CBS Sports: "Pressure is mounting" on Michigan State's Football's Mel Tucker
College football experiences turnover at head coaching positions on an annual basis. Following the 2022 season, there were 24 coaching changes among FBS programs, good enough for 18% of the of the sport.
Looking ahead to the 2023 campaign, CBS Sports ranked each program's head coach on a scale of 0 to 5 on how likely they were to be fired: (5 - Win or be fired, 4 - Start improving now, 3 - Pressure is mounting, 2 - All good...for now, 1 - Safe and secure, 0 - Untouchable).
Following an 11-2 season in 2021 which caught the entire nation by surprise, Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker was listed among "Untouchable" head coaches heading into last season. However, after a highly disappointing 5-7 campaign in 2022, CBS Sports has Tucker among the "pressure is mounting" crowd.
Here's what CBS Sports' college football reporter Dennis Dodd had to say about the situation in East Lansing:
There might be only two people who can decide on Tucker's future: boosters Mat Ishbia (owner of the Phoenix Suns) and Steve St. Andre. Nineteen months ago, their contributions made Tucker one of the highest-paid coaches in ball (10 years, $95 million). Is Tucker the portal king who went 11-2 in 2021 or the disappointment who dropped to 5-7 in 2022? For the money, he better be the former. In Year 5 of his head coaching career, Tucker is 23-21 overall.
While a growing portion of Michigan State's fanbase is growing restless concerning the football program, with a smaller portion already putting Tucker on the "hot seat" heading into 2023, the fact of the matter is that it is highly unlikely that Tucker will be fired, barring an absolute catastrophe this fall.
If Tucker were fired following the 2023 season, he would still be owed a whopping $76 million due to the massive contract extension he received amidst the 2021 campaign. That's a lot of money to pay a guy NOT to coach your football team. Additionally, Michigan State and its boosters would then have to turn around and spend more money on Tucker's replacement.
Tucker needs to show progress and improvement in the program in 2023, no doubt. Michigan State has been boom or bust in three years under Tucker's leadership, going 2-5 in the COVID-shortened 2022 season, 11-2 in 2021 and 5-7 last season. The baseline goal for the Spartans should be to return to bowl eligibility in 2023 against one of the toughest schedules in college football.
