MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo participates in a short interview during halftime in the Big Ten basketball tournament during the game against Maryland on March 11, 2020.
After announcing his resignation Aug. 5, Michigan State's Athletic Director Bill Beekman agreed to stay in the role until someone was found to fill the position. Now, the university is looking for a replacement.
According to Chris Solari at the Detroit Free Press, sources within the university’s administration said, "that a group of trustees approached Izzo about running the athletic department in an interim capacity while a national search is conducted."
According to the Free Press, Izzo agreed to take on this position temporarily but would like to continue coaching first and foremost.
President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. was not in favor of this decision and does not think that Izzo should take over this role, Solari's article said.
According to the article, a candidate may be presented to the board as early as next week. The sources also said Stanley did not want to hire an interim director to fill the role, and that the members of the Board of Trustees, Mel Tucker and Izzo have not been actively involved in the search process.
With football season and fall classes quickly approaching, members of the Board of Trustees are concerned about the timing of finding a new Athletic Director, causing tension between the board and Stanley, according to the article.
“If I really, really, really thought about what I want to do, I want to get this whole place back on track. Because we're not,” Izzo said to the Detroit Free Press in June. “I'd like to get football back up there, I'd like to get some of these other sports back up there, I'd like to get our athletic department back. And I’d like to get our university to where we can go out and say, ‘Hey, we are good.'"
University spokesperson Dan Olsen was not immediately available to confirm or comment.
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