Michigan State University president Samuel Stanley and the Board of Trustees announced Alan Haller as the Spartans’ 20th athletic director Wednesday.
Alan Haller never went too far from home. The Lansing native and Michigan State alum returned to campus after a few years in the NFL to become a police officer, then moved into the athletic department. He now faces an even bigger and broader task: running all of the Spartans’ sports and pulling his alma mater’s athletic department out of debt. MSU named Haller its 20th athletic director during a special Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday. Haller,50, beat out current Auburn athletic director Allen Greene following interviews over the weekend, sources told the Free Press on Monday, after university president Samuel Stanley commissioned a national search to replace Bill Beekman. [ Just like Saban and Smart, MSU’s Mel Tucker isn’t gonna tip his hand… for anybody ] Haller’s hiring comes on the first day of classes at MSU and two days before the Spartans’ football team kicks off the season at Northwestern. Beekman announced his resignation as athletic director Aug.4. The 54-year-old Okemos native is moving into a new role as vice president for strategic initiatives under Stanley, who hired College Sports Associates to conduct a national search and help identify candidates. That process provided some tension internally, but the university leaders ultimately picked Haller, whose only time away from the greater Lansing area came when he played professionally in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Carolina from 1992-95.
