The good, the bad, the ugly of the Mel Tucker era at Michigan State

The Mel Tucker era at Michigan State is officially coming to an end. Here’s the good, bad, and ugly from the mixed bag.

Michigan State fans now have clarity on the next step in the Mel Tucker story.

It was reported today that the university has formally notified Tucker that he will be terminated from his position as head coach.

Michigan State plans to fire Mel Tucker for cause https://t.co/vQoKL2iu8N

— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) September 18, 2023

This won’t be a quick or easy process. Tucker now currently has seven days to refute whether or not the school has the cause necessary to fire him. Once that decision is made, it will trigger a 30-day transfer window for current Spartan players.

Minutes after this news broke, head coach searching lists began to circulate. It’s time to move forward. Regardless of any rebuttals or counters, the Mel Tucker era at Michigan State is over.

Tucker took the job at Michigan State and had to navigate through a global pandemic, had his first recruiting class primarily come via Zoom, and adjusted the university to the NIL/portal era. He finished his time at MSU with a 19-14 overall coaching record. Eleven of these wins came during the 2021 season. With his time as head coach now over, let’s examine the good, the bad, and the ugly of his time as head coach.

The good

• Rival record: Within his overall record, Michigan State held a 2-1 record against Michigan under Tucker’s reign.
• Portal use: The 2021 season that resulted in 11 wins and a New Year’s Six bowl win was largely due to Michigan State’s ability to identify the talent of Kenneth Walker III in the transfer portal. The Spartans have also added other notable players such as Jacoby Windom via the portal as well.
• Recruiting: Depending on who you ask, recruiting could go under good or bad. Recruiting is one of the primary areas Mel Tucker was supposed to take Michigan State to the next level. While it may be fair to say that he underachieved in that area according to expectations, he had back-to-back classes ranked 26th or higher which hadn’t been done since 2015-2016. The 2024 class currently holds notable names such as Nick Marsh, Anthony Carrie, and many others. The class could’ve finished in the same ballpark.

The bad

• Lack of preparation: A consistent trend of Michigan State football in recent years has been working best to be summarized as a lack of preparation. From witnessing slow starts almost weekly, to inexcusable penalties that come from being unfocused, these issues fall back on coaching. It’s a coach’s job to have players ready to play. Hopefully, with a coaching change, these issues are resolved.
• Shooting for the stars: While recruiting was listed as a positive, they could’ve been even higher if the coaching staff focused their attention on attainable players. From on-field photo shoots to rides around East Lansing in expensive vehicles, Michigan State and Tucker continuously courted players that would list the Spartans in top-fours or top-eights only to be left holding the bill for fancy visits. It’s not bad to shoot high, but obviously, the coaching staff agreed given their shift in recruiting approach over the past six months. The program needs to be able to consistently recruit four-star players before trying to jump in the deep end with five-stars. Building a program takes time. For most schools, there aren’t shortcuts, even in the NIL era.
• Game management: The clock management and in-game management have been criticized since Mel Tucker took over. From wasting timeouts by not using them appropriately to a lack of in-game adjustments, Michigan State’s on-field product wasn’t managed well. This has caused the Spartans a handful of games along the way. The next head coach for Michigan State needs to have a grasp on the pulse of the game and a better understanding of the clock.

The ugly

• The tunnel fight: While Mel Tucker never initiated the fight in the tunnel against Michigan nor had anything to do with it, it still happened under his reign. It will remain a blemish on his time at the university. For what it’s worth, Tucker and his staff did a phenomenal job handling the situation with the players and their discipline. However, you can’t look back on Tucker’s time at Michigan State without remembering this ugly incident.
• Scandal: Finally, the scandal that brought us to this point. While the details of Mel Tucker’s case continue to unfold, what we know for sure is that he carried himself in a manner that was unbefitting of a head-coaching position that is responsible for molding young men.

The Mel Tucker chapter is now closed. However, this is definitely not the end of the story.