Tag: Mel Tucker

Mel Tucker To Take Michigan State Job. Who’s Next At Colorado?

Mel Tucker will leave Colorado to become the new Michigan State head coach. Who’s next for the Buffs?

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Mel Tucker will leave Colorado to become the new Michigan State head coach. Who’s next for the Buffs?

This might not be so bad, Colorado

After just one year on the job and a 5-7 record, Mel Tucker will leave the Buffaloes to become the next head coach at Michigan State.

He originally didn’t seem to have interest in the job, Luke Fickell of Cincinnati decided he’d stick around the American Athletic Conference world, and then Michigan State had enough.

This was becoming an embarrassing situation for the school. Michigan State might not be an A-list gig, and it’s not a given that just anyone would want to step in and beat his head against the wall against Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan every year in the Big Ten East, but it’s still a major Big Ten program, it’s still possible to win there, and it still has the resources to go lure away a rising Pac-12 head man.

According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Michigan State will push Tucker’s salary to well over $5 million a year – over doubling what he was making in Boulder – and it’s prepared to provide whatever it takes to help him succeed.

No stranger to the Big Ten, Tucker went to Wisconsin, spent a few years as a defensive coach at Ohio State, and worked his way up through the ranks as a defensive coordinator with the Browns, Jaguars and Bears before helping create a dominant D at Georgia. That led to the Colorado gig, and that led to East Lansing.

He was a part of two national championship teams – 2002 Ohio State and 2015 Alabama – as the defensive backs coach, but he only has one year of head coaching experience.

So why is a 5-7 guy with one year at the helm such a hot coaching candidate?

He fits what Michigan State likes. Defensive-minded, NFL coaching skills, good recruiter. Throw in that he’s the type of motivator and personality that can fit right in, and he’s a great get for the Spartans.

But there’s a chance Colorado could win by losing.

What would it take for the Buffs to get former running back star and current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy?

He would be the dream get as the guy with a Super Bowl ring, the coaching chops to help turn Patrick Mahomes into one of the biggest stars on the planet, and with the fire and energy to be an absolutely perfect college football head coach.

Throw in his undying love for Colorado football as a part of the national championship-caliber teams back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and he’s it. He’s the guy you back up the truck for if you’re Colorado. However …

The gig isn’t big enough for him.

Bieniemy is the right head coach for the right school at the right time, but he’s also the right head coach at the right time for any NFL head coaching gig – why Carolina couldn’t wait a few minutes to go after him was insane.

Will Colorado want to pay him?

It’s not just about paying a guy with his resumé and talent much more than the $2.6ish million that Tucker was getting, it’s about making it attractive enough to stay even if they do get him.

Now, Michigan State gets a guy who should be able to keep the program at a level where it at least brings a nasty D every time out. And now, Colorado has a chance to bring in a possible dream for its program.

The coaching carousel never stops.

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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.

Report: Mel Tucker has ‘agreed in principle’ to become new MSU Football head coach

According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Colorado head coach Mel Tucker has agreed to become the new head coach at Michigan State.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have some breaking news from Bruce Feldman of The Athletic. According to Feldman, Colorado head coach Mel Tucker has ‘agreed in principle’ to become the new MSU Football head coach, replacing Mark Dantonio at Michigan State.

According to reports last weekend, Tucker had removed his name from consideration for the role, but according to Bruce Feldman, the MSU decision-makers made Tucker repeated offers until it became ‘impossible to ignore.’

Here is the initial report from Bruce Feldman of The Athletic:

Tucker, who played in college for Wisconsin, started his coaching career with Michigan State back in 1997 as a graduate assistant. He has since gone on to coach for numerous teams, including Ohio State, LSU, the Cleveland Browns, the Chicago Bears, Alabama, Georgia, and most recently he was the head coach of Colorado, where he went 5-7 in his first year as a head coach.

He had his first stint as a head coach as the interim coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars where he went 2-3 in 2011.

Details are still emerging about the deal, and it obviously hasn’t been officially been confirmed by the University as of 1:23am ET. More to come tomorrow no doubt.

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Colorado HC Mel Tucker removes name from consideration for MSU Football job

Colorado’s head coach Mel Tucker reaffirmed his commitment to Colorado this afternoon on Twitter.

Yesterday, there was a report from Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press stating that anonymous sources inside the MSU Football program said that Colorado head coach Mel Tucker would be interviewing for the Michigan State head coaching job, left vacant by the now-retired Mark Dantonio, along with Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell. Today, Mel Tucker released a statement saying that he is committed to Colorado, removing his name from consideration for the opening.

Here is Tucker’s statement, which he posted on his Twitter account:

As of right now, Mel Tucker, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi, and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh have all removed their names from consideration for the position. That leaves Luke Fickell as the only coach who is heavily rumored for the role who has not directly denied interest in the position.

It is hard to tell how long this coaching search will continue. You would think they would want to wrap it up fairly quickly. I would not be surprised at all if Fickell accepts the job next week. If it’s not him, there are some names they could go after but this could drag out longer than they’d like.

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MSU Football interviewing two head coaching candidates this weekend

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell and Colorado head coach Mel Tucker will be in East Lansing this weekend to interview for the vacancy.

Michigan State Football lost their head coach since November 2006 this week, seemingly out of nowhere and are now trying to find a suitable replacement for what should be a highly sought after coaching position. This weekend MSU will be interviewing two candidates for the job in Luke Fickell and Mel Tucker.

The news was broken today by David Jesse and Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press.

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Fickell has been the head coach at Cincinnati for the past three seasons and served one season as the interim head coach for Ohio State before they hired Urban Meyer. He was the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State from 2005-10 and then from 2012-16. Fickel is 26-13 as head coach of the Bearcats.

Mel Tucker has an interesting resumè that includes stops with Ohio State, Georgia, the Chicago Bears, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is currently the head coach of Colorado where he had an unimpressive 5-7 season. He served under Dantonio at Ohio State as his defensive backs coach, which explains why MSU gave him a call.

Worth noting, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has turned down an offer to interview for the position.

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