A Conversation with Kevin Guskiewicz: Why he stayed, what he learned, and where MSU goes next

There are moments when universities discover what they value.

Sometimes those moments arrive through championships. Sometimes they arrive through crises. At Michigan State, this one arrived through homemade signs.

When Kevin Guskiewicz returned from a long-planned family vacation overseas, he stepped back into a university that had spent weeks thinking it was about to lose another leader. A couple weeks earlier, Michigan State's president had announced that he would become Clemson's next president, a decision that sent shockwaves through East Lansing and left many wondering how an institution that had fought so hard to regain stability could once again be preparing for transition at the top.

Then something unexpected happened.

The day after Guskiewicz returned, a group of Spartans launched a grassroots campaign built around two simple messages.

We ❤️ Kevin.

We ❤️ Amy.

The signs began appearing across campus and throughout the community. Pictures spread quickly across social media. Friends sent him photographs from around the state. Images continued arriving, including one from the Lake Michigan shoreline, where supporters had carried the signs with them.

"I had people sending me pictures from Lake Michigan with those signs," Guskiewicz told Spartans Illustrated. "It's meant a lot."

The signs were visible. What followed was more personal.

His phone filled with text messages he still hasn't finished reading. Emails arrived by the hundreds. Handwritten notes appeared. Phone calls came from alumni, faculty, students, legislators, trustees, and friends. Some came from people he knew well. Others came from individuals he had met only briefly during his first two years as Michigan State's president.

Collectively, they carried a message that went beyond simply asking him to stay.

"They reached out not simply to encourage us to stay," Guskiewicz told Spartans Illustrated Tuesday, the day after announcing his decision to remain at MSU. "But to talk about Michigan State, its mission, the impact that we've had in putting together a leadership team that's helping move the mission forward."

The conversation was never simply about Kevin Guskiewicz. It was about Michigan State.

For much of the past decade, the university has lived through an almost continuous cycle of disruption. Leadership changes. Governance battles. Public controversy. Institutional rebuilding. Every new president has inherited challenges left unresolved by the previous administration while simultaneously trying to convince alumni, donors, faculty, and students that stability was finally within reach.

When Guskiewicz accepted Clemson's offer, many feared that progress had once again been interrupted.

The response that followed reflected something larger than affection for one individual. It reflected a community determined not to start over again.

Asked what those weeks were like, Guskiewicz did not begin by talking about negotiations, career opportunities, or competing institutions.

He talked about people.

"It was incredible," he said. "It was emotional."

He and his wife, Amy, had left for Europe only days after the Clemson announcement. The vacation had been on the calendar for roughly seven months. Instead of providing an escape, it became the setting for countless conversations about Michigan State.

"I think what meant the most to Amy and me throughout this process were the conversations that we had with so many people across the community," he said. "Alumni, faculty, students, legislators, trustees ... those conversations really mattered."

The messages have not stopped.

Guskiewicz laughed as he described one that arrived after he announced his decision to remain at Michigan State.

"Somebody wrote to me and said, 'It's Christmas in July,'" he recalled as a smile widened across his face.

Others have been more reflective. He shared a lesson he has long tried to teach the leaders who work alongside him.

"I've always told leaders on my team that you're going to have a lot of good days in these roles, but there are also going to be tough days," he said. "When you get one of those handwritten notes or an email expressing appreciation for something you've done, save it. Put it in a drawer. Then, on one of those tough days, pull it back out and remind yourself why we do what we do."

Over the past several weeks, his own drawer has become considerably fuller.

Eventually, after weeks of reflection and conversations, Kevin and Amy arrived at a conclusion that, in retrospect, he describes as remarkably straightforward.

"We just love this university," he said. "We believe deeply in what MSU stands for, and we believe just as deeply in the leadership team that we've built to help move the mission forward every day."

It is a simple answer. It is also one that says something important about how Guskiewicz views leadership.

Throughout a conversation with Spartans Illustrated that ranged from Tom Izzo's influence to the search for Michigan State's next athletic director, from Spartan Ventures to the future of college athletics, he consistently returned to the same theme: relationships first, everything else follows.

Leadership in "Illogical Times"

One of the most revealing moments of the conversation came when Guskiewicz was asked about a single sentence in the letter he sent to the Michigan State community announcing he would remain as president. Buried among the explanations, gratitude, and optimism was something uncommon for leaders in positions like his.

An apology.

Asked why he apologized, he was quick with an answer.

"I recognize the uncertainty that my decision created for Michigan State five, six weeks ago," Guskiewicz said on Tuesday. "And the uncertainty that it's also created for Clemson right now. And for that, I'm sincerely sorry."

It would have been easy to omit. The decision had ultimately worked out. Michigan State retained its president. Clemson would continue its search. From a public relations standpoint, there was little to gain by revisiting the uncertainty that had consumed both campuses. Instead, Guskiewicz chose to acknowledge it directly.

Throughout his first two years in East Lansing, Guskiewicz has frequently described himself as a servant leader. For him, leadership is not simply about making decisions. It is also about recognizing how those decisions affect the people who have entrusted you with responsibility.

"I think we do have to express ourselves and be empathetic to the communities that we serve," he said. "I've talked often about being a servant leader."

That philosophy helps explain why his letter was written the way it was - and why an apology was included.

He understood that the previous five weeks had been unsettling. Faculty wondered whether another presidential search was on the horizon. Students questioned what another transition might mean for the university. Alumni and donors who had embraced his vision were left trying to understand whether it would continue without him. At the same time, Clemson had publicly celebrated his hiring and begun preparing for its own transition.

Regardless of how the situation ultimately resolved itself, both institutions experienced uncertainty. Guskiewicz believes leaders should acknowledge that reality.

"What transpired over the past five or six weeks probably may look illogical to some, confusing to others," he said. "What I would say is that while it may look illogical, we're living in illogical times."

He's right. Higher education has entered a period unlike any in modern history. Universities are confronting enrollment pressures, changing demographics, federal policy debates, escalating research competition, and a rapidly evolving financial model. Athletics, once a complementary part of the university mission, now operates in an environment shaped by NIL, the transfer portal, conference realignment, revenue sharing, and the increasing commercialization of college sports.

Presidents are expected to navigate all of it simultaneously. Against that backdrop, Guskiewicz argues that leadership decisions rarely fit neatly into traditional expectations. That does not erase the confusion, he suggested. It simply acknowledges the reality in which today's university leaders operate.

"I always tell people that I live my life only to make new mistakes and not repeat the ones I've already made," he said.

He quickly clarified that he was not describing his decision to accept Clemson's offer as a mistake.

"I'm not suggesting that anything here was a mistake," he said. "I'm just answering your question that, yes, I think leaders have to say they're sorry when they feel they could have done better."

It was a subtle distinction to be sure, but an important one.

Guskiewicz was not attempting to rewrite the events of the past several weeks or pretend they never happened. Nor was he offering a detailed justification for every conversation and every decision that ultimately led him back to East Lansing. Instead, he was articulating a philosophy of leadership that places humility alongside conviction.

A leader can believe a difficult decision was made for understandable reasons while also recognizing that the process created uncertainty for others. A leader can remain confident without becoming defensive. A leader can apologize without surrendering principle.

Whether every member of the Michigan State community agrees with the path that led to this moment is almost beside the point. What emerged from the conversation was a clearer understanding of how Guskiewicz wants to lead going forward. Not by pretending difficult moments never happened, but by acknowledging them, learning from them, and continuing to move the institution ahead.

Tom Izzo's Role Was Bigger Than Most People Realized

Long before Tom Izzo was encouraging Kevin Guskiewicz to stay at Michigan State, he was recruiting him to come in the first place.

The story begins more than two years ago, before Guskiewicz had accepted the presidency, before he had ever walked into the Hannah Administration Building as Michigan State's leader, and before most Spartan fans knew much about the neurologist and academic administrator from North Carolina.

It started with a phone call. Actually, two of them.

As Michigan State's presidential search entered its final stages, Guskiewicz received a call from Hall of Fame North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams, a longtime friend. Williams had an unusual request.

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo wanted Guskiewicz's cell number.

"I got a call from Roy Williams," Guskiewicz recalled. "He said, 'Hey, I just got off the phone with Tommy, and he wants to know if I can give him your cellphone number.'"

Guskiewicz laughed remembering the conversation.

"I said, 'Tommy?'"

Williams clarified.

"Tom Izzo."

Guskiewicz told Williams the decision was his to make.

"I said, 'You tell me, coach. I'll give you the green light to give coach my cellphone number.'"

Then came the comment that has stayed with him.

"He said, 'Absolutely. There's not a better person in intercollegiate sports than Tom Izzo.'"

Ten minutes later, his phone rang again. It was Izzo.

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