Mel Tucker takes the money and leaves Colorado

We barely knew you Mel Tucker. In a late night, back room deal, Mel Tucker took the head coaching football job at Michigan State University.

Mel Tucker turned down the initial offer from Michigan State, so it appeared that Colorado had avoided a situation that could set back their football program. However, late Tuesday night things changed with Mel Tucker. Tucker decided that he was going to take the money and become the next head coach at Michigan State.

There is an 8 am team meeting scheduled for the Colorado players on Wednesday.

This is such a bad look for Mel Tucker. He handled this about as bad as a coach could. Just think of all those players that had committed to playing for him at Colorado and now are stuck in rare space in terms of what is next for them.

The signatures on those signing day scholarships have not even dried and Tucker decided that East Lansing is where he needs to be.

This news comes after Tucker felt he was “flattered” about being mentioned for the Spartan job and was “committed” to the University of Colorado. Words evidently don’t mean to much to Coach Tucker. Bring enough money and he can be bought.

Everybody has their price.

Tucker was well known for preaching commitment and dedication to things in life. The hypocrisy of it from Tucker is stunning.

Complete crap if you ask me and that is putting it mildly.

Reaction is coming fast and furious from Colorado fans, alumni, and writers.

Here are a few reactions:

“I hate when people lie to me but more so my son!” replied an angry parent.

“I hate being lied to..” said a Buff recruit.

“Respect is given when you put words to action. Consistency and Commitment is all these young ball players want. #Wow” Former Colorado player Phillip Lindsay tweeted.

According sources close to Mel Tucker, he was hesitant to leave Boulder and join Michigan State after just one year at Colorado. Tucker even met with Colorado donors in Denver on Monday evening. The resources that Michigan State could offer Tucker was to good to turn down. It just wasn’t an increase in salary.

Really?

Supposedly, Coach Tucker is going to making in the range of $5.7 million per year. It is more than double what his salary was at Colorado.

If Coach Tucker expects us to believe that it wasn’t about the money then he is absolutely one of the most naïve people walking the face of the Earth.

Is he worth that?

No, he’s not. Tucker hasn’t done anything in coaching to deserve that kind of money. I understand that some people will say “That is what the market is at”. That is where the market is at for a head coach that hasn’t won a division title, conference title, national title, or Coach of the Year award?

Remember that Mel Tucker is a 5-7 coach.

Tucker not only took the money, but he set back the Colorado football program in a major way.

Make no mistake about it, Tucker is going to try and convince those Colorado recruits that signed with him to follow him to Michigan State.

Why would those players follow him if he has already shown that he can up and leave after only one year?

Future recruits to Colorado may ask themselves if the replacement for Tucker will be there long term. Gaining the trust of these recruits is something that Colorado is going to have to deal with for a few years.

When a coach goes into the living room of a potential recruit and assures the parents of that recruit that he will look after their son is something that parents take to heart. Not only did Coach Tucker lie to the recruits, but he lied to the parents. That is the bigger issue to me.

I thought Mel Tucker was “laser focused” on building the program at Colorado?

Tucker is not the guy that many Buff fans thought he was. Coach Tucker is going to have live with the ugly stain of this move to Michigan State.

Tucker has also said that there is “no transfer portal in real life”. I guess there is for him. Being committed to a program is only something for players to be concerned about these days according to the action taken by Mel Tucker.

Coach Tucker is a hypocrite plain and simple.