Michigan State gets hit with harsh penalties, fines for Mel Tucker era violations

The hammer does actually exist it turns out.

Michigan State received a notice from the NCAA on Wednesday on the league’s decisions on recruiting violations and ineligible players playing games during 2022-24. The Spartans received three years or probation, a financial penalty of $30,000 plus 1.5% of the budget for the football program, restrictions on recruiting efforts in the future including penalties such as limited visits and recruiting communication over a three-year period, as well as show-causes for former head coach Mel Tucker, (three years), former general manager of the Spartan program Saeed Khalif, (six years), and former defensive line coach Brandon Jordan, (five years).

The most notable punishment? Michigan State will officially be forced to vacate any and all wins during the seasons of 2022-24. Fourteen victories to be precise. That also means that Spartans head coach Jonathan Smith has not had a single Big Ten victory in his entire tenure thus far, and the green and white’s last win before the debut game against Western Michigan at the start of the 2025 season was the Peach Bowl in 2021 against Pittsburgh.

Now fans have been speculating a flurry of various theories. We still have not heard official confirmation on who the ineligible players were, but many have speculated names.

Some have even brought up if Smith can be technically fired for cause due to Smith playing ineligible players during the course of the 2024 season. Not much is known but it is interesting to speculate.  If Smith does get fired for the cause, he would be the second MSU coach in a row to be given the boot with reason, and Tucker was fired in early 2023 for reasons that will not be mentioned in this report.

The NCAA also confirmed in its reports that Michigan State self-reported the violations, and fully cooperated with the league on these matter of issues.

If Smith is done at the end of this year, future coaching candidates will take these sanctions into account when they apply for MSU’s job, and the future of Spartan football just took a huge step backward.