Michigan State athletics now faces a world of turmoil after two extremely significant departures that occurred just a couple of weeks apart.

Michigan State Loses AD J Batt and President Kevin Guskiewicz

On Saturday, it was first reported by Michigan State On SI that Michigan State athletic director J Batt was finalizing a deal to depart from East Lansing and take over in the same role at the University of Kentucky.

Just a few weeks prior, Guskiewicz announced that he would be leaving Michigan State to take over as the next president at Clemson University. Guzkiewicz's departure triggered a clause in Batt's contract that brought his buyout from $5 million to $2.5 million, which played a major part in the eventual move to head back to the SEC from Batt.

Guskiewicz played a big role in getting Batt to East Lansing about a year ago, and he noted disagreements with the Board of Trustees as a major factor in his leaving.

Batt became an extremely attractive hire for Michigan State due to his proficiency as a fundraiser. In his near year-long stint in East Lansing, Batt was the leader in the inception of Spartan Ventures, a company that featured direct school representatives that sought to maximize revenue and NIL opportunities for student-athletes.

Now, in the wake of both Batt's and Guskiewicz's departure, this is an incredibly embarrassing look for the university.

The Humiliating Reality for Michigan State's Board of Trustees

Michigan State is one of the most prominent athletics institutions in America, and yet the administration continues to fall below the curve. The university's next hire will be its fourth athletic director since 2021 and fourth school president since 2022.

Not only did the school lose two highly valuable people, but it lost Batt to a university like Kentucky, which has one of the biggest NIL funds of any college basketball program, and Guskiewicz left for Clemson despite being offered more money from Michigan State.

Longtime Michigan State beat writer and founder of Spartan Nation, Hondo S. Carpenter Sr., said it best, "For nearly the past half decade, the board of trustees has resembled a clown car more than a prestigious group."

MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo chimed in on the loss of Guskiewicz last week, and the legendary college basketball coach didn't hold back with his criticisms of the administration.

"I'm disgusted with some things," Izzo said. "I think we just lost the best president that I think we could've had. It's disheartening and disgusting, to be very honest with you... Very disappointed in how we [MSU] handled things. Sometimes you get self-inflicted wounds; you've got enough people out there pecking at you, but when it's our own people... it's just disappointing, to be very blunt and honest with you."

For an institution as prominent in athletics as Michigan State, outcomes like this are absolutely unacceptable. Batt had an extremely successful first year at the university, and Michigan State has now seen two of its most valuable assets walk out the door mainly due to issues surrounding the Board of Trustees.

The university is once again back at square one with its athletic department, and this "clown car" is certainly not helping its not-so-great reputation.