million.

This now becomes a moot point while…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/next-msu-athletics-guskiewicz-changes-110000609.html

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Publish date : 2026-07-07 11:00:00

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