Couch: Bill Beekman might be a good dude, but MSU is taking a risk in making him AD

EAST LANSING – Bill Beekman is anything but an inspiring hire as Michigan State’s athletic director.

He’s a deeply internal candidate from a school that’s promised external vision. He’s never worked in athletics, until six months ago. And he’ll be seen as the choice of unpopular interim school president John Engler.

Inspired yet?

If this was the right hire, it can only be shown in time. There was no way for MSU to win the press conference, especially with Engler dominating it. Those are never good optics these days. It’ll remain a suspect hire until proven otherwise. 

Several intelligent and knowledgeable folks who know Beekman and his work at MSU speak highly of his personal character and strengths as an administrator. You’ll struggle to find someone who doesn’t think he’s a good dude, cut from the salt of the earth. Beyond that, MSU’s coaches pushed for the interim tag to be removed, which it was officially on Monday.

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They had stability for a decade under Mark Hollis, who resigned abruptly in late January. They found a new guy they really liked and wanted that sense of stability again, rather than waiting at least a year for a new university president. Coaches crave stability.

Beekman was touted by football coach Mark Dantonio, basketball Tom Izzo and others as a unifier, a calming and stabilizing presence, a great listener, a reformer, a students-first thinker. He sees his role as working for the athletes and coaches.

I can see why he’s appealing to them. He spent his life rooting for them, as a student and then, for a quarter-century, university employee, most recently as the secretary of the board of trustees (and, for one day, the interim school president). He quotes Miles Bridges and Kirk Cousins as if they’re Greek philosophers. He is most comfortable living in the shadows. His agenda appears driven by what he can do to support those beneath him.  

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I also understand why Dantonio, especially, might want this done now, so he doesn’t have to endure this fall what Izzo did last winter, as the acting and only spokesperson for an athletic department under scrutiny. Beekman gives Dantonio and Izzo cover from some of those questions. 

But what happens if Dantonio decides to hang it up after this fall. Or Izzo says he’s had enough after the next couple seasons. Or another story breaks that takes the decision out of their hands.

“From my perspective, I don’t see either of them going anywhere for a while,” Beekman, 51, replied Monday. “Eventually, everyone will turn over. But those are decisions I think we can postpone for a fair number of years.”

I’ve never run an athletic department, either. But I know from those who have that you’d better have a plan and a constantly evolving list.

There is no school in the country that has a stronger football-basketball tandem. Both programs, however, are one-coach programs, built up from mediocrity against long odds. Sustaining the current level of national and regional relevance beyond Dantonio and Izzo is not only not guaranteed, but based on MSU’s history, it’s unlikely.

MSU, perhaps, just put the future of its two prized sports largely in the hands of an unproven and unseasoned athletic administrator.

Trustee Brian Mosallam knows the outside perception of this hire is an issue. He and the rest of the board knew that going in. They made the decision anyway. Not to anger people — believe it or not. But because they thought it was the right move. There’s leadership in making the unpopular decision (though one could argue MSU’s board is leading a little too well in that regard these days).

“You have to look at it this way,” Mosallam said. “This was a non-traditional hire from outside the scope of athletics, who had an administrative background who understands pieces that maybe today’s new-age AD with a sports background might not understand — compliance, Title IX, some of these pieces that are not fun things.”

A sitting AD from another Division I university might understand those things, too.

If MSU had plucked an AD from another school, there would be a trail of coaching hires and fundraising, etc., to examine. It might also lead to unnecessary upheaval within an MSU athletic department that has already seen its top two administrators — Hollis and Shelly Appelbaum — step aside, the latter after a Beekman-led reorganization.

Perhaps MSU could have hit a home run with an outside hire, despite an interim president and a tarnished reputation. MSU’s $128-million athletic budget would be appealing nonetheless. Maybe that person would have been a good fit and instituted the right changes in people and policy, and inspired faith from donors and fans, students and coaches.

Based on MSU’s previous athletic director hires, the odds weren’t great. Ron Mason, for example, was a terrific college hockey coach. He was not cut out to be an AD. Nor did he love it. 

Examples of administrative strife at MSU go back a ways, pre-Hollis. Making Beekman the athletic director, from what I can gather, was solidly a consensus. Or at least a helluva unified front.

Beekman is not an outsider. He was not on the board of trustees, but he’s been in the room for some very serious discussions and decisions over the last couple of years. 

He knows the university. That can be a plus. If he’s able to stand up to it where needed. 

“The last several years have been among the darkest in our history,” Beekman said, referencing the Larry Nassar scandal. “All the rules in the world won’t make a difference unless we have a culture committed to the health, safety and wellness of every member of our community. That commitment will permeate everything we do.”

Beekman on Monday referenced Hollis’ introductory speech as AD 10 years ago.

“He said, ‘There will be no rest until it is the norm to open a football season and anticipate that the season will end with the paint of roses underneath us,’” Beekman said. “Mark kept his word. And our success on the football field, as well as the basketball court, has been extraordinary.”

Those were different times in 2008. Before all the winning in football. Hollis’ marketing acumen and innovative mind helped boost MSU’s profile. Maybe MSU needs something else now. I don’t know if that’s Bill Beekman. People at MSU think it is. 

This decision shouldn’t be sabotaged before we see what Beekman’s got.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him at gcouch@lsj.com.