Michigan State AD still waiting on results of UM sign-stealing investigation

Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller had himself a tough year.

First, he had to navigate an unprecedented situation in East Lansing.

The head football coach who he gave a 10-year, $95-million contract extension in the middle of the 2021 football season was ousted on Sept. 10 for having an inappropriate relationship with Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and anti-sexual violence advocate, who had multiple speaking engagements with the Spartan football team. Mel Tucker, the head coach in question, was alleged to have displayed a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward Tracy, including sexual harassment.

Haller, rightly, terminated Tucker's contract mid-football season.

That was the low point for MSU in 2023, but it wasn't the only drama surrounding the Spartans last season. 

A few weeks after Tucker's firing, a massive cheating scandal broke out down the street in Ann Arbor. Mich., as MSU's arch-rival, was accused of having an illegal sign-stealing operation headed up by a low-level staffer named Connor Stalions.

Amongst the many allegations that led to Stalions resigning and linebackers coach Chris Partridge being fired for "covering up" Stalions' actions, was that Stalions himself was actually trying to steal Michigan State's signs during a Week 1 matchup with Central Michigan in East Lansing. It was reported that the NCAA was investigating a man who appeared to look like Stalions on the CMU bench, wearing official CMU gear and a bench credential.

Even now, more than a half year later, that investigation is still weighing on Haller. Michigan has been punished, Stalions has been ostracized and Jim Harbaugh has run off to the NFL, but Haller still has to worry about Michigan State's relationship with Central Michigan.

“I’m interested in the outcome of the investigation. And it could impact our relationship with Central Michigan,” Haller recently told The Lansing State Journal.

Michigan State has, over the years, scheduled early season games with Central Michigan as a way to help the MAC program with revenue as well as exposure.  If the NCAA investigation concluded that it was indeed Stalions on CMU's sideline in that contest, that fact alone could ruin the long-standing relationship between the two athletic departments.

For what it's worth, CMU head coach Jim McElwain did denounce any ties to Michigan's sign-stealing operation when this all came out.

"We are obviously aware of a picture floating around with the sign-stealer guy," McElwain said (h/t 247Sports) "Our people are doing everything they can to get to the bottom of it. We were totally unaware of it and certainly don't condone it in any way, shape or form. I do know his name was on none of the passes that were let out. We keep tracing it back and tracing it back and trying to figure it out. It's in good hands with our people. There's no place in football for that."