As you know, I was harsh in my previous Blog regarding the hiring of Mel Tucker.

But in full disclosure, I was more critical of the hiring process than I was about the hiring of Mel Tucker, and let’s just say the disorganized Hiring search didn’t instill a lot of confidence in most. Yet, more than 24 hours have passed and I want to give a fair and balanced, second look at Mel Tucker.

Mel Tucker has made a lot of stops in his 20 year coaching journey, gaining valuable experience along the way, but it’s hard to connect the dots. He had three stints in the NFL with Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears. And he had 6 stops at Power 5 schools including Miami (FL)…LSU…Ohio State…Alabama…Georgia…and of course Colorado. Interestingly, Mel Tucker’s longest term was just 3 years at Georgia, and the important issue is that it is hard to build something measurable in just one or two years.

So, let’s take a look at Georgia whereby Mel Tucker was Defensive Coordinator for 3 years (his longest stop) from 2016 through 2018. As a side note, it would be fair to say that the role of Coordinator (either Offensive or Defensive) is the most challenging role in football, inasmuch as a Coordinator must oversee recruiting, as well as building an Offensive or Defensive unit, and then play chess in real time each Saturday.

For a coordinator, there is nowhere to hide because they are exposed to public scrutiny for more than 3 hours each and every Saturday.

Mel Tucker at Georgia:

Kirby Smart became Head Football Coach at Georgia in 2016 when he took over from Mark Richt, and Kirby Smart hired Mel Tucker as his Defensive Coordinator.

Mark Richt was fired at the end of the 2015 season even though Richt finished with a solid record of 10-3. Mark Richt always got close, but he never won the SEC outright. Nevertheless, he always deployed  a solid Defense. In fact in 2015, his final season at Georgia, he deployed the 7^th ranked Defense in all the land (when measured against 130 D-1 Schools) while yielding a meager 17 Points per game.

In fact, his Passing Defense in 2015 was #1 in the land, yielding a tick over 150 Yards per game (extremely impressive). So, the cupboards weren’t exactly bare when Mel Tucker arrived and by all measures he had a solid foundation to work with.

It’s also worth noting that Mel Tucker was aided as Defensive Coordinator by the very capable oversight of Head Coach, Kirby Smart who spent the previous 7 seasons (2007-2015) as Defensive Coordinator at Alabama. So Mel Tucker wasn’t exactly on an island without a map.

Nevertheless, for the next 3 seasons Mel Tucker deployed one of the better Defenses in the land:

• Total Defense: 2016 (#16)…2017 (#6)…2018 (#13)
• Rush Defense: 2016 (#36)…2017 (#20)…2018 (#31)
• Scoring Defense: 2016 (#35)…2017 (#6)…2018 (#15)

As you can see, in each Defensive category, Mel Tucker’s Defense at Georgia improved modestly from 2016 to 2018, yet interestingly, there was virtually “no improvement” over 2015, the year Mark Richt departed.

But, there’s another issue of immense concern; Georgia’s Defense improved dramatically after Mel Tucker departed after 2018.

Take a look at Georgia Defense in 2019, the year after Mel Tucker departed:

• Total Defense: #3 (275 Yards per game)
• Rush Defense: #1 (75 Yards per game)
• Scoring Defense: #1 (13 Points per game)

Let’s be clear, Georgia’s Defense under Mel Tucker never finished in the Top 5 in any single category from 2016 through 2018 yet the year after he departed, Georgia ranked in the Top 5, in 3 “key” categories, while being ranked #1 in both Rushing Defense and #1 in Scoring Defense, so you could give a tip of the hat to the brilliant Defensive mind of Head Coach, Kirby Smart.

So, what is the take away if Georgia’s Defense was modestly better the year before Mel Tucker arrived at Georgia, yet dramatically better the year after Mel Tucker departed from Georgia? I don’t have the answer, but I’m raising the question. Was it a twist of fate? Is it splitting hairs to point out “pre” Tucker, and “post” Tucker at Georgia? By all measures, Georgia Defense under Mel Tucker was solid and consistent, but we can’t say he built it. And we can’t say he improved it.

The problem is Mel Tucker hasn’t built a foundation of measurables.

The measurables over 20 years are ambiguous at best. Lots of experience, but very few measurables. And yet, Michigan State just doubled the compensation and paid more than $5 Million for a coach with as “quilted” resume compiled over 20 years, and barely enough data to make an informed decision.

I was always taught to gather the facts before making a decision: the more facts, the better the decision. Mitigate the uncertainties by conducting research and gathering facts. Did Michigan State do exhaustive research? Did Michigan State make the best informed decision? What was the dossier compiled by Bill Beekman? That brings me back to the Coaching search.

A flawed coaching search renders ambiguous results:

I’m still critical of what I perceive to be a flawed hiring process.

After all, perception is reality.

It started with the AD mishandling the final days of Mark Dantonio’s tenure. Of course that was before we realized it was Mark Dantonio’s final days. Yet, let’s read the tea leaves. After a 34-10 loss in the 5^th game of last season to Ohio State, it was abundantly clear there was a dire need to realign the Offensive staff, and 4 losses later and two scoreless games, the Offense could best be described as “Dysfunctional”.

That issue should have been “front and center” on the table for discussion as soon as the regular season came to a close, but problematically it was arguably swept under the rug. For all practical purposes it appeared as though an “end of season review” between AD and Head Coach never took place and Mark Dantonio was allowed to proceed as he wished, with impunity.

But to let the issue of Offensive realignment linger into February was unconscionable. And of course, when Dantonio failed to realign his staff from a pool of potential candidates that was dwindling each day into the first week of February, it was no shock to me that Mark Dantonio decided to step down, in fact I predicted it, and yet it seemed to come as complete and utter shock to Bill Beekman.

And then the drama commenced, and let’s be honest, Bill Beekman was utterly and unequivocally unprepared.

Consequently, the coaching search was compromised from the start. It was compromised because the AD didn’t have a read on his Head Coach. And while the AD shouldn’t have been blindsided, nevertheless he was caught looking the other way, and so he cobbled together a make shift coaching search and that isn’t the way Championship programs comport themselves. For Spartan Football, it was an exceedingly bad look. Embarrassing!!!

Let’s look at how Championship programs conduct searches: when Gene Smith, Ohio State AD hired Urban Meyer and a few years later hired Ryan Day it was exceedingly orderly. When Barry Alvarez hired Bret Bielema, and then hired Gary Andersen and finally hired Paul Chryst it was all organized in a coherent and orderly manner. By comparison, the Spartans ran a “Fire Drill” for a coaching search, but why?

What level of success does Michigan State Football want? Consistent Top 30 program? Top 25 program? Top 15 program? Top 5 program? I’ve never heard it articulated, have you?

But there is absolutely no reason Michigan State football should be any less successful than Wisconsin, but Wisconsin learned that Football doesn’t succeed without impeccable planning and proper support from their Chancellor and AD.

Michigan State could learn from Wisconsin:

Wisconsin is a model of success.

Yet from the early 60’s through the late 1980’s Wisconsin Football was laughable for its disorganization and incompetence generally finishing between #6 and #10 (amongst just 10 teams). But Wisconsin hired Donna Shalala as Chancellor in 1988 to oversee the University of Wisconsin system and to her credit, Shalala understood that Football was the “straw that stirs the drink”…that it was the Golden Goose that would lay eggs of donation dollars. So, in her mind, Wisconsin Football had to be fixed.

So, Donna Shalala hired 9 time Wisconsin Letter winner, NFL star and successful businessman Pat Richter to return to Wisconsin to become AD with the primary goal of rebuilding Wisconsin Football. In turn, just two years after becoming AD,  Pat Richter hired highly regarded Barry Alvarez as Head Football Coach in 1990, and since that time, no program in America has had more success than Wisconsin.

Wildly successful would be an understatement: 7 Rose Bowl appearances, 6 Big Ten Championship appearances, 6 Big Ten titles and 5 Division Titles. On football weekends, Madison, Wisconsin is an economic dynamo. Camp Randall Stadium is consistently sold out and fans without tickets spend the weekend in Madison just to be part of the Football happening.

Pat Richter not only rebuilt Wisconsin Football but he transformed Wisconsin athletics including non-revenue sports. In 2005, Pat Richter handed the AD reins to Alvarez and since that time Alvarez has taken Wisconsin Football and non-revenue sports to the next level: he hired 3 football coaches including Bielema, Andersen and Chryst, all of whom have won Big Ten Division titles and appeared in 6 Big Ten Championship games the most of any Big Ten team.

But it was Shalala who laid the foundation. She essentially took Wisconsin football out of obscurity and turned it into a model of success, but it only happened because she had a coherent plan for success. Shalala deployed a model not unlike John Hannah. As you recall, Hannah handpicked Biggie Munn as Head Football Coach, and after winning “back to back” National Titles as well as Michigan State’s first ever Rose Bowl, Hannah kindly asked the legendary Ralph Young to step aside as AD to make room for Biggie Munn, and in turn Munn transformed Spartan athletics across the landscape including non-revenue sports from 1954 until he stepped down in 1971.

So when I hear Spartan alumni remark that Michigan State can’t compete with Michigan, or Penn State or Ohio State on a consistent basis, I become infuriated because if Wisconsin can do it, than Michigan State can do it. But just like Donna Shalala, or John Hanna, the President must have a Championship plan. And he must have an AD with Championship pedigree.

The “fire drill” that was orchestrated by Michigan State current AD, scrambling across the country looked more like a fishing expedition than a well-articulated plan. Coherent it was not.

So, in closing I hope Mel Tucker is wildly successful at Michigan State, but Mel Tucker can’t promise results based upon his resume, he can only promise Hope!

At the bottom line:

I hope the President, the AD and the Board of Trustees (as well as 500,000 alumni) learned a lesson from this dismal exercise and take a page out of the Wisconsin playbook, and realize that success follows impeccable planning, Championship planning.

The people who pay the freight namely 50,000 students, 75,000 ticket holders and 500,000 alumni need to let their voices be heard..

If Michigan State wants to build a Championship football program with consistent Top 15 results, as well as reestablishing Michigan State as a force in non-revenue sports across the landscape, then they need to hire an experienced AD who has the wherewithal to build a Championship program.

The current AD scrambled and hired Michigan State’s 25^th Head Football Coach, but “throwing money” wildly at a candidate during a fishing expedition doesn’t satisfy my appetite for impeccable planning. There was a reason Mel Tucker was one of the lowest paid coaches within Power 5 football (9^th lowest within the PAC 12) making a tick more than $2.5 Million in compensation, and yet Michigan State just doubled his compensation by paying “wildly” over market for a Head Football Coach who has never posted a winning record?

How many readers would pay twice the market value for their next house? Or their car?

I hope Spartan alumni consider that fact the next time they interact with Michigan State President or members of the Board of Trustees. If the Alumni don’t demand more, they won’t get more!