What's on the line for Mel Tucker at Michigan State this season? Just the rest of his career, says Mike Valenti. If Tucker's three biggest decisions backfire and the Spartans don't make legitimate strides, Valenti says it will be "open season" on Tucker's status as a big-time coach:
"I think Mel Tucker’s entire career comes down to this year. No, I don't expect MSU to compete for anything of note, I don't expect a trip to Indy. What I’m saying is, he stuck by what I think are two very questionable coordinators in Jay Johnson and Scottie Hazelton. You look at programs and how they staff and the coordinators they have and you start to think, Tuck’s team from a quality standpoint was worse than subpar in all three phases of the game. Did he make any changes? He didn’t. He’s a top-10 paid coach and there’s no world where JJ and SH are top 25 coordinators, so you got a problem there and that’s on him."
That's problem one, says Valenti. Potential problem two is a potential void at quarterback after the transfer of Payton Thorne: "This is the big boy world we live in. Did Tuck go to the portal to get a quarterback? No. So now we got your guys and Mel Tucker has a quarterback competition that he has to get right."
And potential problem three, says Valenti, is any carry-over from last season in the "quality control" department, that is, "clock management, special teams, a defense that isn’t 130th in America, stupid penalties, idiocy, blown assignments."
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Tucker is one of the highest-paid coaches in college football at $9.5 million per year and his team is coming off a 5-7 season. While Valenti says he likes the "idea of Mel Tucker, modernizing MSU and giving it more of a spotlight," he says the Spartans need to win at least eight games this season or Tucker will be on thin ice:
"Right now, here’s where I’m at overall. The recruiting is not where it needs to be, the transfer portal is not where it needs to be, the product on the field is not where it needs to be. Even if you dismiss COVID, here’s what he have, a tale of two seasons: 11-2, holy hell, lightning in a bottle, and then I would argue the single worst season of football I’ve watched since Bobby Williams.
"I don’t think he’s going to get hired, he will have 2024. My point is, if this doesn’t work this year, if his coordinators that he stubbornly kept fail him, if he makes the wrong move in a QB competition, if the quality control is bad, he’s doomed. At a certain point, the contract does matter. If he goes out and you don’t win seven, eight games this year, it’s open season on the contract, even for me."
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