Toasty Buns: 10 college football coaches on the hot seat entering 2023
By John Buhler
Mel Tucker needs to prove to Michigan State boosters 2021 was not an anomaly
For the love of all things Sparty, let’s just hope Mel Tucker has a great year leading Michigan State. Otherwise, the program’s boosters may have to swallow the bitterest of pills and pay an ungodly amount in buyout money to the one-year wonder head coach. Michigan State was outstanding in 2021, winning 11 games, the Peach Bowl and finishing ranked inside of the top 10. But last year…
Tucker’s team went 5-7 and failed to reach a bowl game after a monumentally successful season the year prior. If we want to say the COVID year was a wash, we could do that. Keep in mind that he only took over a retiring Mark Dantonio a month and change before the world shut down. We know that Tucker can recruit, but he cannot sustain a program based on winning the portal lottery.
Odds are, he will never get a generational player in the portal again like he did in 2021 with Kenneth Walker III coming over from Wake Forest. In short, Michigan State should be a top-half program in the new Big Ten. It is one of the best programs in the country where winning a national title is just out of arm’s reach. The Spartans should be pushing for playoff berths, not bowl games.
Anything short of eight wins and a top-25 finish will have Spartans fans second-guessing Tucker.