LSU football coaching rumors: Will history repeat itself with next hire?

There is a lot of positive momentum towards Mel Tucker possibly becoming the next head coach of the LSU football program.

One name that has skyrocketed of late when it comes to the LSU football head-coaching search is Mel Tucker.

Though Tucker is only in his second season at Michigan State and his third as a Power Five head coach, FOX’s Bruce Feldman reports there are people in the LSU building who are very high on him. Michigan State is 7-0 and the No. 9 team in the country in Tucker’s second season in East Lansing. While potentially leaving for LSU would be his third Power Five gig in four years, it could happen.

The last time LSU hired a head coach from Michigan State, that man was Nick Saban in 2000.

LSU football coaching rumors: Could Mel Tucker leave Sparty for Bayou Bengals?

Tukcker was on Saban’s first LSU staff as the defensive backs coach before joining Jim Tressel’s Ohio State staff the following year. After a four-year run in Columbus, Tucker went on to spend a decade in the NFL primarily as a defensive coordinator. He returned to college football in 2015 on Saban’s Alabama staff. After three years with Kirby Smart at Georgia, Tucker was Boulder bound.

Though LSU is a better job than Michigan State, Tucker does have strong Big Ten ties. The Cleveland native played his college ball for Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin before becoming a graduate assistant under Saban in East Lansing. LSU may really want Tucker, but money will have to talk to get Tucker to leave a place that is special to him to go pursue an opportunity of a lifetime at LSU.

Tucker is the under-the-radar head-coaching hire that might get the Bayou Bengals back to good.

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