The Spartans went from being clumsy and inept, to simply being inept.
Ever heard of Mel Tucker?
When history is written, Michigan State’s so called “search committee” will be recognized as inept and unskilled. They failed to deploy a coherent hiring strategy, got rejected publicly by 5 different coaches, and in fit of panic defaulted to simply “spinning the wheel of fortune”, and the wheel of fortune landed on Mel Tucker who has been a Head Coach for just one season at Colorado and posted an upside down won/lost record of 5-7.
Among 7 losses last season, Colorado suffered shocking losses to Oregon 45-3…Washington State 41-10…and Utah 45-15 and that’s a scoring deficit of 103 points in just 3 games. In the broader picture, Colorado yielded 40 points (or more) in 3 games, and yielded 30 points or more in 10 games.
But we were told Mel Tucker is a Defensive Coach by trade, so where is the dominating Defense? Colorado yielded a whopping 32 Points per game last season and ranked #96 in the land.
And if you were seeking improvement on Offense, you should know Mel Tucker’s Offense averaged a meager 23.5 Points per game and ranked #100 when measured against 130 D-1 Schools.
At the bottom line, Colorado’s Offense averaged a meager 23.5 Points per game, while their Defense yielded a whopping 32 Points per game, and that’s a scoring deficit of 9 Points per game and that is how Colorado posted a losing record of just 5 wins offset by 7 losses and yet that coach, is now the coach at Michigan State University.
Let’s compare:
Mark Dantonio was trending down and decided (or was forced) to step down.
Yet, the Spartans traded Mark Dantonio record of 7-6 in 2019 for Mel Tucker who posted an overall record of 5-7. In addition, Mark Dantonio posted a Big Ten record of 4-5 last season while Mel Tucker posted a PAC 12 record of 3-6.
And, immediately below is a comparison of Offense vs Offense, and Defense vs Defense:
- Last year the Spartans Offense averaged a dismal 22.4 Points per game (#105), while Colorado Offense averaged an equally dismal 23.5 Points per game (#100).
- Last year the Spartans Defense yielded a respectable 22.5 Points per game (#37), while Colorado Defense yielded a porous 31.8 Points per game (#96).
The conclusion we can draw is that both programs posted dismal season records in 2019 complemented by dismal stats and it is exceedingly difficult to see how the Spartans improved their lot. In fact, if you simply compare Defenses, you could argue the Spartans got worse.
After all, we look at “stats” as key indicators, and the “key indicators” tell us that hiring Mel Tucker did nothing more than fill the chair. There is no joy in hiring the 5th candidate who originally spurned the Spartans.. By all accounts, the Spartans got spurned by Matt Campbell, Pat Narduzzi, Robert Saleh, Luke Fickell and even Mel Tucker.
By all accounts Mel Tucker met with the so called “search committee” last weekend and declined the Spartans offer when he Tweeted:
“While I am flattered to be considered for the HC job @MSU_football, I am committed to @CUBuffsFootball for #TheBuild of our program, its great athletes, coaches & supporters. #UnfinishedBusiness #GoBuffs
Interesting…
The search committee got spurned by Mel Tucker and then got spurned by Luke Fickell, and so they deployed the ill-conceived strategy of throwing money at a problem. By all accounts, the Spartans doubled Mel Tucker’s compensation at Colorado and he will now earn $5.4 Million and become the 13th highest paid coach in the land, the 3rd highest paid coach in the Big Ten and yet he has never posted a winning record?
In fact, Mel Tucker will earn more money than Mark Dantonio and while Dantonio’s compass tilted “south” in the past 4 seasons, nevertheless he won 4 Division Titles, 3 Big Ten Titles, and earned an invitation to the College Football Playoff while in turn, Mel Tucker has won NOTHING!
I’m uncertain where the so called “Search Committee” honed their accounting skills but it looks to me like they need a remedial course.
By all measures, the search was ill conceived, and collectively the search committee made a desperate decision. And while the so called “Search Committee” is quietly celebrating today and I trust breathing easier, the problem will arguably resurface next fall because the dismal stats posted by Tucker last fall at Colorado won’t improve by simply moving to East Lansing.
From any perspective, Michigan State was made to look foolish and inept.
The President remained silent…the Search Committee was unskilled and inept…and multiple Trustees went off script with one Trustee commenting we don’t want “Waffling Flakes”. Oh my, when in the world will Michigan State ever get their messaging under control whereby everyone is speaking off the same messaging script?
Spartans fail to identify the “Elephant on the Gridiron” and fail to solve the biggest problem:
My 40 years of organizational experience tell me the Spartans failed to solve the biggest problem.
Job #1 should have been to hire a top tier, highly regarded professional AD in the likeness of Barry Alvarez or Gene Smith and then let that AD organize a search for the best coach.
Sadly the President and Board of Trustees failed to work in unison and consequently failed to develop a coherent plan to hire the best AD; instead they became reactionary and attempted to solve problem #2 and in that context they didn’t hire a Championship caliber coach, rather they hired Mel Tucker who guided Colorado to a 5h Place finish in PAC 12 South (9th overall) with a record of 3-6 in conference and 5-7 overall.
With the greatest respect to Mel Tucker, questions abound. It’s hard to find a bright spot. He deployed a woeful Offense ranked #100 amongst 130 D-1 Schools…complemented by a porous Defense ranked #96. It doesn’t get much worse than that and so Spartan Football will arguably go from inept to decidedly inept.
Even to the casual observer, this looks like Michigan State deployed an incoherent plan that failed, and in their moment of panic, they hired a desperate coach with limited options. Let’s make this clear, Mel Tucker is not Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops or Les Miles, yet he will make more money than Ryan Day (Ohio State): David Shaw (Stanford); Kirk Ferentz (Iowa); Gary Patterson (TCU); and Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern).
How much homework was done by the President, the AD and Board of Trustees to make Mel Tucker the 13th highest paid coach in the land (3rd highest in the Big Ten) even though Tucker has never posted a winning season as a Head Coach? How could they rationalize paying Mel Tucker more than the Championship coaches cited above?
Bill Beekman is a good man, of good character, but he is an Administrator who is woefully unprepared to guide a Big Ten football program, and the clumsy coaching search and the end result underscores the problem. What we witnessed is the fact the best coaching candidates in the land will not work for a novice AD.
So Michigan State hired an below average coach with a losing record and made him a Top 15 coach in terms of compensation.
The script is yet to be written, and if Mel Tucker enjoys a Championship career at Michigan State, I will gladly retract my negative outlook, but I follow “stats” because “stats” are leading indicators: the ledger, the profit/loss statement, the balance sheet if you will, and the leading indicators tell me Michigan State just went in reverse!
