EAST LANSING– MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz announced Wednesday that Alan Haller will step down as vice president and director of athletics, effective May 11.
The move comes just over three years into Haller’s tenure, which began in September 2021 during a period of institutional and athletic transition.
An interim leadership team has been established while a national search begins. Men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo and deputy athletic director Jennifer Smith will serve as co-interim athletic directors. The university is partnering with the search firm TurnkeyZRG to identify Haller’s successor.
“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 a statement. “He is deeply committed to this university and has led with honesty and integrity.”
Haller, a former MSU football player and longtime university administrator, oversaw a department that saw both on-field success and off-field scrutiny.
His tenure included several programmatic highs, such as Big Ten championships in women’s soccer, women’s gymnastics, and men’s basketball, alongside broader challenges facing collegiate athletics, including the evolving NIL landscape and conference realignment.
One of the most consequential responsibilities of any athletic director is hiring head coaches, and Haller made several during his time in the role. The results of those hires vary in terms of immediate impact and long-term trajectory:
Jonathan Smith (Football, 2023)
Robyn Fralick (Women’s Basketball, 2023)
Adam Nightingale (Men’s Hockey, 2022)
Leah Johnson (Volleyball, 2022)
Kristen Kelsay (Volleyball, 2024)
Haller’s time as AD coincided with one of the most unpredictable stretches in collegiate sports history, from NIL policy shifts to conference changes.
Academically, MSU student-athletes hit a high watermark in 2024 with a record 3.4324 cumulative GPA, which was a big point of emphasis during Haller’s administration.
MSU now turns the page as it searches for a new athletic director tasked with leading in an increasingly professionalized and competitive NCAA landscape.
“Our next athletic director will lead one of the nation’s more storied athletic programs, home to 23 varsity sports, a passionate fan base, a long legacy of academic and athletic excellence and, most importantly, an ambitious future,” Guskiewicz said in a statement.
