Michigan State Football: 3 reasons Mel Tucker is good fit for Spartans

Mel Tucker has decided to leave Colorado after just one season to take over the head coaching duties with Michigan State football. Here is why this works.

When either Don Vito Corleone or Don Michael Corleone needed a favor, they would make someone “an offer they can’t refuse.” The Michigan State Spartans were in a similar position. They needed a head coach after the abrupt departure of longtime head football coach Mark Dantonio from the program.

Mel Tucker had a job. He was the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. They finished 5-7 last year as Tucker had the task of restoring the Buffs to their former glory of the late 1980s and early 1990s. As difficult a job as Colorado is, there was a reason for optimism as he recruited the No. 35 class in 2020 which included three four-star recruits.

The Cleveland-native could not, however, turn down the allure of coaching in the Big Ten. He initially turned down the job, but Michigan State made Tucker “an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

The Spartans made Tucker the second African American head coach in the history of Michigan State football and also he does have some Big Ten ties. He played defensive back at Wisconsin, began his coaching career at Michigan State as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban, and was the defensive backs coach at Ohio State with Mark Dantonio under head coach Jim Tressel.

No matter what side of the fence you sit on, what Tucker did or how it was handled, this was quite the coup for the Spartans.

At the end of the day, it was a good hire, and here are three reasons it should work in East Lansing.