The drumbeat from East Lansing lately is a mournful cadence of sorrowful notes. The Detroit Free Press delivers more Sunday:
Days after George Perles stunned members of the Michigan State University community by announcing that he was immediately stepping down from his board of trustees seat, MSU formally wiped out a nearly $200,000 debt the former football coach owed on a gift pledge.
The move zeroed the balance that Perles, also the school's former athletic director, owed on a $500,000 pledge to the school, according to confidential donation records obtained by the Free Press. The pledge was to cover half the cost of a $1-million plaza in front of the school’s football building. It is named for Perles and his wife.
Ex-Coach George Perles, a 2006-18 trustee. (Photo: MSU)
Hold on -- reporter David Jesse drops another shoe with a significant clunk:
The directive to zero out Perles’ balance came from the office of then-interim President John Engler, multiple sources employed inside Engler's administration told the Free Press. . . .
Perles said in his resignation statement [Nov. 28] that his poor health — he has suffered from Parkinson's for years — played a major role in his decision . . . but others say the debt was forgiven to encourage Perles to retire early so Engler's supporters could persuade then-Gov. Rick Snyder to appoint a pro-Engler board member. . . .
A close friend of Perles, who said he spoke with him after the November resignation, said Perles told him the pledge being forgiven had been one of the factors in his decision.
Engler quit four days ago on the eve of a board vote to fire him. His reported gambit two months to get a supportive replacement for Perles hadn't worked, Jesse recounts:
The move backfired when Snyder picked someone with no ties to either Engler or anyone else on the board.
Detroit hospital executive Nancy Schlichting now fills the seat.
Perles, and 84-year-old native Detroiter, graduated from Western High School and. He had been a trustee since 2006 at MSU, where he played football in 1958 until a knee injury ended that part of his on-field career. He later became a graduate assistant to the Spartans' coaching staff and also was a defensive line coach before moving to the NFL.
He was defensive line coach, defensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1972-82) and returned to MSU head coach from 1983-94. Perles led the Spartans to two Big Ten Conference titles and seven bowl games, including a 1988 Rose Bowl win over the University of Southern California.
