Ex-Michigan State coach Mel Tucker receives 3-year show-cause, school gets 3 years of probation for recruiting violations

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Michigan State’s football program has received three years of probation and former head coach Mel Tucker was given a show-cause penalty as part of a negotiated resolution with the NCAA over recruiting violations.

The school was also fined $30,000 along with 1.5% of its budget with added recruiting restrictions. According to the NCAA, former MSU general manager and player personnel director Saeed Khalif and assistant coach Brandon Jordan “knowingly provided impermissible recruiting inducements in connection with prospective student-athletes’ unofficial visits.”

The NCAA said that Khalif and Jordan along with “other members of the football staff” provided over $10,700 in impermissible benefits to recruits from October 2021 through March 2023.

Tucker was given a three-year show-cause order “during which time any employing member school must restrict him from all athletically related activity” and a third-season suspension if he’s hired by another school during the show-cause window. Khalif was handed a six-year show-cause. You can read the full NCAA decision here.

“Today’s announcement brings closure to an NCAA investigation resulting from violations committed by a previous staff,” a statement from Michigan State president Kevin Guskiewicz and athletic director J Batt said. “Michigan State pursued a negotiated resolution to minimize the penalties and limit the possible impact on our current football student-athletes and staff, who were not involved in the violations. With this matter behind us, we are able to move forward, focusing on the present and future of Spartan football.”

MSU was officially served with the notice of allegations earlier this year over self-reported violations in August of 2023. The violations were reported a month before Tucker was fired by the school for cause after he was accused of sexually harassing an anti-rape activist while she was working as a vendor with the school. His contract had a clause that allowed the school to fire him if he engaged in conduct that was considered “moral turpitude” or acted in a way that “brought public disrespect, contempt or ridicule upon the university.”

Tucker had $75 million remaining on the 10-year contract he had signed after the school won 11 games in 2021. That was his second season with the school after he came over from Colorado. The Spartans were 5-7 in 2022 and 2-0 when Tucker was fired. He has not coached collegiately since his firing.

Harlon Barnett took over as Michigan State's interim coach for the rest of the 2023 season after Tucker's departure. The school hired Jonathan Smith from Oregon State the following offseason but have gone just 9-13 in Smith's first 22 games with the Spartans. 

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos