EAST LANSING - Bill Beekman joked that his only athletic experience came as a high school cross country runner "more than a few pounds ago."
When Michigan State interim president John Engler asked him to take over as interim athletic director, Beekman thought his high school friends would be shocked because he was "about the least likely person they'd suspect to be in this role."
Beekman went out of his way to make light of his previous inexperience in sports, but he now holds down the top position in the Michigan State athletic department. The interim tag was removed when Engler named him the permanent athletic director during a press conference Monday morning on campus.