When Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller was in the process of hiring the Spartans' new hockey coach, Adam Nightingale, he had Tom Izzo and Mel Tucker meet with him.

Not to assess his hockey prowess — Haller had a separate team of people for that — but to establish how they think he would mesh within MSU athletics.

"We're building a culture of excellence, within that culture of excellence in our Spartan family, fit is important and how that next coach fits in our family," he said Monday afternoon at the Detroit Economic Club's annual Spartan luncheon at MotorCity Casino. "They know that importance."

In front of more than 500 DEC members, the trio preached the importance of unity within the department, as Haller recalled a day last fall when he stopped by MSU men's basketball practice.

Men's golf coach Casey Lubahn was already there with one of his team's top recruiting targets. Haller watched Izzo stop practice, bring his guys to the middle of the floor and introduce him to the team.

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He then recalled Tucker doing something similar when the football coach stopped by women's gymnastics practice in the middle of a gauntlet stretch in their season. Tucker gave the team a pep talk, letting them know that the football program and the entire university was behind them.

"I'm not going to give him credit for all of it," Haller laughed, "but from that point on, we go on and take second in the conference, go to the NCAA regionals and advance to an NCAA regional final, something that hadn't been done in 30 years in gymnastics.

"(Winning) is important, but also who we add to our family is important. They have to fit to what we're doing"

Izzo has long been the face of the athletic department, with Haller now the sixth AD during his tenure and Tucker the fifth football coach. Izzo detailed his time at Northern Michigan, saying that's where his mentality of a cohesive athletic department began.

He said at a Division II school, there wasn't enough money for in-fighting, envy or competition; everybody had to work together.

He added when he arrived at MSU, there was already a good culture of that, with football coach George Perles, basketball coach and mentor Jud Heathcote and hockey coach Ron Mason.

"They had a real good bond back then," Izzo said. "I was brought into it, it wasn't something I developed, but I give everybody credit (for it sustaining). Mel is over at the Izzone, I'm on the bench at his games, I'm in the locker room with some of the top recruits for the game against Michigan ... there's just some things we do and I think he would agree, he's been a lot of places, we have something unique.

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"I think that's something Alan wants to capture, keep and build on and that's that everybody does get a long there's not a lot of jealousy and that's pretty special."

The trio echoed one another on Monday, saying that chemistry and communication with the money-making programs also extends to every team on campus.

Tucker will set up his practice time to make sure every team, from softball to soccer, gets time in their state of the art workout room.

Izzo and women's head basketball coach Suzy Merchant are changing their practice schedules to allow the volleyball team to play and practice in Breslin Center, instead of Jenison Fieldhouse.

"That's that kind of family atmosphere we're creating and it's going to be important moving forward," Haller said.

It's a dynamic that wouldn't work for everybody.

Izzo, the most famous coach in the state arguably, who now makes less money than a football coach in his third year at the school.

And an athletic director, who has to be able to have that give-and-take with the Hall of Fame basketball coach and the conference's football Coach of the Year.

Take the 2021 offseason, when Tucker asked Haller for a nutritionist on his staff, to help plan meals. Haller admits he asked Tucker why this was necessary, considering the program had never done it before.

Over their next handful of meetings, Tucker continued to explain the importance and why it was necessary, before Haller said he found the money in the budget necessary. 

"We go down to Miami this year ... and we outplayed them all the way into the fourth quarter, we were the stronger team," Haller said. "A lot of that had to do with our team nutritionist Amber Rinestine and the food program she put together."

Tucker said the only way Haller could've known how serious he was about this request, was by spending the time and taking the time to listen.

Now, not only does the football team have a nutritionist, the basketball team's have a team nutritionist and there are a handful more who work out of Jenison for the 470 athletes who use that building as their main practice facility.

"For me with our head coaches, and not just head coaches, it's about time and presence," Haller said. "It's being in front of them, being with them, understanding their environment, understanding their needs and then matching their needs with our resources and supporting them in a way that can help them be successful."

Haller has a unique perspective for that.

He played football at MSU from 1988-91 and recalls taking charter flights to Iowa City that land on the tarmac before a short trip over to Kinnick Stadium.

The following spring, when he was on the track team, he'd spend long 10-hour bus rides to the same place. He said by the nature of the business, not everything can be on equal footing, but it's his job to understand the unique circumstances of each team, coach and player.

"For me, 770 student athletes ... as the athletic director for our student athletes, I want all of them to have the opportunity to be successful," Haller said. "There's different resources, obviously, but the ability to maximize their time.

It's one major reason Tucker took the job at Michigan State.

Haller wasn't the AD at the time, but it was a culture of friendship within the coaches that Izzo spearheaded. It's the same way Tucker has worked to rebuild MSU from a 2-6 football team in 2020, to 11-2 in 2021.

Head down, no egos, with culture and fit above everything else.

"Making sure I have the right people around me," Tucker said on how he was able to create the turnaround. "I never want to be the smartest guy in the room … then it’s about establishing a culture that’s a winning culture, a championship culture. How we live and behave every day, we hammer hat with our staff relentlessly.

"That’s the foundation for doing what we need to do on the field."

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on twitter at @realtonygarcia.