Michigan State parts ways with athletic director Alan Haller

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State has relieved athletics director Alan Haller of his duties, effective May 11, Michigan State president Kevin Guskiewicz announced via press release on Thursday.

Jennifer Smith, who serves as Deputy Athletic Director/Senior Women’s Administration/Compliance, and MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo will be interim athletic directors while a formal search is conducted to find a replacement. Haller is under contract with Michigan State through Sept. 1, 2026 with a base salary of $800,000.

Guskiewicz cited a need for new leadership in the changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics. There are no indications of wrongdoing or improprieties.

“I’m grateful for Alan’s leadership since I joined the university and appreciate the success our programs have seen under his leadership,” Guskiewicz said in the press release. “He is deeply committed to this university and has led with honesty and integrity.”

Haller was hired as athletic director on Sept. 1, 2021. He was hired to replace Bill Beekman, who rose from interim athletic director to the permanent job in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, which resulted in former long-time athletic director Mark Hollis stepping down from the job.

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Haller’s record of hiring new coaches at Michigan State in a short period of time has been strong, specifically in the sports of hockey and women’s basketball. Haller’s overseeing of Jonathan Smith’s hiring in December of 2023 was graded at the time by national pundits as one of the top hirings in college football for that season. 

Sources tell SpartanMag that Haller’s lack of vision and strength in the name, image and licensing fund raising space damaged his support internally among department coaches and administrators and ultimately donors.

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Haller is a former Michigan State football player and track athlete. He played defensive back in the NFL and is a former police officer. He joined the Michigan State athletic department in 2010 following a 13-year career with the Michigan State Department of Police and Public Safety. In the fall of 2006, while serving as 1st Lt. for the MSU Police Department, he worked with Hollis and Izzo in the search for a new Michigan State football coach, ultimately resulting in the hiring of Mark Dantonio.

Haller was promoted to Deputy Athletic Director in 2019 after serving as the Chief of Staff and Senior Associate Athletic Director for the previous three years.

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Haller oversaw key hirings during his tenure as Michigan State athletics director. He conducted the search for a new hockey coach and hired Adam Nightingale in May of 2022. Nightingale has revitalized the Michigan State hockey program in three seasons, winning the Big Ten championship in each of the last two, and becoming the No. 1 overall seed for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. In the process, Michigan State hockey went from being a program which routinely drew fewer than 3,000 fans per game to a program which has sold out 6,114-seat Munn Ice Arena 41 of its last 42 games, including two exhibition games, and 33 straight.

Months earlier, Haller fired former Michigan State hockey coach Danton Cole after five straight losing seasons. Sources tell SpartanMag that Haller’s internal exit interviews with Michigan State hockey players following the 2022 season were a factor in Cole’s dismissal. 

Haller oversaw the search for a new head football coach after Mel Tucker was fired in September of 2023 amid allegations of sexual harrasment. Relations between Tucker and Haller had grown strained prior to Tucker’s firing. In November of 2021, while Tucker was in the midst of an 11-2, Top 10 season, Michigan State signed Tucker to a contract extension, agreeing to pay him $95 million over 10 years. Sources with knowledge of the situation told SpartanMag that Haller was not in favor of the contract. Donors pushed the contract through despite Haller’s concerns. Tucker’s relationship with Haller grew strained afterward. When Tucker was fired, Haller was insulated from blame.

More than $80 remained on Tucker’s contract when Michigan State fired him. Tucker filed suit against Michigan State in August of 2024, claiming wrongful dismissal and defamation. The suit is unresolved.

After Tucker’s initial suspension, Haller elevated Harlon Barnett to interim head coach. Haller made the decision to part ways with his former teammate, Barnett, following the 2023 season, and conduct a national search for a new football coach. 

Haller hired former Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith in November of 2023. Smith went 5-7 in his first season, in 2024.

In January, the Detroit Free Press reported that Michigan State’s athletic department ran at a deficit of $16.7 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

“The net loss in the 2023-24 NCAA financial report is largely attributed to changes in the football and women’s basketball programs, including severance and buyout packages and other costs and impacts associated with one-time coaching staff changes,” Matt Larson, Michigan State’s associate athletic director for communications told the Free Press.

Michigan State’s athletic department ran at a $33.2 million deficit during the two pandemic fiscal years of 2019-20 and 2020-21. Michigan State’s athletic department operated at a $16.35 million surplus in 2021-22.

In August of 2023, former Michigan State hockey strength and conditioning coach Mark Vorkapich, a former Michigan State football player, filed a federal lawsuit against Michigan State for alleged discriminatory treatment, naming Haller and deputy athletic directory Ashton Henderson as defendants. Michigan State and Vorkapich reached a settlement in May of 2024. Terms of the settlement were not released.

Haller oversaw the planning and construction of the 65,000-square-foot, $67.75 Tom Izzo Football Building, which was an addition to and renovation of the Skandalaris Football Center and Duffy Daugherty Football Building. In 2021, former Michigan State basketball player and mortgage lender billionaire Mat Ishbia earmarked $20 million of a university-record $32 million donation to the Izzo Football Building. Later that year, Greg and Dawn Williams announced a $10 million commitment to the building, via the Spartan Fund.

On April 12, the Michigan State Board of Trustees voted 6-1-1 to approve the construction of a 6,000-seat arena for Spartan volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling, as part of A $150 million project termed “The Spartan Gateway District” at the corner of South Harrison and Trowbridge Roads.

Housing, hotel, parking, restaurants, retail, sponsorships and future bonds will help foot the bill, over time, but the athletic department will have to generate much of the money to pay for it as well. Haller proposed the project, but will no longer be athletic director when ground is broken. The arena is scheduled to be completed in late 2027 and will stand as Haller’s most significant tangible accomplishment and contribution to the Michigan State sports landscape, although he won’t be in office to handle the financial burdens its might create.

As for breakthough events at Michigan State, Haller took the risk of moving a regular season home game against Penn State to Ford Field during Thanksgiving Weekend of 2023. The move to play in climate-controlled Ford Field during a chilly weekend drew heavy initial criticism but ended up being a popular event and a positive money maker in comparison to most of Michigan State’s recent home games during the holiday weekend.

Michigan State announced on March 5 that the Spartans will return to Ford Field for a home game during Thanksgiving Weekend against Maryland to cap the 2025 regular season schedule. If Michigan State continues to play home games at Ford Field during Thanksgiving Weekend in the future, that could remain as one of Haller’s longlasting imprints on the athletic department.

HALLER’S OTHER HIRINGS AND FIRINGS

Haller hired Michigan State women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick on March 31, 2023. Haller sought a new head coach after former head coach Suzy Merchant was relieved of her duties following the 2022-23 season. Michigan State’s women’s basketball team has gone 44-19 in Fralick’s first two seasons, including two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Michigan State had missed the NCAA Tournament in two straight seasons prior to Merchant’s departure.

Haller conducted a national search when hiring Fralick, and quietly attended a Bowling Green women’s basketball game to watch her coach in person while considering her candidacy.

On Dec. 22, 2024, Haller hired Kristen Kelsay as the Spartans’ new volleyball coach. Kelsay, a former Michigan State player, had served as assistant coach at Minnesota and Northwestern previously. 

Haller oversaw the departure of Kelsay’s predecessor, Leah Johnson. Johnson and Haller mutually came to the decision for Johnson to be relieved of her duties following the 2024 season. Johnson went 43-50 in three seasons as head coach. Sources tell SpartanMag that family considerations were part of the reasons that Johnson agreed to step down. 

Haller hired Johnson in December of 2022. Johnson had coached at Illinos State previously.

The cost of Fralick’s contract and Johnson’s severance package caused Haller to receive criticism internally. Fralick’s base contract of $900,000 per year made her the third highest paid women’s basketball coach in the Big Ten.

In June of 2022, Haller hired softball coach Sharonda McDonald-Kelley, who is 50-89 in two-and-a-half seasons. 

Michigan State will use the search firm TurnkeyZRG, along with an advisory committee, the university announced in the press release.