Tag: Mark D’Antonio

Michigan State Reportedly Hires Mel Tucker

Mel Tucker has been a head coach at any level for all of 17 games. Five of those came as interim head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 before spending last year at Colorado where he went 5-7.

The surprising news last week of Mark D’Antonio stepping down as Michigan State’s head coach led the Spartans on a wild goose chase to find their replacement.

A week later seemingly everyone Michigan State had approached responded with a “thanks, but no thanks”.

Former Spartans defensive coordinator under D’Antonio turned Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi wasn’t interested.

San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh declined.

Luke Fickell was the show pony but cited “family reasons” for staying at Cincinnati instead of return to the Big Ten East.

I get why it’s so tough to fill – just look at your immediate competition in the area: Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Penn State are all right there competing for the same talent while those three have a clear step ahead. Then factor in the timing of the opening being about as bad as possible and the hesitation to take the job is even more understandable.

Finally overnight Tuesday into Wednesday it appears they’ve found their replacement, one that has had some success as a coordinator but has had an extremely limited sample as head coach.

Mel Tucker has been a head coach at any level for all of 17 games. Five of those came as interim head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 before spending last year at Colorado where he went 5-7.

Maybe they’re famous last words but some people are head coaches while others are excellent coordinators. Not that anything is wrong with that, but I’m hard pressed to get too excited for Tucker leading the charge if I’m a Michigan State supporter.

Tucker’s greatest accomplishments as a coordinator come from 2002 when he helped guide Ohio State to an unlikely national title and 2015 when he helped Alabama win it all in the middle of their dynasty as an assistant head coach/defensive backs coach.

I’m not knocking what he did at Alabama but am I to supposed to think it was the defensive backs coach that was so responsible for that year of success?

Tucker had a stop at Georgia where he ran the defense and coached the defensive backs from 2016-18.

Perhaps it’s because I saw his defenses up close in covering the disasters that were the 2013 and 2014 Chicago Bears, but I’m not sold on Tucker in charge.

Perhaps he steps in and ups recruiting at Michigan State, something they’ve regressed on a bit of late. But will he be able to improve and modernize an offense that largely looked out of 1991 the last five seasons?

I suppose Michigan State doesn’t have to panic and promote an assistant to save face and Tucker’s hiring does at least help that. But it’s hard to see this being a knock out hire for a mostly career coordinator who hasn’t coached in the Big Ten since 2004.

For a guy with such little head coaching experience, entering a division already home to Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan feels like he’s entering a Blackjack table that has a stacked deck against him.

Michigan State and Notre Dame are scheduled to briefly renew their rivalry with a home-and-home in 2026/2027. Time will tell if Tucker can essentially upset the house and be around for those.

A Candidate for Brian Kelly’s Biggest Notre Dame Win

Had it not been for Notre Dame besting the Spartans 17-13 on September 21 that year, Michigan State would have been set to take on Florida State in what wound up being the final BCS National Championship Game.

What was Notre Dame’s biggest win of the decade?

Myself and Jeff Feyerer discussed this and have a list we will be unveiling one at a time shortly. Plenty of our votes (we each picked 12) went to 2012 where Kelly and Notre Dame shocked the world en-route to a 12-0 regular season.

Spoiler alert – a year that didn’t give top-ten worthy love on our list was 2013.

It started with the drama following getting destroyed by Alabama: Brian Kelly dipping his toes in the NFL waters, Manti Te’o’s too good to be true story ultimately not being true. Don’t forget the hectic signing period that saw five-star defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes sign his national letter of intent before backing out and eventually ending up at UCLA.

The off-season was hectic enough and the year previous was fortunate enough that you knew a regression was likely coming. That only became more obvious quarterback Everett Golson was kicked off the team for the season.

Ultimately that 12-1 from 2012 dipped to 9-4 in 2013 and instead of a title game appearance, the season and Tommy Rees’s Notre Dame playing career ended in a Pinstripe Bowl victory over Rutgers.

But for one September afternoon, everything was right for Kelly and the Fighting Irish as their performance kept a former annual rival from their own national championship appearance.

Mark D’Antonio stepping down last week got me thinking about this and perhaps we’ll take a deeper look at him compared to Kelly and their impacts on their respective programs later this week.

Under D’Antonio, Michigan State had been a program on the rise up to that point. They had twice won 11 games under his direction before falling back to a 7-6 campaign in 2012. 2013 however was a different year in East Lansing.

Led by the likes of Connor Cook, Jeremy Langford and a defense that allowed 20 points just twice all regular season, the Spartans went 12-1 and won their first outright Big Ten Championship since 1987.

Michigan State closed the season with a Big Ten Championship victory over No. 2 Ohio State and a Rose Bowl victory over No. 5 Stanford.

Had it not been for Notre Dame besting the Spartans 17-13 on September 21 that year, Michigan State would have been set to take on Florida State in what wound up being the final BCS National Championship Game.

The game is most remembered for Notre Dame drawing four pass interference calls on Michigan State and another defensive holding. That and a very odd decision to have running back RJ Shelton throw a pass that was intercepted by Notre Dame’s Matthias Farley.

It may not have appeared as that significant as Notre Dame was a four point favorite that afternoon.

It certainly didn’t feel like it at the time and because of how that season ultimately went, the win didn’t carry a whole lot of weight. But looking back, was it Brian Kelly’s biggest win at Notre Dame?

It was after all against a team that finished ranked third overall but Michigan State remained unranked at all until the first week of November that season.

Because of what eventually happened with Notre Dame going 9-4 it didn’t feel that big but is it Kelly’s best win at Notre Dame?

The impact of winning at Oklahoma in 2012 launched Notre Dame from being a nice story and turning them into a legit championship contender which is why I still give it the nod, but the win over Michigan State does certainly only get better over time.

Mark D’Antonio Steps Down at Michigan State

That one loss in 2013 was of course in South Bend, a 17-13 Notre Dame win.

If you’ve paid attention to Michigan State football and their athletic department today’s news that Mark D’Antonio has stepped down as head football coach isn’t really a shock.

A victim of his own success where 11-plus win seasons became the standard in the early part of last decade, D’Antonio’s Sparty Party has come to an end after a couple of 7-6 seasons and a 3-9 run in recent years.

It’s hard to believe that some of the well-known issues in the Michigan State athletic department don’t play into this, whether it’s the disgusting happenings of Larry Nasser or the recent recruiting allegations that have popped up in his program.

I discussed the chances of this happening last fall on the College Football News Podcast with Pete Fiutak. I just thought it would happen in January, not hours before national signing day.

I said just above it’s not a shock that he’s not back in 2020, but it is shocking he leaves in early February.

So why now is the question?

A few ideas of why now makes sense to me:

1. He just picked up a four million dollar bonus from the university. I have no idea if he’ll have to pay it back (I’d assume so without seeing any of the actual contract) but I’d probably sit around in a job I have no interest in for an extra 40 bucks, now go and add five more zeroes to that.

2. Who is the replacement? It’s not exactly the prime time to go searching for a big time candidate. Chances I would think are high that someone already on his staff would at least get a shot for a year like Luke Fickell at Ohio State in 2011.

3. Pulling a Pete Carroll? I always associate running from issues with the NCAA with how Pete Carroll exited USC after 2009. Punishments coming? Get him to Seattle immediately. Same story here without the leap to the NFL? I don’t believe so but it’s at least worth discussing.

D’Antonio finishes his run at Michigan State 115-57 overall and 63-39 in Big Ten play. Those 115 wins are the most in program history.

D’Antonio’s resume includes 12 bowl appearances in 13 seasons with the Spartans, three Big Ten championships, and a 13-1 season in 2013 that resulted in not just a conference title but also a Rose Bowl Championship.

That one loss in 2013 was of course in South Bend, a 17-13 Notre Dame win.

D’Antonio finishes with a 4-5 record against Notre Dame in his time at Michigan State.

Now the question becomes does the job go to a current assistant or does it go to a former D’Antonio staffer like Pat Narduzzi or Like Fickell?

And is there more to the recent allegations that led to this? No doubt plenty more to come. Stay tuned.