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Published Feb 16, 2023
Alan Haller leads his athletic department well through this difficult time
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David Harns  •  Spartans Illustrated
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When tragedy strikes, there are no easy answers.

Chaos ensued on Michigan State’s campus Monday night and Spartan leaders were thrust into a situation that they had never had to deal with before.

The president of the university, the chairwoman of the board of trustees, the spokesperson for the MSU Police Department, the communications team for the university, the athletic director, and so on and so forth.

University employees stepped up and did their jobs, in the most difficult of circumstances.

Behind each of those Spartan leaders are dozens of other Spartans whose behind-the-scene work allows the public-facing team members to do their job well.

Across MSU's sprawling campus, each and every person had a role and – it appears – everyone performed their role admirably.

That’s not an accident. In order for an organization to follow through and execute well in a pressure-filled situation, the right people have to be in place and the right plans have to have been drawn up and practiced, as much as is feasible anyway.

Michigan State’s struggles as of late have been well-chronicled. I won’t spend the time here to detail the difficulties and the frustrations that the Spartan community has gone through recently. But I believe it is just as important to drop ink on the positive side of the ledger when it is deserved. And this week -- in this situation -- it is more than deserved.

When tragedy strikes, you find out what people are made of. Sometimes people wilt under the pressure, and other times they lead. Sometimes people step up in a way they didn’t know they could.

Despite our faults, and in spite of our weaknesses, on Feb. 13, 2023, Spartans stepped up when they were needed. Students performed their role admirably, sheltering in place for four harrowing hours, allowing the police, fire, and EMS teams the time and space they needed to perform their roles.

The university communications team and the MSUPD communications team both did their job very well, being both very transparent and quick with the information. It might sound overly dramatic, but it’s not – the way the Spartans executed in that tremendously difficult situation no doubt saved lives.

Admittedly, in the pecking order of importance, athletics is way down there on the list.

But it’s still on the list.

And since this is a sports website, it's important to take a little bit of a deeper dive into how the athletic department handled this difficult situation.

There aren’t manuals for the situation that Alan Haller found himself in Monday night.

MSU’s athletic director – on the job for less than 18 months now – was up until 3:00 a.m. the night that tragedy struck his campus, doing everything he could to assist the response team.

Then he woke up early the next day and held a Zoom call with the head coaches of MSU's various programs; he had made arrangements to have mental health professionals on the call. Together, they all discussed what they could expect when they engaged with their teams and what they should do. Importantly, they all learned about how different people will grieve differently – and that that is OK.

“Everybody grieves different and everybody processes trauma in a million different ways,” Izzo said at his Wednesday evening press conference. “I've gone through so many different highs and lows that I, too, am learning new things. But like I said last night [at the vigil], whatever you're feeling is valid. I wouldn't have said that a couple of years ago. I guess I'm maturing with age. I have a better understanding right now that not everybody processes things the same way.”

Izzo took the information he learned on that Zoom call and applied it to his team; he also incorporated it into his speech near The Rock Wednesday evening, which inspired thousands of people in person (and tens of thousand of people online).

After the Zoom meeting on Tuesday morning, Izzo gathered his team to his house – they were not allowed to be on campus – for breakfast and a discussion of the situation.

Meanwhile, Haller was continuing his work, pulling together his senior leadership team to discuss the way forward, what it might look like, the resources that the various teams needed, and how to best protect the student-athletes in his care.

“The focus for the athletic department today has been the mental health and wellness of our student-athletes and staff,” Haller said. “All across campus, different [departments] are doing the same to make sure everyone is getting the resources they need."

Haller realized that at some point the university’s athletic teams were going to get back to competition and it was important to take everything into consideration when doing so.

"At some point in the days ahead, we will return to the field of competition,” Haller said. “I've been reminded today that everyone will process trauma in a different manner. Our commitment to look after one another has never been more necessary."

Haller and his leadership team talked to the student-athletes as they contemplated what the next few days, weeks, and months might look like.

“Student-athletes were given an active voice in the decision to return to competition, as well as the autonomy to make their own individual choices about participation,” Haller said. "I also recognize that everyone grieves in their own unique manner, and there are some who aren't ready to return to athletic events. The safety and physical and mental well-being of our students and staff is the primary focus of Michigan State athletics.”

The path forward became clear with each conversation Haller had with the Spartan student-athletes and the mental health professionals who guided him in his decision making.

"In consultation with mental health professionals and in conversations with our student-athletes it became apparent that a return to practice and competition is a crucial part of their recovery,” Haller said.

So the competitions are back under way. The hockey team is in Wisconsin. The baseball team is in Arizona. Soon, the women's basketball team will host Maryland in East Lansing and the men's basketball team will head to Ann Arbor.

This was a difficult situation to get through and -- to be clear -- we aren't through it yet. But, all things considered, at this point, it seems obvious to outside observers that, from top to bottom, Michigan State’s athletic department is in good hands.

Running a top notch athletic department is not an easy thing to do. But Alan Haller gets it. His instincts are correct and his execution is remarkable. He knows when he needs outside help and he is willing to go get it when necessary. He puts the student-athletes first and makes sure that the decisions he makes are made for the right reasons.

The character and leadership of Alan Haller has been there all along – it’s just that tragedies like this shine a light squarely in the eye of those in charge, to see what they're made of.

And, in this case, Haller didn’t blink.

MichiganState
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8 - 2
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2 - 0
Conference Record
Finished
Michigan St.
89
Arrow
Michigan St.
Nebraska
52
Nebraska
Minnesota
72
Minnesota
Michigan St.
90
Arrow
Michigan St.
N. Carolina
91
N. Carolina
Michigan St.
94
Arrow
Michigan St.
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