Mel Tucker hasn't been Michigan State's head football coach for more than two years, but his scandalous exit continues to linger over the Spartans football program.
Wednesday, Michigan State officials announced that the school had agreed to three years' probation and additional penalties from the NCAA's Committee On Infractions' investigation into Tucker's former program.
Among the penalties to the school: three years' probation, as well as an additional immediate fine of $30,000, as well as an additional 1.5-percent fine based on the total of the Michigan State football operating budget -- which had a budget at that time of more than $40,000,000 per various reports, and vacating wins from the participation of ineligible players.
Additionally, multiple members of Tucker's former Michigan State coaching staff -- including Tucker himself -- have been handed multi-year "show-cause" penalties.
"Today's announcement brings closure to an NCAA Investigation resulting from violations committed by a previous staff," Michigan State President Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz and Athletics Director J Batt said in a joint statement issued by the school. "Michigan State pursued a negotiated resolution to minimize the penalties and limit the possible impact on our current football student-athletes and staff, who were not involved in the violations. With this matter behind us, we are able to move forward, focusing on the present and future of Spartan football."
Tucker, the former head coach who didn't get to complete his fourth season and has since been involved in a lawsuit with Michigan State as well as Brenda Tracy, whose inappropriate conducts leveled at Tucker sparked the beginning of the end of his Spartans tenure, has received a three-year show-cause penalty.
Brandon Jordan, a former defensive assistant and "pass rush specialist," was slapped with a five-year show-cause penalty while Saeed Khalif received the most severe penalty at six years.
Khalif has been working in private industry as an "NIL, branding, personnel and recruiting specialist."
Michigan State soared to an 11-win season under Tucker in 2021, culminating with a Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl win against ACC Champion Pitt and a consensus final top-10 ranking for the Spartans.
The school rushed to reward Tucker with a contract, who then won just seven of his next 14 games atop the program before it suspended him and eventually terminated Tucker in the wake of the allegations from Tracy, a national speaker involved in a high-profile sexual abuse case at Oregon State who became a national speaker telling of her journey and spoke to Tucker's Michigan State team.
Additional penalties for the Spartans include: recruiting restrictions on official visits, unofficial visits, communications with recruits, recruiting days and off-campus recruiting reductions for the three-year term.
"Michigan State athletics is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and operating in compliance with NCAA rules," the joint statement continued. "Our compliance systems worked as intended. Once Michigan State became aware of a Level 3 violation, we self-reported and followed all appropriate protocols. This prompt self-disclosure and acceptance of responsibility for the violations mitigated the case and penalties, even as new violations and corroborating evidence was uncovered during the subsequent investigation.
"While we accept the NCAA's findings and respect the process, we are disappointed in the prescribed penalty related to the vacation of records. We understand that the enforcement process follows established guidelines, but we also recognize the opportunity for continued modernization."