Tom Izzo clearly loves the Michigan State Spartans.
He’s been the head basketball coach in East Lansing since 1995, and despite multiple attempts to get him to jump ship for the NBA or to another blue-blood college basketball program, he’s never left.
Izzo is green and white through and through, so you know things are bad at Michigan State if he’s publicly going after the school.
That is indeed the case, though, after Izzo expressed immense displeasure at the state of internal politics at MSU, specifically within the Michigan State Board of Trustees.
Michigan State recently lost school president Kevin Guskiewicz after only two years to Clemson. Just weeks after Guskiewicz jumped ship, athletic director J Batt left on Monday to take the same role with Kentucky.
When Guskiewicz left Michigan State, he cited an “unsustainable situation” due to different perspectives on the Michigan State board of trustees. Batt left Michigan State after only one year on the job.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Izzo expressed an extreme dissatisfaction with the state of things at Michigan State. He clearly believes Guskiewicz leaving led to the departure of Batt as well.
“There’s other dominos that get affected when things go wrong like that,” Izzo said, according to Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. “I’m very upset about it, and I’m sick of it.”
Michigan State Board of Trustees drawing the ire of Tom Izzo
It’s one thing for a legend like Izzo to publicly express his displeasure. He’s been around a long time in East Lansing and has earned a ton of respect.
He knows he can criticize the board as a whole and there’s nothing they can do about it. What are they going to do? Fire him?
It’s another thing altogether, though, when that university legend is actively calling for change. Izzo is not just saying that he’s upset. He’s upset, and he believes something needs to be done about the way things are in East Lansing.
“I think 600,000 living alums better start rallying together. If there’s ever a time that we need to rally together, it’s now,” Izzo said, according to 247Sports. “And that’s all 600,000. It ain’t Tom Izzo; I’m not an alum. I’m like a Greg Williams, or maybe our football coach – I’m a very invested stakeholder. Very invested stakeholder. … I’m gonna ask the alums to stand up, because what happened with our president is ridiculous.”
Guskiewicz was sworn into office at MSU on March 4, 2024. He left in May of 2026 to become the next university president at Clemson. On the way out, he penned an honest message on the school website.
“At times, too much energy has been spent revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements rather than focusing collectively on the opportunities and aspirations ahead of us,” Guskiewicz wrote about the Michigan State Board of Trustees.
That was a soft blow compared to this haymaker, though:
“What is perhaps most troubling is the actions of some to abuse their access to privileged and confidential information to mispresent facts, manipulate situations and selectively use and leak that information to promote personal agendas,” Guskiewicz wrote.
Guskiewicz cited the Board of Trustees as his reason for leaving, but notably, he’s the second straight MSU president to do so. Former Michigan State University president Samuel Stanley Jr. resigned in October of 2022, citing the Board of Trustees as the primary reason why.
Izzo has been the one constant at Michigan State, so it makes sense that he’s frustrated.
During his time with the university, he has worked with eight university presidents, seven athletic directors and nine football coaches.
