ThadMattasagoblin

February 14th, 2020 at 7:23 PM ^

Is Tucker really a heck of a pull? He went 5-7 in his only year as coach. There is a difference between being good as an assistant at a stacked program and running a middle of the road big ten program. Just ask bobby williams.

Ferg0dsakes

February 14th, 2020 at 7:29 PM ^

His resume upward trajectory seems closer to the deserved end of the spectrum than the "failing upward" Lane Kiffin path.  I don't think he'll last the length of his contract, but I do think he will recruit well enough to leave more in the cupboard than when Dantonio firebombed it.  That's why I referred to him as "rebound coach"

snarling wolverine

February 14th, 2020 at 7:45 PM ^

Actually it seems very Kiffinesque to me.  He was repeatedly hired, and canned, as an NFL DC.  Then he took a big step backward to being a college position coach, as another of Saban's reclamation projects.  Then he got to be DC under a defensive-oriented head coach, before landing a college head coaching job.  One 5-7 season on the job somehow earned him a huge contract at another school.

Mr Miggle

February 14th, 2020 at 9:31 PM ^

He got his pay doubled after one year where he went 5-7, the same record as the coach fired before him posted the previous year.

Nothing about that screams smart move by MSU. His deserved career trajectory is at least a couple more seasons at CU to see if he can build something.

Leaving more in the cupboard than Dantonio is such a low bar to clear and yet it's not a guarantee. If Tucker struggles on the field, his recruiting will suffer too.

Gucci Mane

February 14th, 2020 at 9:19 PM ^

Reposting this since it took a minute to research and it’s worth seeing.

Tucker's NFL defenses (as DC) ranked by yards per play in order of year,  2008-2014.

25,27,32,8,21,32,29.

Tuckers defenses ranked by SP+ at UGA (and year before and after for context.

Before ranked 2, during 14,12,8, after 1.

Tucker's defense at Colorado

before 58 and his one season 105.

So there we have it. If anyone has a better stat for NFL than yards per play please share. I couldn't find a SP+ NFL equivalent. 

bsand2053

February 14th, 2020 at 9:23 PM ^

Frankly the 5-7 record doesn’t really move the needle for me, other than the fact that he has no other HC experience save for the interim gig at Jacksonville,

Colorado sucked before he got there.  Obviously it would be a better sign for state if he had pulled a Harbaugh and doubled their wins in the first year but I’m not basing much on his Colorado record

MgoBlueprint

February 14th, 2020 at 9:14 PM ^

Ripping Appling and Izzo about the rape is definitely fair game. They both deserved to be locked up for a long while for that shit. The key should be thrown in Lake Michigan. 

drug addiction, especially heroin, isn’t anything to joke about. I hope he gets the help he needs, for his family’s sake

bronxblue

February 14th, 2020 at 8:06 PM ^

I'm sure MSU kicked the tires around him but my guess this was a bit of an agent "offering" MSU a chance to make an offer and when they passed he got to crow about it.  

This does make me wonder even more about the claims made here that UM went "cheap" with Marrow when looking to replace Partridge.  Just seems more unilateral on his part than both sides legitimately entering into negotiations.

AZBlue

February 14th, 2020 at 8:27 PM ^

It wasn’t Marrow.  This year it was UK’s D-backs coach (blanking on the name) who actually covers Michigan as one of his territories.  Claim is that they were unable to offer him big bucks because they were offering Campanile most of that “extra” money to keep him on staff.  Had they known he was leaving there would have been $$ to pay the UK guy.

Marrow WAS the guy that Michigan looked into a few years ago before he decided to stay at UK with a raise.  Whether it is true or sour grapes the narrative now (Sam Webb etc.) is that M never actually offered him and the whole thing was more driven by Marrow and his agent to get a bump.

As for MSU - apparently Tucker has a history with Marrow so I would not doubt they went after him hard.  I think MSU may have dodged a bullet somewhat - recruiting IS very important but for a reported $1.2M ——- #1 you would think he’d be more than a TE coach (I know “associate HC” also) if he was any good as an actual coach and #2 Marrow has done well recruiting MSU level guys in Ohio but the guy M looked at this cycle actually was better at landing the higher end talent.

Mr Miggle

February 15th, 2020 at 8:52 AM ^

Isn't Marrow the coach who starting recruiting for Michigan while he was here for a job interview?

I get that he's been important for UK, but he's got to be the highest paid recruiter in the country. You have to wonder if that recruiting prowess is as high if he moves from one job to another. A good fit for MSU in terms of recruiting the same area and same level players. I'm glad he's not going there, but I'd have mixed feelings about having him on our staff.

Seems like a UK lifer unless Stoops leaves.

JDeanAuthor

February 14th, 2020 at 8:45 PM ^

Sorry but this far Tucker has only proven he can go 5-7.

 

Now, that might change over time, but I’m not seeing anything amazing about that. Heck, even Dantonio had a better resume.

DoubleB

February 14th, 2020 at 9:08 PM ^

It's just a completely unknown hire as much as anything. Could MSU have found something more proven? Maybe if the entire athletic department wasn't falling apart. 

MSU's answer was to throw money at someone with some ability and some experience. A season of coaching at Colorado doesn't tell us a damn thing except he's probably not awful--Colorado is a much tougher place to win right now than people think. McIntyre's 2016 season was like Hoke's 2011--everything went right.

The spectrum is very, very wide with Tucker. Like I said I don't think MSU will become Rutgers or Maryland. But everything else is at least in play. Best guess? He falls into the mid-tier of the Big Ten East behind UM, OSU, and PSU. A lot of 8-5 type seasons.

Bluenin

February 14th, 2020 at 11:05 PM ^

But based on what though???  He’s been trash everywhere he has had a DC or HC position!  I don’t get why people think he’s going to magically be a semi decent coach at Sparty?? His ceiling is Bobby Williams and that’s IF he gets decent coordinators.

Khaleke The Freak

February 15th, 2020 at 12:22 AM ^

You’d think the parents and players would eventually wise up and not believe the shit coaches aare selling them in recruiting, I truly think Harbaugh is up front and honest in his recruiting pitch, for better or worse...as CFB evolves I think it’s for the better

Bluenin

February 14th, 2020 at 10:58 PM ^

Just a glowing review of Tucker!

 

On January 18, 2013 Tucker was named defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears.

Following one of the worst defensive seasons in Bears' history in 2013, Tucker was criticized by the media.  As a result, the team fired two of Tucker's assistant coaches, linebackers coach Tim Tibesar and defensive line coach Mike Phair.  The Bears replaced them with Paul Pasqualoni as defensive line coach and Reggie Herring as linebackers coach.

On January 20, 2015, following another record-setting low defensive season for the Bears, Tucker was replaced by former San Francisco 49ersdefensive coordinator Vic Fangio under new head coach John Fox.

Ty Butterfield

February 14th, 2020 at 11:28 PM ^

Probably going to be a little tough to fill out his staff at this point. Mork did them no favors with the timing of his “retirement.”