Colorado football fans have every reason to be angry at Mel Tucker

Colorado football fans were shocked by the news of Mel Tucker leaving and they have every reason to be angry with the head coach — and the school.

It’s a phrase that still plays in Colorado fans’ heads, “While I’m flattered to be considered for the HC job @MSU_football, I am committed to @CUBuffsFootball for #TheBuild of our program, its athletes, coaches & supporters. #UnfinishedBusiness #GoBuffs”

That tweet was sent out by Mel Tucker following a reported interview with Michigan State and it seemed clear that he was withdrawing his name from the race because he believed in the future of Colorado. He even mentioned “The Build” because the program was building something special.

Fast forward four days and he has an introductory press conference to become Michigan State’s next head coach, following Mark Dantonio’s retirement.

And to say Colorado fans were less than enthused with the news of his sudden departure would be an understatement. He was in Boulder for just one season and sold everyone on hope and rebuilding the program from the bottom up. He then sold himself to Michigan State and a salary that is double what he would have made had he stayed with the Buffaloes.

As someone who has followed Michigan State my whole life, I understand how bad this news hurts and how betrayed Colorado fans must feel. Heck, Nick Saban did this exact same thing to Michigan State before the Citrus Bowl in 2000, and it was a gut-punch. It’s OK to be angry with the coach, but what I’ve had to convince myself over time is that the offer he got from LSU was much better and he ended up winning a national title — MSU wasn’t going to pay him that money.

Should I have been mad at my school for not backing the Brinks truck into Saban’s driveway to try and keep him? No, because SEC money is just different and Michigan State couldn’t have matched it back then.

The same is true for Tucker in terms of Colorado’s salary. While he made $2.7 million which isn’t bad for an unproven coach, he has plenty of potential and the Buffaloes just don’t have the money to match Michigan State’s $5.3 million offer annually. The school just doesn’t have those resources right now, and that’s the current difference between the Pac-12 and Big Ten.

Colorado probably should have offered a raise when the interview process began with Michigan State, but they didn’t. Tucker felt like he was Plan B for the Spartans so withdrew his name and saved face with a tweet. And then the Spartans came back with an offer he couldn’t refuse with more resources for his staff and the football program in East Lansing.

Can you blame him for turning down double the salary and more resources? Not one bit. Can you still be angry at him for the way he left? Absolutely.

Listen, Tucker is being treated harshly because of that one tweet and he probably should have thought twice before hitting send, especially if there was even a fraction of doubt in his mind. He messed up with the way he handled the entire process with Michigan State and Colorado and shouldn’t have publicly stated he was committed when he clearly was unsure.

While it’s OK for Tucker to leave for Michigan State after building his reputation, the things he said before leaving Colorado will forever leave a bad taste mouths of Buffaloes fans — and rightly so.