{"id":2959,"date":"2026-07-09T18:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2959"},"modified":"2026-07-09T18:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:39:12","slug":"clemson-hires-new-president-from-sec-school-after-first-choice-changed-his-mind-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2959","title":{"rendered":"Clemson hires new president from SEC school after first choice changed his mind"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Clemson has a new president &#8230; again.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Three days after Michigan State\u2019s Kevin Guskiewicz suddenly backed away from the university\u2019s top job, the Tigers picked a new leader: Georgia\u2019s Ben Ayers.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2957\">Argentine soccer body has poured millions into Miami. FBI wants to know why<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ayers, most recently UGA\u2019s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, was formally announced Thursday as Clemson\u2019s 16th president. The university board of trustees unanimously approved his hire in a virtual meeting.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ayers\u2019 first day as Clemson president will be Aug. 1. He\u2019s signing a five-year contract through 2031 with a starting base salary of $1 million and various perks that should bring his annual compensation closer to $1.3 million.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Clemson board chair Kim Wilkerson described Ayers as a \u201cdistinguished\u201d leader and said he was one of the university\u2019s top candidates in its initial search process.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ayers, according to Wilkerson, pulled out of Clemson\u2019s search before the university made its final selection for president the first time around in May. He wanted to remain \u201cfully committed\u201d to his Georgia duties, she wrote.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen circumstances changed, conversations resumed and the Board quickly affirmed what had become clear throughout the search: Dr. Ayers\u2019 experience and vision made him the unanimous choice,\u201d Wilkerson wrote in a message to campus.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<h2>Ayers: \u2018Tremendous honor\u2019 to lead Clemson<\/h2>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Before he was promoted to provost last summer, Ayers spent 11 years as the dean of Georgia\u2019s Terry College of Business, where Wilkerson said he had \u201chistoric\u201d success. He initially joined UGA as an assistant professor in 1996 and has spent 30 years working his way up the school\u2019s academic ranks.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>He also led UGA\u2019s accounting school during his time in Athens, Georgia and worked in private-sector financial jobs before transitioning into academia.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ayers earned his undergraduate degree and a master\u2019s degree at the University of Alabama and a doctorate of accounting from the University of Texas.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>He also won\u2019t have to move very far, considering Clemson and Athens are only 79 miles and a roughly 90-minute drive apart. The schools are considered regional rivals and play each other semi-frequently in football and other sports.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ayers will succeed Jim Clements, who was Clemson\u2019s president from 2013-24.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>He will also be just the third president at Clemson this century. Clements\u2019 predecessor, Jim Barker, spent 15 years as president from 1999-2013.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ayers, in a news release, said it was a \u201ctremendous honor\u201d to land the job.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cClemson\u2019s tradition of excellence, its commitment to students and its impact through teaching, research and service make it one of the nation\u2019s most respected public universities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2956\">Flock cameras: This SC town may triple cameras, deploy drones to aid surveillance<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<h2>Clemson board chair comments on Guskiewicz swerve<\/h2>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ayers\u2019 hire came three days after Guskiewicz \u2014 who was set to join Clemson in August \u2014 made national news by abruptly backing out of the job.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Guskiewicz had previously expressed concerns with effectively leading Michigan State amid board of trustees drama, calling the situation \u201cunsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>But he received assurances the school would improve its environment, Guskiewicz said in an open letter to MSU released Monday. Various school and student groups also made an all-out push for Guskeiwicz to stay, and he got a pay raise.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>His reversal was still a stunner. Less than two weeks earlier, Guskiewicz had been on Clemson\u2019s campus, wearing an orange tie, participating in board meetings and meeting with student and faculty groups.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In a Tuesday interview with \u201cThe Chronicle of Higher Ed,\u201d Guskiewicz said he decided to stay at MSU for \u201ca combination of both personal and professional considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of great things happening at Clemson University, and that very, very difficult decision that my wife and I made had nothing to do with anything that we were discouraged by at Clemson University,\u201d Guskiewicz told the website.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Guskiewicz was not mentioned by name in Thursday\u2019s meeting, but Wilkerson, Clemson\u2019s board chair, appeared to make two references to the recent drama surrounding the university\u2019s presidential search as Ayers was hired.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the truest tests in life is knowing with total clarity where you belong,\u201d Wilkerson said early in the meeting. \u201cIt reveals itself in its own time to each person in its own way, and when it does, that clarity deserves respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have watched that kind of clarity play out over the past several days. It is exactly what a search process of this rigor should surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Later, as she raved about Ayers\u2019 character, Wilkerson added of Clemson: \u201cGreat universities deserve leaders who put the institution ahead of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2954\">York man was held at gunpoint over incorrect Flock hit. Sheriff blames illegal tag cover<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Kevin Guskiewicz declined the job, Clemson\u2019s board unanimously hired Georgia\u2019s Ben Ayers, UGA senior vice president and former Terry College dean, as president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clemson-university"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Clemson hires new president from SEC school after first choice changed his mind - US Moving Experts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clemson hires new president from SEC school after first choice changed his mind - 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