The NCAA hammer has officially dropped on Michigan State. On Wednesday, it handed stiff penalties for violations tied to former HC Mel Tucker’s time. Tucker once was the Spartans’ long-term savior with an 11-win season in 2021. Although after a 5-7 slide in 2022 and a 2-0 start in 2023, his tenure came to an abrupt end. But now he is the reason for one of the toughest chapters for Spartan Nation.

While the program must pay the price in the record books, what’s the reason for the punishment? In Mel Tucker’s tenure, three ineligible players took the field. That violation of NCAA recruiting rules now puts the Spartans on 3 years of probation, and the price is steep. From the past three seasons, MSU will vacate all 14 wins, and that includes the 5 victories from Jonathan Smith’s debut campaign, who was hired from Oregon State after Tucker’s departure.

Now with this penalty, while a year of new hope turned into a line of erased history, the list is quite long. The Spartans will pay a $30,000 fine plus 1.5% of their football budget over the next 3 seasons. Then, with fewer official and unofficial visits, recruiting will take a big hit.

While two home games during the 2025 season and one home game during each of the following two seasons will result in fewer official visits, unofficial visits will see a reduction of a total of 12 weeks during 2025-26, 2026-27, and 2027-28, with at least 1 week each year coinciding with a home game. But self-imposing two-week cuts in spring 2025, Michigan State already took early action. Still, the penalties are undeniably stinging for Spartan Nation.

It will reduce person-days, stretching a total of 30 days through the 2028 academic year. Moreover, the Spartans will face restrictions in off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations too. While communication blackouts (six-week ban) and recruiting freezes will challenge the staff’s creativity, home games in 2025, 2026, and 2027 will feature limited attendance.

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It seems like a reminder that every win must be earned the right way.

Otherwise, the NCAA doesn’t hold back too hard on the figures behind the violations. That’s why ex-GM Saeed Khalif, assistant coach Brandon Jordan, and Tucker all received show-cause penalties. While Tucker is hit with a three-year order for failing to properly oversee, Khalif and Jordan face even stiffer blows. Khalif gets a six-year show-cause order, while Jordan gets five years, as they knowingly provided improper recruiting benefits, according to the NCAA.

Now, while the verdict leaves all three sidelined from college athletics until their show-cause penalties expire, what was the reason behind Mel Tucker’s firing?

Why did Michigan State part ways with Mel Tucker?

Michigan State’s shocking split with Mel Tucker wasn’t about football. The school fired its HC amid allegations that he sexually harassed Brenda Tracy. Tracy is a nationally known activist and had been invited to educate players on sexual assault prevention. But she hit back in court, filing a 30-page defamation lawsuit claiming Tucker’s “false and reckless statements” destroyed her reputation.

“Tucker sandbagged Tracy in an egregious attempt to publicly humiliate her,” read the filing. Although Tucker has denied wrongdoing, maintaining that the encounter was consensual. But Michigan State’s own Title IX investigation found otherwise.

While investigator Amanda Norris Ames ruled the ex-HC’s behavior as “unprofessional, exploitative, and sexually harassing,” the university officially fired Tucker. “It is decidedly unprofessional and unethical to flirt, make sexual comments, and masturbate while on the phone with a University vendor,” wrote AD Alan Haller in the termination letter.

With that, Tucker’s once-celebrated tenure ended in disgrace, and now the program still faces trouble for the former HC.