Garvey was in a spirited debate with Adam Schiff yesterday.

Garvey credited his choosing MSU to Spartan head football coach Duffy Daugherty's encouraging him to be a multi-sport athlete.

At MSU, Garvey recorded 30 tackles and earned a letter as a defensive back in 1967. His first at-bat in a Spartan uniform resulted in a grand-slam home run, with the ball landing in the Red Cedar River.

Garvey was named Michigan State Baseball Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 2009, inducted into the Michigan State University Hall of Fame in 2010, and retired his baseball jersey (number 10) from Michigan State University in 2014.

Garvey played first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987 and was a ten-time All-Star.

• World Series champion (1981)
• NL MVP (1974)
• 2× NLCS MVP (1978, 1984)
• 4× Gold Glove Award (1974–1977)
• Roberto Clemente Award (1981)
• San Diego Padres No. 6 retired

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REMINDER: Detroit Pistons vs Phoenix Suns at the Breslin Center is TODAY 7pm


@BallySportsDET

@971theticketxyt

The Spartans will face their fifth ranked team this season.​

*** With hockey and volleyball beginning at 6 p.m., parking will be limited. Fans should look to park at the Kellogg Center or Ramp 7 ***

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State returns home to the friendly confines of DeMartin Stadium on Friday Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. Friday is Salute to Service Day at DeMartin. All veterans and first responders will receive complimentary admission with presentation of a valid ID.

MSU holds a 4-5-2 overall and 3-2-0 mark in league play after a 2-1 loss against No. 12/7 Maryland last week. Wisconsin stands 5-3-1 overall this season and 1-3-1 in league contests.

Charles Schmidgall and Brad LaPlante are on the call for B1G+.

FINDING HIS GROOVE
Junior midfielder Jonathan Stout leads the team in scoring with four goals and one assist for nine points. He has now scored in three of the Spartans' last five games. Stout is also tied for first on the team in shots on goal with nine with senior midfielder Sean Kerrigan. Sophomore forward Richie Ludwig, senior midfielder Sean Kerrigan, junior midfielder Jack Guggemos, sophomore defender Will Eby and freshman forward Mohamed Saad have also found the back of the net this season.

LOOKING AT THE BADGERS
Wisconsin holds a 6-3-1 overall record and stands 1-3-1 in the Big Ten. With four points, the Badgers are tied for ninth in the league standings.

Dean Boltz leads the Big Ten and the team in scoring with nine goals and four assists for 22 points. Trip Fleming is second on the team in scoring with five points and three assists for 13 points. Freshman Matisse Hébert has played all 10 games in goal this season. He has only allowed 10 goals for a 1.06 GAA.

SERIES HISTORY
Wisconsin holds the overall series led against Michigan State 24-16-7. In East Lansing, the series is tied 8-8-3. In Madison, the Badgers are on top 13-7-3. Wisconsin holds the edge on neutral ground, 3-1-1. The last time Michigan State won in East Lansing was in 2022 when the Spartans came out on top 1-0. MSU has gone 4-0-1 in the last five meetings with the Badgers.

Last year in Madison, the No. 23 Spartans used a flurry of first-half goals to earn a 3-1 win on Oct. 6. Jeremy Sharp, Sean Kerrigan and Jonathan Stout found the back of the net for MSU.

LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State men's soccer was overtaken late by No. 12/7 Maryland, 2-1, Saturday night at UMD's Ludwig Field in a tightly contested, hard-fought match with the top of the table in the Big Ten Conference standings on the line. Sophomore defender Will Eby netted the Spartans' goal, heading in a perfectly lofted and placed corner kick by junior defender Jeremy Sharp in the 59th minute. The Terrapins tied it in the 73rd minute and scored the go-ahead goal 10 minutes later.

UP NEXT
After taking on Wisconsin at home, MSU will travel to Indiana on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

Other schools involved include Cal, Syracuse, SMU and Toledo


Bio:

• East High School
• City Akron, OH

He spent Four Seasons with the Pitt Panthers, appeared in 48 contests…, and collected 120 tackles, including 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks

He had nine tackles and one tackle for loss in four games with South Carolina.

QUICK STRIKES FOR THE WEEK AHEAD ...

• Michigan State returns to Big Ten play this Friday after three straight non-conference matchups. The Spartans will host No. 6 Maryland on Friday afternoon before their final non-conference matchup of the year at Central Michigan on Sunday.

• MSU will honor its four graduating seniors at Friday's game against Maryland: Jillian Bonczewski, Emma O'Neill, Ellie Rutherford, and Ellie Wheatley.

• Head coach Missy Meharg is in her 37th season at the helm of Maryland program. Her Terps are 7-3 overall on the year and own a 3-1 mark in Conference play. Maryland's lone B1G loss is a 1-0 setback to league-leading Northwestern, but rebounded in last weekend's wins at Indiana (3-0) and No. 10 Iowa (5-0). Hope Rose leads Maryland with five goals and an assist followed by Kylee Niswonger, (4-1-9). Sophomore Alyssa Klebasko boasts a 0.72 GAA and .781 save percentage in 10 games.

• Central Michigan hosts Ball State in a Friday MAC game at before welcoming the Spartans for Sunday's contest. Former MSU assistant coach Jennifer Johnstone leads the Chippewas in her third season at the helm. Her squad is 3-8 overall entering Friday's game and is led in scoring by Mallory Camryn (7-3-17) and Zoey Emrick (4-1-9). Coletta Beeler and Jenna Billig have split keeper duties, with Beeler's .734 save percentage the squad's best with a 3.15 GAA. Billig's 2.93 GAA and 0.553 save percentage has come on 21 saves as compared to 47 for Beeler.

• MSU is coming off a 1-1 week, downing Miami (2-1, 2OT) on Tuesday and falling in a heartbreaker in a penalty shootout on Sunday to Kent State, 4-3. MSU is now 2-3 in overtime games this season, with all of its non-conference losses coming after regulation.

• The Spartans have surpassed their win total from a year ago (4) and have scored 26 goals through 11 games in 2024. The 2023 offensively-challenged Spartans scored 17 goals in 16 games combined.

• Ellie Rutherford had a pair of goals and two assists last week, scoring the OT winner against Miami and factoring in the scoring of all three MSU goals against Kent State. She had a 2-3-7 scoring line over the last three contests, all against non-conference competition.

• Rutherford sits atop the Spartan stat sheet with 4-6-14. Her four goals ties her career best in a season, while her six assists and 14 points are new career standards.

• Maddie Lawlor scored MSU's game-tying goal with 1:23 remaining in regulation to force overtime against Kent State. It was her fourth goal of the season and her 4-1-9 is also her most prolific scoring season. Lawlor missed the 2023 season with injury.

• Emma O'Neill scored a fourth-quarter goal against Miami last Tuesday to send that game to overtime. She has three goals and 11 points in 2024, which is good for second on the team in points.

• Brynn Shaffer scored her first collegiate goal on Sunday against Kent State in the first quarter. She finished off a Rutherford pass for her marker.

• Jillian Bonczewski assisted on O'Neill's game-winning marker in OT against the Red Hawks. With three goals and an assist (seven points), Bonczewski is also enjoying her most prolific scoring season of her career. She entered the season with just one goal in 33 career games.

• Sophomore keeper Lyra Gavino had 10 saves against Miami on Tuesday, her second career double-digit save performance (and second this season.) She made two stops on Sunday against Kent State, and stopped an additional two shots in the penalty shootout. She owns a career-best .656 save percentage and 2.02 GAA in 10 games.

• MSU heads out on the road for a pair of conference games next weekend, playing at Rutgers on Friday and Penn State on Sunday.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – After three consecutive road weekends the Michigan State volleyball team is finally back in the Breslin Student Events Center this weekend hosting No. 3-ranked Penn State and Illinois. Action gets underway on Friday, October 11 when MSU welcomes the Nittany Lions for a 6:00 p.m. match. Saturday's match against Illinois gets underway at 4:00 p.m.

Friday night's match will stream live on B1G+, while Saturday afternoon's match against Illinois will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network. Fans can also listen in live through MSUSpartans.com or via the Michigan State Athletics app where John Kreger will call both matches in his 20th season of MSU volleyball coverage.



PARKING INFO

Friday 10/11

General Public Parking: Lots 62, 63, 79, 124, Ramp 7 and Kellogg Ramp 4/Lot 66 are used for public parking and cost $5 (lots staffed at 4pm)

Accessible Parking: Lot 126 allows those with a disability placard or license plate to pay $5 to park (lot staffed at 2pm)

Reserved Pass Lots: Lots 61, 67, 126 require the appropriate pass to enter the lot (lots staffed at 2pm)



Saturday 10/12

General Public Parking: Lots 62, 63, 79, 124, Ramp 7 and Kellogg Ramp 4/Lot 66 are used for public parking and cost $5 (lots staffed at 2pm)

Accessible Parking: Lot 126 allows those with a disability placard or license plate to pay $5 to park (lot staffed at 12pm)

Reserved Pass Lots: Lots 61, 67, 126 require the appropriate pass to enter the lot (lots staffed at 12pm)

ABOUT #3 PENN STATE​

No. 3-ranked Penn State is 14-1 overall and 4-1 on the road. Penn State’s lone loss of the season is to current No. 1-ranked Pittsburgh.
Third year head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley has the Nittany Lions ranked No. 1 in kills/set (14.80), No. 2 in assists/set (13.63), No. 3 in hitting percentage (.315), No. 35 in blocks/set (2.61), No. 53 in opponent hitting percentage (.173), No. 175 in digs/set (14.12) and No. 185 in aces per set (1.47).
Izzy Starck ranks No. 12 nationally in assists/set (10.86). Starck ranks fourth in the B1G in total assists. Taylor Trammell is No. 4 nationally in hitting percentage (.478) and second on the team in blocks/set (1.08) behind team leader Maggie Mendelson’s 1.16 blocks/set. At libero Gillian Grimes averages 3.73 digs/set and has committed just nine receiving errors.
Jess Mruzik ranks No. 14 nationally in kills/set (4.48) and is No. 16 in points/set (5.05), both of which rank second in the B1G. Mruzik’s 206 kills lead the Nittany Lions on .314 hitting. Camryn Hannah has been efficient as well hitting .305 on 3.51 kills/set.

SERIES HISTORY
​

#3 Penn State
- Michigan State is 8-55 all-time against the Nittany Lions dating back to 1985. The Spartans are 5-23 when meeting PSU in East Lansing.
- The Spartans won four straight over PSU from 11/5/94 through 10/11/96 including three matches at home.
- MSU last defeated Penn State on 10/28/23, taking down the ranked Nittany Lions, 3-2, at the Breslin Center on BTN. It was Michigan State's first home victory over a ranked opponent since 10/7/17 and its first win over PSU since 11/1/02.
Illinois
- Michigan State is 27-57 all-time against the Illini dating back to 1973. The Spartans are 13-25 when meeting Illinois at home.
- Illinois has taken seven consecutive matches against MSU dating back to 2018.
- MSU last defeated Illinois on 12/8/17, 3-1, in the Sweet 16 to advance to the Elite Eight of the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The No. 12-ranked Spartans were led by Brooke Kranda's 16 kills, Rachel Minarick's 54 assists and Jamye Cox's 14 digs.

ABOUT ILLINOIS​

Illinois enters the weekend with an overall record of 9-5 (1-3 B1G) and ranks No. 26 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings. The Illini earned their first B1G victory of the season last Sunday against Northwestern (3-1).

Eighth year head coach Chris Tamas has Illinois ranked No. 30 nationally in aces/set (1.87), No. 77 in hitting percentage (.235), No. 120 in blocks/set (2.20), No. 132 in opponent hitting percentage (.196), No. 167 in kills/set (12.43), No. 209 in assists/set (11.26) and No. 314 in digs/set (12.26).

Raina Terry is one of the best players in the country ranking No. 12 in aces/set (0.59), No. 24 in points/set (4.93) and No. 43 in kills/set (4.06). Brooke Mosher leads the Illini with 8.28 assists/set and is second on the team with 27 aces. Ashlyn Philpot is the lone player averaging over a block per set at 1.17. Christina Martinez Mundo leads the teams in digs averaging 3.30 per set.

B1G WEEK TWO​

Michigan State continued B1G play last weekend playing its second consecutive set of road matches, falling 3-1 to Indiana and 3-0 to No. 10-ranked Purdue.
Senior libero Nalani Iosia posted 20 digs in each match to give her six matches of 20 or more digs this season.
Iosia's 5.71 digs/set tied for the B1G lead last weekend with Purdue's Ali Hornung, who earned co-B1G Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Sophomore middle blocker Zuzanna Kulig posted 2.00 blocks/set last weekend in seven sets of action (14 total blocks, two solo, 12 assisted).
Kulig's 2.00 blocks/set tied for the B1G lead last week with three other players, including Nebraska's Rebekah Allick who was co-B1G Defensive Player of the Week.

IN THE B1G RANKINGS​

Nalani Iosia is #1 in digs/set in the B1G at 4.44 and ranks #2 in total digs with 240 behind Iowa's Joy Galles (248).
Zuzanna Kulig ranks #3 in the B1G in blocks thus far at 1.48 blocks/set, only behind Purdue's Raven Colvin (1.74) and Nebraska's Rebekah Allick (1.49).
Kulig's total blocks (74) rank second in the conference behind Colvin's 92 and her solo blocks (11) are third behind Colvin (15) and UCLA's Anna Dodson (13).
As a team MSU ranks third in the B1G in digs/set through four B1G matches at 14.93.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

Rob Cassidy and Jason Jordan take a look at the upcoming college hoops and recruiting outlook ahead of the season. MSU gets a tough grade from Jordan in the roundtable.

3. WHICH TEAM’S 2025 RECRUITING STRUGGLES HAVE SURPRISED YOU MOST?​

Jordan: For me it’s Michigan State. Tom Izzo has had a few high-profile misses over the last couple of months with everyone from Jalen Haralson to Trent Sisley to Darius Adams and others. The Spartans finally landed their first commit from the class in Jordan Scott on Thursday. Perhaps that kicks off a domino effect, but to this point it’s been a bit dismal.

I’m always perplexed by multiple misfires with bluebloods. Tom Izzo's program still is in the running for elite forward Nikola Bundalo and dynamic guard Cam Ward, so there’s time for all to be well in East Lansing.

---

Of course, the Spartans just landed SG/SF Jordan Scott last night as well as mentioned by Jordan.

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Yahoo Sports and The Athletic Partner to Launch a New Digital Destination for Comprehensive Women’s Sports Coverage​

The partnership will create a free digital hub that guides fans to women’s sports news and analysis from Yahoo Sports and The Athletic​

NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2024 - Yahoo Sports and The Athletic announced a partnership today to create a new home for comprehensive women’s sports coverage.

The destination – a women’s sports hub on the Yahoo Sports website and app – will guide fans to written, audio, and video content produced by Yahoo Sports and The Athletic. The coverage will be free and available globally; a subscription to The Athletic is not required.

Popular shows – including “The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show” and “Full Time with Meg Linehan” – will be available in the hub. The hub will also showcase original reporting from The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig, Sabreena Merchant, Ben Pickman, and Chantel Jennings, as well as Yahoo Sports reporters and analysts Cassandra Negley, Isis “Ice” Young, Henry Bushnell, and more.

The partnership addresses clear, increased demand for women’s sports coverage, particularly across Yahoo Sports platforms. Views of women’s sports articles on Yahoo Sports are up 253% over the last 12 months. In addition, seven of the top 10 most-viewed articles on Yahoo Sports in August were about female athletes.

“This partnership is an exciting and important next step in our ongoing commitment to serving women’s sports fans,” said Ryan Spoon, President of Yahoo Sports. “We are proud to bring The Athletic’s world-class reporting to our platforms and to help millions of fans access extensive and expert women’s sports coverage.”

"The Athletic is the leader for journalism covering women’s sports and Yahoo Sports stands as one of the largest and most influential sports media and fantasy platforms,” said Sebastian Tomich, chief commercial and development officer at The Athletic. “By bringing these two powerhouse brands together, we're poised to significantly expand the reach of women's sports coverage and engage a broader audience. This partnership also offers an unparalleled opportunity for sponsors to connect with women’s sports at an industry-leading scale, aligning with the growing momentum and passion for women's sports."

The partnership also reflects both companies’ continued investment in women’s sports. In the past year, Yahoo Sports has hired dynamic experts to enhance its coverage, including Ice Young, a former collegiate and professional basketball player, as well as Olympics correspondents Allyson Felix, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Missy Franklin, Katie Hoff, and Shawn Johnson East. The Athletic has one of the largest global sports newsrooms, and one of the biggest, most passionate communities of global sports fans. The Athletic has built a foundation of coverage for fan-favorite women's sports leagues and teams. In the past year, The Athletic has evolved the breadth and depth of its reporting in focus areas such as professional women's soccer and basketball, creating further access and attracting even more new readers.

The Yahoo Sports-The Athletic women’s sports hub is available today on the Yahoo Sports website: yahoosports.com/womens-sports. The hub will launch in the Yahoo Sports app in the coming months.

About Yahoo

Yahoo serves as a trusted guide for hundreds of millions of people globally, helping them achieve their goals online through our portfolio of iconic products. For advertisers, Yahoo Advertising offers omnichannel solutions and powerful data to engage with our brands and deliver results. To learn more about Yahoo, please visit yahooinc.com.

About The Athletic

The Athletic, founded in 2016 and acquired by The New York Times in 2022, is the world’s leading direct-to-consumer digital sports media company committed to elevated sports storytelling. The Athletic has the world’s largest sports newsroom, with 500 full-time employees covering more than 250 professional sports and collegiate teams in the US and globally. Through a personalized subscriber experience built around the teams and leagues that fans follow, The Athletic delivers content and insight across a range of formats from written to audio, video and social - delivering powerful stories and smart analysis that bring sports fans closer to the heart of the game. From breaking news and live commentary to deeply reported long reads and exclusive interviews, subscribers rely on The Athletic for every sports story that matters.

We’ve reached the halfway point in the season, and Michigan State sits at 3-3. With a much-needed bye week, here are my takeaways from the first half of the season:

No. 5 Spartans Head West to Take on Oregon, Washington​

EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 5 Michigan State women's soccer makes its first Big Ten West Coast road trip this week, traveling to Oregon on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 9:30 p.m. ET before visiting Washington on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 4 p.m. ET.

Thursday's game will air nationally on Big Ten Network, while Sunday's game will stream on B1G+.

FIRST TOUCH
MSU (9-0-4, 4-0-2 B1G) extended its best start in program history to 13 games unbeaten last week with a 1-0 win over rival-Michigan on Oct. 5 at DeMartin Stadium. The Spartans broke the program attendance record for the second time this season in that match with 5,145 fans, shattering the previous record of 3,180 set on Aug. 22 vs. Arkansas.

Graduate midfielder Justina Gaynor netted a 76th-minute penalty kick against Michigan to secure MSU's third-straight win over the Wolverines. The goal was Gaynor's fourth of the season, all of which have been game winners. The second-half score brought her 2024 point total to 14, which ranks second on the team. She also leads MSU in assists this season with six. In goal, graduate goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parks recorded her seventh win and fifth clean sheet of the season against Michigan. She holds a 0.82 goals-against average this season and 83.9 save percentage.

Saturday's win over the Wolverines also marked head coach Jeff Hosler's 50th win at MSU. He now holds a 50-13-13 overall record in four seasons with the Spartans.

The Spartans' 13-game unbeaten streak is tied for the second-longest in the NCAA in 2024. MSU shares the streak with 10-0-3 Iowa, while Utah State leads with an 12-0-2 record. The three schools are the only remaining undefeated teams in Division I women's soccer this season.

The Spartans are ranked fifth in the United Soccer Coaches Poll this week for the fifth time this season. MSU has earned a top-five ranking in the poll for seven-straight weeks.

SCOUTING OREGON
Oregon head coach Graeme Abel holds a 24-41-21 record in five seasons in Eugene. The Ducks are 5-8 overall and 1-5 in the league this season after most recently falling at then-No. 21 USC, 2-0, on Oct. 5.

Senior midfielder Haley McWhirter leads the Ducks in scoring this season with nine points and is one of three Oregon players to score three goals this season. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Maddy Goldberg has started every game in goal for the Ducks this season and ranks second in the conference in saves with 56.

Thursday's meeting will be the first all-time between the two schools.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON
Washington is led by fifth-year head coach Nicole Van Dyke, who is 41-27-18 during her time with the Huskies. Washington is 6-4-2 (3-3 B1G) this season after 1-0 loss on the road against UCLA on Oct. 5.

Forwards Ioanna Papatheodorou and Samiah Shell lead the Huskies in scoring with eight points each. Shell leads in goals with four, while Papatheodorou and forward Kalea Eichenberger each have two assists. Junior goalkeeper Mia Hamant has made 31 saves this season.

Saturday's match will be the fifth all-time between the Spartans and Huskies, having previously met in 1992, 1995, 2017 and 2018. Washington holds a 3-0-1 edge in the series, including a 1-0-1 advantage in Seattle. The teams battled to a 1-1 draw in the last meeting on Sept. 2, 2018, at Husky Soccer Stadium after Washington won the first three matches in the series.

UP NEXT
MSU hosts Wisconsin at DeMartin Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 17 for a 7 p.m. contest.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

Those games are as follows:
Boston College, Fri. Oct 11 6 pm on BTN (all times ET)
at Wisconsin, Sat. Dec 7 at 8 pm on BTN
at Minnesota, Fri. Dec 13 at 8:30 pm on BTN
vs Wisconsin, Thu. Jan 2 at 6:30 pm on BTN
vs Wisconsin, Sat. Jan 4 at 9 pm on BTN
vs Michigan, Sat. Jan 18 at 6 pm on BTN
vs Minnesota, Sat. Jan 25 at 6 pm on BTN
vs Michigan, Sat. Feb 8 at 8 pm on BTN
vs Penn State, Fri. Feb 21 at 6 pm on BTN
vs Penn State, Sat. Feb 22 at 6 pm on BTN
at Notre Dame, Fri. Feb 28 at 7 pm on Peacock
at Notre Dame, Sat. March 1 at 6 pm on Peacock

We're doing the Buckeyes at Ducks since the Spartans have a bye week. Who ya got?

Michigan State is set to host junior college cornerback Keshawn Davila for its homecoming game versus Iowa on Oct. 19, according to @Adam Gorney's JUCO rumor mill.


Davila currently attends Northwest Mississippi Community College and ranks as the No. 14 JUCO prospect in the country. He has more than 40 scholarship offers.

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Michigan State suffered a third-straight loss as it struggled on the road at Oregon in a 31-10 defeat.

Full game recap here:

Jay Glazer
@JayGlazer

Just talked to Robert Saleh who said was blindsided by Woody Johnson walking to his office and letting him go. Certainly disappointed he wasn’t going to be given the opportunity to get things going with what he said is a very good roster

Saleh is from Dearborn Michigan and went to Northern Michigan.

As I was typing that headline, I thought "do people use the word 'scuttlebutt'" anymore? I deleted it but then re-typed it again because I want to use it.

Anyway, I've had some interesting conversations lately that I wanted to fill you in on.

Nothing outrageous or scandalous but interesting anyway.

Regarding the MSU Board of Trustees

There are four major party candidates for the two open seats (former Chair Dianne Byrum isn’t running for her third term and current Chair Dan Kelly failed to win the nomination of the Republican Party).

The Republicans nominated Mike Balow (a commercial real estate professional who was also on the ballot in 2022 and almost won) and Julie Maday, a former Novi City Councilmember and conservative “Spartan Mom.”

The Democrats nominated Rebecca Bahar-Cook (East Lansing) and Tommy Stallworth (Detroit). Rebecca is a professional fundraiser and former Ingham County commissioner while Stallworth is a former legislator who worked in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office and other state government positions.

In these races, the down-ballot candidates do well when the top of the ticket does well. A recent MIRS poll has Michigan essentially tied at the presidential level, so expect the race for Trustee to be tight as well.

People in the know at MSU are somewhat hesitant about Mike Balow joining the board. He has a rabble-rouser reputation (that may be good or bad, depending on your point of view). He's been engaged for three years as the leader of 'Battle for Spartan Swim and Dive' and just might get his seat on the board this year.

Regardless of who wins, MSU leaders just want to go back to a time where the board was boring (and normal). We'll see what happens there.

(Please keep any discussions about this portion as apolitical as possible so as to follow the rules of the board.)

Regarding MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz (I have to Google that spelling every time)

Sources say that Kevin G is likeable and is doing a good job. There will be some leadership transitions/movement announced in the next few weeks but nothing of too much interest to sports fans.

Interestingly, I got a text recently saying that Kevin G had opened up a 360 review of AD Alan Haller. I was able to confirm that that is indeed the case but I also confirmed that it isn't likely happening for any negative reason.

This is a new approach by a new president to learn about his leadership team and where they stand. It was something that was more of a standard practice at UNC, where he came from. I don't anticipate much coming from it - but I did find it interesting.

Regarding the Renaming of Kobs Field

You're likely aware that the other Ishbia - Justin - is donating millions of dollars to the athletic department (most going to a fund under Izzo's discretion) but enough is going to baseball that Ishbia gets to name the baseball stadium after his dad. Which is cool. Unless you're the Kobs family and you weren't made aware ahead of time. That's definitely not cool. MSU seems to stumble like this, often. Unnecessarily.

Recruiting is the name of the game in any college sport. Sure, there are other factors to having a successful program, but if a team doesn’t have the talent to be competitive, it is at a major disadvantage.

Michigan State men’s tennis is a perfect example of that. The Spartans are reaping the benefits of stacking impressive recruiting classes on top of one another.

It’s not just junior Ozan Baris, who is the No. 1 singles player in college tennis. Redshirt sophomore Aristotelis Thanos has also made his presence known in the college tennis scene. He is ranked at No. 72 in singles.

True freshman Matt Forbes was considered as a blue-chip prospect and is in the fold now as well. Forbes just played in the U.S. Open main draw last month, becoming the first Spartan to ever do so.

The recent infusion of talent under head coach Harry Jadun has added a competitive edge in practice between teammates.

Baris is the top player for Michigan State. Typically, his teammates are competitive with him in practice matches, but Baris usually wins.

When Forbes was playing Baris in preparation for the U.S. Open, Forbes was taking it to Baris. Baris needed a break and he was having a conversation with assistant coach Mike Flowers on the bench.

"'What do you need, a TED talk right now?'" Forbes asked. "'Let’s play tennis.'"

The competitiveness between the top players for the Spartans makes the team even better.

Read more here:

top 25 6’11 forward 2025. Izzo seems to be sitting well with him.

From the NCAA:

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MSU is set to take on Northern Michigan, Tom Izzo's alma mater, in the U.P. on Sunday. But this isn't a normal return back home.

Read here:

The roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, has been ripped off

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