Michigan State AD Alan Haller out after nearly 5 years in role

Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller is out after nearly five years of leading the department.

Haller, a former Spartans football player who has worked for MSU athletics since 2010 after more than a decade with the university’s police department, will step down May 11. He had been under contract through August 2026 after taking over as athletic director for Bill Beekman in September 2021.

University president Kevin Guskiewicz, who started at the school in 2024 after serving as North Carolina’s chancellor, thanked Haller, who he said is “deeply committed to this university and has led with honesty and integrity.”

Guskiewicz added that he will “seek a new athletic director who can best navigate the changing landscape of collegiate athletics while working closely with both internal and external stakeholders to move Michigan State forward as a leader among the Power Four institutions.”

Deputy athletic director Jennifer Smith and longtime men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo will serve as co-interim athletic directors during the search for Haller’s replacement.

Haller, who grew up near MSU in Lansing, Michigan, played cornerback for the Spartans from 1988 to 1991, before spending three seasons in the NFL. He became a lieutenant in the Michigan State police department before joining athletics, rising to deputy athletic director under Beekman in 2019.

His most significant coaching hire came in 2023, as he hired Jonathan Smith to lead the football program. Haller fired football coach Mel Tucker for cause in September 2023, after the university investigated Tucker for a sexual misconduct complaint brought by Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault awareness speaker. Last August, Tucker filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Michigan State that names Haller and interim president Teresa Woodruff.

Haller, 54, also hired women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick and hockey coach Adam Nightingale.