Southwestern Michigan College’s ninth President Dr. Klint Pleasant was officially introduced to the community April 24 at a Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce reception on the SMC campus in the Charles O. Zollar Building’s Student Activity Center.

Pleasant brings 28 years of experience in higher education, including two decades in leadership roles. His background spans enrollment management, athletics, development, student retention, mentoring and community relations, along with experience as a classroom instructor.

Pleasant, who was joined by his parents; wife Rachel; the younger of two daughters, Julia, 16, a varsity soccer player; two siblings; and friends who drove over from the east side of the state, spoke about coaching basketball in terms of team-building.

Team-building helped care for his older daughter when Abbey, 21, fell ill while studying abroad. She joined the welcome event via Zoom from Pepperdine University in Malibu.

“My training as a coach serves me well,” Pleasant said. “I know about teamwork and the value of passing and sharing the ball and how important it is for everybody to shine. I know it’s amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.”

Pleasant will be inducted June 7 into the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Hall of Fame, joining his father, Garth. He was also enshrined by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) in 2025.

“Each and every day,” Pleasant said, “we have a chance to play a part in the transformation of a student’s life. That’s why I’ve worked in higher education my entire career. It happens both in the classroom and in extra-curricular settings.”

In 2013, a year his Warriors won a national championship, Pleasant coached a player who had to be bailed out of jail once.  

“We were ready to give up on him, but you could tell he wanted to do the right thing — he just wasn’t sure what that was. So we stuck with him, and he started to grow and thrive.”

The player married, has three kids, went on to play professionally in Spain and is an upstanding citizen.

“At this time last year, Abbey was studying in London and took a weekend trip to the Canary Islands (a Spanish archipelago off the coast of Africa). “She got violently ill. The pilot landed the plane in Santiago, with an ambulance waiting on the tarmac. I remembered that he lives in Spain. He jumped on his motorcycle, went to her and reported back to us that she was going to be okay. The next day, when she was released, he took her to the pharmacy, got her medicine, checked her into an Airbnb, got her some food and took her to the airport. Here’s someone we almost gave up on, but we hung in there, his life was transformed and it turned into a situation where he was now giving back to me and my family.”

Abbey will spend this summer working in a Michigan congressional office in Washington before law school.

Pleasant, who was introduced by Board of Trustees Chairman Tom Jerdon, quoted Dr. Peter Drucker, an expert on  higher education, who ranks the job of college president as second in difficulty to that of President of the United States.

“He said you have such a diverse constituency. You’re trying to satisfy faculty, staff, other administrators, direct reports, alumni, donors, community members, taxpayers and the Board of Trustees. The second reason Drucker cites is you have such complex challenges, financial constraints, external events, demographics, cultural debates and institutional accreditation. I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge, so here I am.”

“You can count on that I will make mistakes,” he said. “But when I do, I’ll admit them, learn from them and try to avoid making that mistake again.”

“I love to work and I will work hard,” said Pleasant, a published author who since 2017 has been senior vice president at Rochester Christian University in Rochester Hills.

“I can’t get to work early enough, and I like to stay late. I’ll be passionate and put my full heart into the work. I’ll try to listen more than I talk. I will always seek to understand before I seek to be understood. I’m not going to shy away from leadership and will always strive to be a person who leads with integrity and do my very best to communicate clearly and thoroughly because that helps build trust.

“I will respect our rich heritage and history. I spent 3 1/2 hours last night (at Rotary’s dinner) with (President Emeritus) Dr. David Mathews, whom I greatly admire.

“I will look for ways to engage the larger Cass County community,” he said. “The taxpayers own SMC. It’s our job to be good stewards and good neighbors.”

Emily Schrock, SMC’s manager of development and SMC Foundation board executive director, did double duty as a Chamber board member.

“As an SMC alumna, I bought my first home here in Dowagiac,” she said. “This is a special corner of the world. SMC has a way of becoming part of your story, whether you plan it or not. That is not an accident, but the result of generations of dedicated faculty, staff and community members. Buying my home was more than an investment, it was a declaration that I want to be part of this place. Dowagiac has that effect on people.”