East Lansing, Mich. - The Big Ten Conference issued a statement on Monday, admonishing both Michigan State and Michigan for respective roles in the post-game tunnel incident at Michigan Stadium on Oct. 29. That incident resulted in the suspension of eight Michigan State football players and criminal charges for seven of those individuals.
Michigan State was levied a $100,000 fine for the actions of its student-athletes. Michigan received a public reprimand from the Big Ten for failing to ensure the safety of its own and visiting student athletes.
"We accept the findings from the Big Ten Conference and are ready to move forward as a football program," Michigan State Athletic Director Alan Haller and head football coach Mel Tucker said in a joint statement. "We are committed to supporting our student-athletes and will continue to do so throughout this process."
The fine is the largest handed down from the Big Ten office, eclipsing the $40,000 fine levied against Michigan after its head basketball coach, Juwan Howard, struck a Wisconsin assistant coach with an open-hand slap in February.
“The Big Ten Conference has a standard of excellence both academically and athletically that has been built over 127 years,” Big Ten Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement released on Monday. “Our standards require that our student athletes, coaches and staff members represent the conference, and their member institutions, with the highest level of decorum and sportsmanship. We are taking disciplinary action and will continue to work with our member institutions to strengthen their gameday procedures and ensure our honored traditions.”
In the Big Ten press release, the conference stated:
"The conference has concluded that the University of Michigan did not meet the standards of the Big Ten Conference Football Game Management Manual policy. The policy requires the conference member institution game host to provide adequate protection for personnel of both home and visiting teams when entering and leaving playing arenas. Members of both teams did not represent the level of sportsmanship that is expected from the Big Ten Conference and its member institutions."
The Big Ten has also determined that no further disciplinary action needs to be taken against six of the seven Michigan State players that have been suspended since the tunnel incident. Those players include Tank Brown, Zion Young, Angelo Grose, Jacoby Windmon, Brandon Wright and Justin White.
Brown, Young, Grose, Windmon, Wright, and White still face misdemeanor assault charges filed last week.
Tucker and Haller announced that those six players have been immediately reinstated.
Michigan State sophomore cornerback Khary Crump, who faces felony assault charges stemming from the incident, will be suspended for the first eight games of the 2023 season by the Big Ten. Crump was seen on tape swinging his helmet during the tunnel incident in an altercation with Michigan's Gemon Green.
