Around the Big Ten

[WingsFan]

lol I could post several "Done Deal" Tweets too. I liked this rumor also

Fickell's wife nixed it because she wasn't impressed with MSU's culture and thinks leadership hasn't made meaningful steps to reform the culture.

[lineygoblue]

Bielma is up next, I guess ...

[Rocky Bleier]

"Hey Beekman, let me know if you want a decided schematic advantage!"

[Hannibal]

I still kinda like Meathead. It looked like he had things going in the right direction at Arkansas for a couple of years, but then things went south pretty bad.

[WingsFan]

Sparty Trustee Brian Mosallam Called Fickell a "waffling flake" (apparently) lol .

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state-university/2020/02/11/brian-mosallam-michigan-state-spartans-doesnt-want-waffling-flake-football-coach/4722801002/

[edindetroit]

I've moved on from that.

[WingsFan]

According to Rico Beard (who blocked me) Dantonio wanted to coach the upcoming 2020 football season, then retire & pick his own replacement. However, in meantime, MSU had hired a search firm to look into finding a new coach. Dantonio found out, was upset, & abruptly retired

[lineygoblue]

Michigan State has hired Mel Tucker, head coach at Colorado, to replace Mark Dantonio.

Apparently Coach Tucker changed his mind after Luke Fickell turned down the job.

Sounds like he's going to get an improved war chest to bring in assistants, and he's nearly doubling his current pay. Plus, he has a 3 million dollar buyout at Colorado, which I'm sure MSU is paying for.

Details to come

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/c...ll/4730856002/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state-university/2020/02/12/michigan-state-reportedly-hire-colorados-mel-tucker-new-football-coach/4734833002/

[Cody_Russell]

Ah yes, Mel Tucker. One of the worst Bears defensive coordinators in their franchise history. I remember the days when it was exciting for the Lions to play his defense.
Guess the college game is more suited for Tucker...

Oops.

[froot loops]

If they came at Fickell with the same intensity and offer he would be coach. They learned Ted Dibiase's great maxim a week later than they should have.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Wish the guy well but this looks like a Booby Williams type hire. Tucker's coaching resume is unimpressive. I see lots of connections to past MSU football people that may have been the underlying cause for the hire - not his recruiting or coaching skills. There's little evidence that he has mid-west connections or the recruiting chops to bail out the dumpster fire that is MSU recruiting and in that vein he's been out west for a while and probably not a plus.

3 seasons?

Guess we'll see. Glad it wasn't Fickell.

[AlabamAlum]

Tucker did a phenomenal job at Bama. It's one of the reasons I hate Kirby. Stealing Mel was a bigger setback than any asst we have had poached. Headcoaching is a different game, though, but he made real improvements at Bama.

[iam416]

I liked Tucker a lot at Ohio State. And I thought he did a pretty good job of recruiting, but that was awhile ago. I didn't see much of his Colorado team. They certainly showed some grit in battling back to beat the Mighty Huskerz.

I'm mostly agnostic on the hire. I tend to think he'll be closer to 8-4 than Bobby Williams.

[AlabamAlum]

A lot depends on how much MSU invests in top assistants. You need a staff that sets a standard on the field and off and then recruits like mad men. You get a bunch of jobbers just looking for a paycheck and it will be a rough tenure for him.

[froot loops]

I don't see this as a Bobby Williams hire. It will be good, I think they will recruit better. One of the plainly obvious problems of the last 5 years was the lack of new assistants who were going hard on the recruiting trail. Dantonio and staff went pretty hard on the recruiting trail in the first 5 or 6 years, then they kind of got complacent. That happens a lot in college football, you get that initial burst of activity and that is hard to keep up. We'll see what happens, I personally wasn't a big Fickell guy but if they targeted him naturally I wanted to them to get him. I think they recovered as well as could be expected dealing with a clown show BOT and neutered athletic department. If the reports are correct they put a lot more money into the assistants pool and more into strength and conditioning.