East Lansing, Mich. - Alan Haller’s dream job has begun.
Haller was named Michigan State’s new athletic director on Wednesday, with the university’s Board of Trustees unanimously approving president Samuel Stanley’s appointment of Haller to the post. Haller’s work as athletic director will begin immediately.
“This is my dream responsibility,” Haller said. “I love this university. I love this community. I’m excited to go to work for you. It’s truly an honor to lead a department that has meant so much to my life.”
Haller graduated from Michigan State in 1991, played football for the Spartans, played in the NFL for four years, served as a police officer for the Michigan State University Police Department for 13 years, and joined the Michigan State athletic department in 2010, rising to Senior Associate Athletic Director in 2015 and Chief of Staff in 2017.
Among other things, Haller has been instrumental in the hiring of MSU’s last two football coaches - Mark Dantonio and Mel Tucker - and has overseen MSU’s plans for wide-ranging athletic facilities upgrades.
“This is not a job,” Haller said. “This is my responsibility to make sure these athletes succeed. We’re about to do something incredible.”
Stanley led the search for a candidate to replace Bill Beekman, who stepped down as athletic director on Aug. 5. Beekman has been reassigned within the university’s administration.
Michigan State hired an external firm to assist in the search.
“At the end of the day there was one person I wanted to bring to the board and Alan Haller was that finalist,” Stanley said.
University officials said Haller will be available for further interviews later this week and early next week.
Haller was hired to a five-year contract. Terms will be released soon.
INSIDE STANLEY’S DECISION
Haller had broad support from past Michigan State football players and members of the athletic department.
“There was extraordinary enthusiasm for his candidacy,” Stanley said. “I think he is going to be a difference-maker at Michigan State University.”
Haller holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from MSU and a master’s degree in human resources from Central Michigan University.
When asked if he spoke with Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo or other coaches about the candidates and process, Stanley said. “I had a number of discussions with both coaches and had very productive conversations. I did keep them posted on the progress of the search but not for their views on specific candidates for the search.”
Stanley resisted initial internal pushes to immediately promote Haller and opened a national search.
“I think it was really important to do a national search,” Stanley said. “It had been some time since Michigan State had done a national search for an athletic director. We have been fortunate that Michigan State has had some strong internal candidates but I think it’s almost important to benchmark what’s out there in the field and recognize whether you’re picking the right person for the position.
“I wanted to make sure the person we had leading Michigan State University’s athletic program was really the most qualified and best-suited for the job. I think we accomplished that. I think we had a strong pool. We had an opportunity to look at them, look at their experiences and we also had a chance to really get to know, at least I did, Alan Haller better than I had before.
“I worked with Alan in the past. I knew him as a very competent individual within the athletic department and someone who is trustworthy.”
Stanley has tapped Haller for leadership in the past. Late last year, Stanley asked Haller to chair the university’s search committee for a new chief of the Michigan State Police Department.
“I asked him to chair the committee because of the trust and confidence I had in him because of his dual background in law enforcement and in athletics as well,” Stanley said.
In addition to Haller’s interview with Stanley and his consultants last weekend, Stanley also had deeper personal and professional conversations with Haller.
“In deep conversations with him about athletics, I realized that he had all the right qualifications that we were looking for, in particular his integrity and willingness to be a role model for student-athletes and relate to student-athletes was incredibly important,” Stanley said. “His demonstrated connection to student-athletes and also his dedication to student-athletes’ success (was important) and that’s a critical part of our program.
“When you add to that his experience in football - which is obviously the largest sport in terms of what we do and one of the most visible - it really added up to a package that I thought was very convincing.”
MSU’s president said he benefitted from getting to know Haller better during this month’s search process, and a deep conversation the two had in recent days.
“It was a great conversation,” Stanley said. “It was wide-ranging. We talked about what’s happening currently in college athletics and how Michigan State should be working within it, and what we can do to remain student athlete-centered in this environment? What do we do as things change in terms of who may be enforcing the future, and the NCAA and their role? Where do we want to stand competitively in the Big Ten Conference? These are the kind of things we were able to get into.”
Haller’s wide-ranging experiences at Michigan State were a plus, in Stanley’s eyes.
“When he talked about the fact that not only had he been a football player at Michigan State and ended up being a professional for four years, but also that he had been a track and field athlete as well at Michigan State University and made a pretty telling comment. He said he is really proud of what’s happened with the football facilities and how much they’ve improved in 30 years, but now when he looks at track and field, things haven’t improved much in 30 years. So we have work to do.
“So we talked about the fact that we want to make sure our revenue sports are adequately supported but at the same time we want to make sure our Olympic sports are supported as well. That’s something that stood out to me in the conversations we had.”
Haller will be introduced to the Spartan community during a celebration at Breslin Student Events Center at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7. The event will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
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