MSU HC Tucker calls himself a 'horsesh*t coach'

Horseshit Comin'!

Football wise -- and for leadership in general -- it's a good trait to shoulder the responsibility of failure. In tutoring and teaching, I try to take on as much of that as I can, even if I know that there is a lack of student effort evident. Starting with "maybe I can explain things better for you" and then building toward "now, this is what YOU can do to perform better" is more effective than laying it all on the students -- like Izzo apparently does. So, on the face of it, this is a good move.

That said, this degree of negative self-talk can become harmful if it evolves into a chronic behavior. In the past I have had tons of issues with perfectionism and this has led to some terrible self-commentary and resulting procrastination, shutting down, etc.

TL;DR It's fine, but it's not a good idea to make this a habit.

Finally, I hope we eviscerate that secondary. Fuck State.

Credit to Tucker for taking some of the heat (compared to guys like Brain Kelly who throws every one of his players under the bus whenever possible).  Still, Tucker's been on that job now 3 years and his recruiting outside of the portal seemingly hasn't fixed these major issues - the defensive backfield and the offensive line are still awful - and at some point he's going to run out of excuses for giving up 400 yards in the air.

I do think last year was a bit of a dead-cat bounce for MSU and we might be seeing a sustained downturn that was kicked off toward the end of the Dantonio era.

Dear Mr. Coach Harbaugh - just win. Remember The Arm!

It's possible to do a poor job a thousand different ways and overcome the errors. None of those would necessarily relegate you to the manure pile.

Mel is way too hard on himself.   Personally, I LOVE how the Spartans were prepared for their game against Washington.

Many people are "questioning" Tucker's in game decisions - e.g. going for two when you're down by 21.   Or, that the Spartan secondary was not prepared or defended effectively.

Respectfully, I think Tucker did - and, is doing, a great job.   Their secondary played ideally last Saturday.  Their pass rush and DL - well - again, I appreciated it - greatly.

Mel - please, please - don't change a thing.  Do exactly what you have been doing. Keep up the good work...

Here's truly hoping that the horsepuckey continue to pile upon Tucker and MSU all day and night on October 29th. 

The MSU AD disagrees because they awarded Mel the uber rich contract extension after beating Mich for the second straight time.

If Mel feels that he's not that great then maybe he should return at least half of his annual salary back to the athletic department. I'd love to hear what he'll say if Michigan curb stomps his team on Oct  29th.

Kind of refreshing. He's the direct opposite of Izzo.  Threw himself under the bus for failure and not his players.

If he's horseshit now, what will he be in a few weeks??

I think he meant to say “wold’s highest paid horsesh*t coach.”

I get an RR snake oil salesman vibe from him. Hopefully Minnesota can row the boat all over them but unfortunately I see msu pulling some lucky shit out of their ass. Plus no way Kevin Warren lets them lose two in a row. 

It feels so petty but I hate him mostly because of the "Tuck Coming" slogan.

At least he recognizes it.  What an accomplishment.  Most other Spartans are in permanent, denial.

$90,000,000.00

In the end, he is blaming the players though. He made a big splash with his hose**** comment, but then went on to say the problem wasn't scheme but they'll be looking at personnel in practice to see who steps up.

He's a pretty green HC with a spotty record as DC, but he's being paid like an experienced HC with a long record of winning football. If he is afraid to admit their might be problems with the scheme, it could be a long year for the Sparties. 

Here is what I thought was bizarre, but maybe's he's smarter than I am:

I heard him interviewed Monday before the game and there was a question as to whether they were doing anything special to prepare for the first road game (@Washington). He replied that one thing they were doing was getting the team to go to bed an hour earlier, so as to prepare for the east to west time change.

I thought, hmm, if you really thought that might make a difference wouldn't you have them go to bed an hour later and get up an hour later, or at least the second part? Why would you switch to a schedule as if you were about to play somewhere out in the Atlantic Ocean instead of 3 time zones away to the west.

When they started poorly I figured that half the team was probably wondering why they were playing a game beginning at approximately bedtime (10:30 EDT) assuming their normal curfew is 11 or 12 and he was moving it back to 10 or 11.

I really like the introspective way you've posted this. Personally I do try to be self-critical, and to be as honest as I can, most especially with myself. That said, I read a thing about how elite competitors in every field basically have to lie to themselves - "I am the best ." On it's face it's very probably not true. But if you don't believe it, it will never be true. Likewise, I think of Cam Newton saying "show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser." I VIBE with that. I learned to keep a stiff upper lip when I lose and be respectful, but I think inwardly all of us feel like Cam Newton when we lose. Only difference is, most guys in the NFL never had to learn how to be good losers until they make it to the NFL.

Anyhow, it's nice to see Tuck being human and taking responsibility, but I'm with you - to stay an elite coach, he should tell himself "I am better than this and I will be better than this."

To be fair, he's right. 

So...

... we can quote him on this like FOREVER and EVER to our MSU acquaintances?

I'm cool with that.

I would like nothing more than our boys to drop 35 on them in the first half, with JJ throwing for over 300 yards, and torching their secondary.

He is taking the heat for, and focus off of, his team - what a leader does.

Distract from the gargantuan list of player miscues.

Like last year - Purdue blows them out, then he disses U of M over

rightfully

complaining about the blown call on the Hutchinson TD.

Took the air out of the room on MSU's secondary being exposed,

Gloat all you like but he has 2 more wins over us than John L.

And 2 more than he should have.

However, I look for us to put up 50 against them this year,

Hardly anything coaches (or most public figures) say nowadays can be taken at face value. 

A coach will take the blame to take it off his players, and sometimes his staff, as a way of removing pressure from them and putting it on to himself, displaying the kind of loyalty and accountability he wants from them, motivating them to defend him, etc.