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Mel Tucker became the Michigan State coach seemingly out of
nowhere after one year at Colorado. In a unique offseason, Tucker has a tall
task to rebuild the Spartans football program after the departure of Mark
Dantonio.
However, he at least has a figure to look up to for coaching
advice heading into the Big Ten. Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, who
coached the Badgers from 1990-2005, was Tucker’s coach when Tucker played at
Wisconsin from 1990-94.
Speaking on the Move the Sticks Podcast, Tucker praised and credited Alvarez for his
development as a coach and thinks the lessons from him will lead to
success at Michigan State.
“Coach Alvarez is a great
coach, a great man, a great leader,” Tucker said on the Move the Sticks
Podcast. “My freshman year we were 1-10, then 5-6, 5-6, Rose Bowl Champs.
Coach Alvarez was unwavering. He would always talk to us about ‘never flinch.’
Never blink. He was just staunchly committed to a vision of building a
championship program through hustle, effort, toughness, mental toughness,
physical toughness, team, unselfishness day in and day out. He never wavered.
His assistant coaches never wavered. Through recruiting, he was able to build
that program with those core values and principles that we can all understand.
Eventually he was able to get that program turned around. I learned a great
deal from him in that regard.”
Alvarez finished with a 120-73-1 record as head coach of Wisconsin
and Tucker referenced the 1993 and ‘94 turnaround after the beginning of his
career. In 1993, Wisconsin finished 10-1-1 as Rose Bowl champions and in
Tucker’s final year as a player in 1994, Wisconsin finished 8-3-1 and won the
Hall of Fame Bowl under Alvarez.
Tucker received his first head coaching opportunity in 2019 with
Colorado and the Buffaloes finished 5-7.
CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli ranked all of the coaches in the
Power Five level, releasing numbers 26-65 last month. Tucker checked in at
No. 55 on the list, despite his under .500 record in his first year of
coaching. That is a nine-spot bump from his ranking of No. 64 in 2019.
“He climbed from No. 64 to No. 55 with the move to Michigan
State,” Fornelli wrote. “My theory is it has a lot more to do with all the
new hires than our voters being overly impressed by his 5-7 season in Colorado.
He steps into a difficult situation at Michigan State thanks in part to the
timing of his hire and lack of spring practice.”
Tucker’s coaching career actually starting at Michigan State,
serving as a graduate assistant on the 1997 and 1998 teams. After that, Tucker
coached defensive backs at Miami (Ohio), LSU and Ohio State, before leaving to
coaching in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago
Bears from 2005-2014. Prior to Colorado, Tucker served as the associate head
coach and defensive backs coach with Alabama (2015) and the defensive
coordinator for Georgia (2016-18).
