A year after hiring an athletic director, Michigan State University is back in the market for a new one. That prompted men's basketball coach Tom Izzo to express his frustration about recent leadership changes at MSU.
Michigan Public commentator John U. Bacon joined Morning Edition host Doug Tribou to talk about that story, the impending return of Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, and other sports news.
Doug Tribou: Michigan State University is once again looking for a new athletic director. After about a year on the job in East Lansing, J Batt resigned to become the director of athletics at the University of Kentucky. Batt’s departure followed the news that MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz will leave to lead Clemson University.
All of that led MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo to vent about the situation this week, saying he was ashamed and disgusted. And he called on MSU alums to “stand up” about the situation. What’s going on here, John?
John U. Bacon: Boy, Doug, what isn't going on here? I've never seen any of the state universities' boards of trustees in such a mess as Michigan State's. And you can thank, largely, Rema Vassar, who is now as a trustee, suing her alma mater for $25 million, which is impressive in itself. So where are you going to go next? It's very hard to say. Some people are asking for her to be removed by the governor, who seems very reluctant to do so.
I can say this about MSU President Guskiewicz. He left Michigan State's offer of $2 million a year on the table to take $1.2 million at Clemson, which is simply not as good a university as Michigan State. What does that tell you when you take a 40% [cut] and basically a demotion. That's how bad it's gotten.
So, now you're back to the revolving door of presidents and ADs at Michigan State. I thought these were two of the best they had had in a long time, so not good news for Michigan State.
DT: Tom Izzo also promised to go into more detail about his frustrations in the near future. In the short term, what does all of this upheaval mean for the Michigan State athletics department?
JUB: They've had, I think, 8 or 9 [athletic directors] in the last ten, 12 years. Just a crazy stat. Same with presidents, basically. So Coach Izzo felt that Guskiewicz and Batt were the two best they had in a long time. And I think I agree with him. And then they lost them both basically over the trustee tumult.
DT: Let's turn to baseball. Justin Verlander is scheduled to make a comeback from his comeback this weekend. The 43-year-old starting pitcher returned to the Tigers this season after being traded away in 2017. He pitched one game, hurt his hip, and has been out for nearly three months. What are your expectations for Verlander at this point?
JUB: Simply to be a major league pitcher. I think that itself would be helpful to the Tigers. As you know, for a while there, of their five starting pitchers, four were out. So fewer out is better. The question is, can Verlander come back to anything like his Cy Young form and simply finish the season? Next question is, will this be his last season? That's seeming increasingly likely, but we'll see.
DT: There was some talk, John, when Verlander was acquired, that it was a sentimental move by the Tigers to bring back one of the team's greatest stars in recent memory, and that there were lower-profile, younger pitchers who could have accomplished the same thing on the mound, maybe not at the box office. Is that feeling like a more tangible debate at this point?
JUB: It sure is, except that those guys have been filling in for the last three months and not doing very well. So that argument also goes back and forth. No question, they want to fill the seats and Verlander is a good chance [to do that]. But this move was made, in my opinion, to make one last rush for a World Series while you still had Tarik Skubal. And that has clearly backfired.
DT: In the World Cup, the US will face Australia in Seattle Friday afternoon. Huge, huge interest in that game and only more so after the US beat Paraguay in the Americans’ first game a week ago.
Also on the World Cup schedule Friday night in Massachusetts, Scotland will take on Morocco. Based on the run-up to Scotland’s win last weekend, I’m going to predict the real winner tonight will be the local bars and the concession stands that sell beer at the stadium…
JUB: [Laughs] I speak to you as a man who's one-quarter Scottish. My grandfather was William Wallace Graham. Doesn't get any more Scottish than that. Put your money on that one, Doug.
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can play the full audio of this interview near the top of this page.
