How do Michigan State fans feel about Mel Tucker’s contract now? Wait! Don’t leave! This is not a jab, it’s an actual question. There has been a lot of jokes, criticism and schadenfreude from what I have seen in Michigan (and probably National) circles. “LOL can you believe MSU gave Mel Tucker a $100 Million contract? How dumb was that??” This is the easy take, and in my opinion, not necessarily a fair one. I’m not sure how hot this take is now that Penn State got Hamblasted* by Michigan and Michigan State beat (admittedly bad) Wisconsin last week but… If Mel Tucker’s contract was “not the best idea” then, to borrow a phrase from the fired up coach** of the Letterkenny Senior League Hockey Team, James Franklin’s contract was %&^# Embarrassing.
Mel Tucker’s team is not good. He’s also only in his 2nd “real” year (2020 doesn’t count). Dantonio was a great coach for a long time but left that team in shambles. In 2021 they used Kenneth Walker and witchcraft*** to win 11 games and unreasonably reset expectations. I don’t follow MSU recruiting or player development to know if they’ve got hope on the horizon, but you’ve got to give him until at least “real” year 3 to determine if he’s a bust. I’m not saying there’s a good chance he works out, but if you’re MSU, you have to roll those dice. MSU has to play OSU, Michigan and Penn State every year and doesn’t historically have the same recruiting strength as those programs. You have to try to identify and lock down an up-and-coming coach and lock him down early or you’re going to get Nick Sabaned.
Penn State, on the other hand, knew what James Franklin was. Franklin is 44-29 in the Big Ten. I believe the technical term for this is “Not Good”. Yes, this includes 2-6 and 4-4 years as the program was recovering from the Paterno era. Yes, he had a couple of very good years after that including a Big Ten Championship. But his contract extension was $7.5 million for 10 years. He was given this extension on November 23rd after a big 28-0 win against (checks schedule) Rutgers. They were 4-4 in the Big Ten at the time. The previous (admittedly covid) year ye went 4-5. If the rumors of USC interest had any credibility, they were long expired. USC would hire Lincoln Riley the following week. Why would you give him that deal? You saw him make dumb after dumb after dumb in-game decision, right? Where was he going to go?
I’m not the only or first one to say this. There’s been an increase in angry fans and negative articles coming out since they lost to Michigan.**** They’re bringing up his 10 straight losses vs top 10 opponents, terrible record vs rivals, bad clock management and stupid game decisions. They’re very similar to content about Harbaugh before last year. Harbaugh responded by taking a pay cut and winning the Big Ten. Franklin got smoked in his first real test of the year and then blamed his linemen for not being big enough.
So my question for MSU fans: Are you already writing off Mel Tucker? Are you pissed at the contract extension? How would you feel right now if your expectations weren’t Kenneth Walkered last year? What if Mel Tucker went 7-8 games last year and was 2-0 (or 1-1) vs. U-M? What would be reasonable for a year 2.5 rebuild for a new coach in this division? How dumb do you think the Mel Tucker NFT idea was?
*Or more accurately, Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly-Blasted
**Coach, not Couch. Don’t get too excited, Spartans
***Mel Tucker collected the first-born offspring of every goat, cow, and pig from the farms surrounding East Lansing and sacrificed them to Tyche, the Greek goddess of Fortune. In turn, Tyche granted MSU more bounces, deflections, bad calls, wind-guided dime throws into perfect college, and opposing missed tackles than any team has seen over the course of a single season. Unfortunately for Nebraska, the universe requires balance and, well, you can figure out the rest.
****Side note, I’ve also seen some bitching/booing of Sean Clifford. I mean… what the hell do you want from the guy? He’s basically spent 5 years with an offensive game plan of “please stand in the pocket and throw perfect dimes on deep balls or scramble around for a first down while your offensive line gets you repeatedly murdered.” Getting Devin Gardnered, or Trace McSorleyed, or Christian Hackenburged for 5 years and still being the most functional piece of an offense… how do you not respect that?