Months after Michigan State agreed with football coach Mel Tucker on a 10-year contract set to pay him $9.5 million annually, athletics director Alan Haller awarded Tucker the entirety of a $100,000 bonus that the contract says will be paid each year to the football program and allocated among Tucker, his assistant coaches and the program’s other staff members, a document obtained by USA TODAY Sports shows.
The bonus was paid in addition to the $250,000 incentive amount that Tucker received for the team’s appearance in the Peach Bowl last December. The payment of the bowl bonus was confirmed in correspondence from the Michigan State Freedom of Information Act Office, which cited data it said had come from the athletics department.