MSU turned down by another assistant coach - Cincy DC Marcus Freeman
So far, they've been rejected by Marrow, Clinkscale, and now Freeman that I know of. After announcing that none of Dantonio's assistants would be retained, Tucker is getting desperate and has started rehiring Dantonio's assistants. The shitshow marches on.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
The only reason a sane person would take a job at MSU right now is because they're expecting their career will flame out anyway.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
Or if you're looking for a first job. I doubt future employers would hold it against you.
February 16th, 2020 at 9:30 PM ^
Disagree. Huge cultural issues, potential for several losing seasons, lousy roster...hard to look like a good coach in those conditions.
February 16th, 2020 at 3:57 PM ^
Or they receive a 100% raise from their current pay.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
Makes sense. Why would anyone even come close to that train wreck. A sinking ship. Thanks Dumbtonio.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
February 16th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
Freeman will be among the top candidates for next Cincinnati HC should Fickell eventually leave.
Stay there and don't burn the bridges. That HC opportunity could be only a year away.
February 16th, 2020 at 6:18 PM ^
And if not, Fickell would bring him along to a better job.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
Aren't they retaining Tressel and another guy?
February 16th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
It's been reported that Tucker is completely cleaning house.
Of course, this being MSU, he'll probably reverse course in two days.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
It has since been reported that a couple of assistants are being retained.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:58 PM ^
It was reported Burton was going to IU. I wonder what changed his mind????
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
February 16th, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
Also...
Of course, this being Tucker, he'll probably reverse course in two days.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:55 PM ^
And join Saban's staff as an analyst?
February 16th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
Even players are strating to spout off on the whole debacle:
February 16th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
isn't that one of the uber-dirty, cheap shot brothers spouting off on that twitter?
February 16th, 2020 at 6:49 PM ^
Yep. Total shit-nozzle that one
February 16th, 2020 at 10:03 PM ^
Yes. In an extremely ironic twist, it's an uber-dirty, cheap shot brother spouting off about the father of...wait for it...uber-dirty, cheap shot brothers.
I'd like to think we've reached peak msu, but let's be honest, I'm sure they'll find yet other ways of demonstrating their depravity.
February 16th, 2020 at 2:31 PM ^
So... I take it that Coach Bullough must be the team's chief supplier of "Vitamin S"?
February 16th, 2020 at 5:01 PM ^
Dantonio’s blind loyalty to the Bullough family is one of the many reasons he got in this situation. You absolutely cannot move on if you continue to employ the meatheads from that family. It should be confirmation that getting rid of Bullough is the right move if one of your dirtiest players is threatening to transfer.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
I wonder if Tucker didn’t think the ramifications of this job move all the way through, or if he just thought “I don’t care what kind of shitshow I’ve entered, I’m a very rich man now so fuck it.”
February 16th, 2020 at 12:41 PM ^
I've seen a lot of comments like "You too would make this move if you were offered to double your salary." But if I'm making $2.7 million already (not exactly a pittance) and I'm happy at my job, I don't know that I'd move across the country just for more money. The change in my quality of life is not going to be that large. And I'd certainly listen to my current employer's counteroffer, which he apparently refused to do for some reason.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^
He wasn’t doing a great job there and was looking at replacing a decent experienced QB and an elite WR. This move made a ton of sense for this guy.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
It only made a ton of sense if he had no confidence in himself to be a good head coach. He had to replace a shitty QB at Michigan state with an even shittier one, so I’m not sure he even looked at the MSU roster before he took the job
February 16th, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
He’s pretty clearly not a good coach in general. Flame out at CU for 2.7 million per year, or flame out at MSU at 5.5 million per year? Easy choice.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:39 PM ^
Boulder is also a considerably more expensive place to live than EL
February 16th, 2020 at 3:07 PM ^
No doubt. I don’t know the Lansing area very well — is there even a neighborhood in that area where someone making $5MM+ a year would live? I suppose there’s the Dart family, some lobbyists bilking the state political machine, etc. I just don’t know where the EL money resides.
February 16th, 2020 at 9:37 PM ^
Boulder would also be a considerably nicer place to live than EL.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
He'd been there one year and had posted the same record (5-7) as his predecessor. It was early to draw any sort of conclusions about his tenure there.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^
"He wasn’t doing a great job there...This move made a ton of sense for this guy."
"He wasn't doing a great job there" in replacing a guy who was fired by a school that doesn't get a lot of media attention and where there are few expectations of winning the conference, let alone getting into the playoffs.
He's now moved to a program replacing the guy who until very recently was revered on campus and was easily the most successful coach in the last half-century, a success level that ratcheted up expectations within its fan base and gave the program vastly greater media attention than it had had in many years.
On top of which the program is facing the possibility of NCAA violations, has had two poor years of recruiting, and is likely facing a third. If Mel Tucker thinks that uncorking 5-7 in his first season is not going to cause problems in the same way that 3-8 did for RR, he's in for a bad surprise. Fan bases whose expectations have been raised aren't very forgiving, especially to coaches without strong prior ties to the program.
The only criteria in which such a move "makes sense" is financial, and in that respect Tucker won the national championship.
February 16th, 2020 at 4:29 PM ^
I am not sure it is fair to say there are no expectations at CU. They have historically had decent teams.
February 16th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
Much improved assistants was Tucker’s big value add for msu. If he can’t get anyone decent their situation goes from bad to terrible.
February 16th, 2020 at 4:32 PM ^
Just as MSU found it difficult to hire a head coach at this time of year, Tucker is going to find it very hard to find assistants. All the good ones have already moved and found new jobs. While I am all for piling on MSU, I think we should see what this guy does next off season. Though that will be tougher after the beat down they get this season.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:37 PM ^
You forgot the child molesting doctor.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:57 PM ^
There was a child molesting doctor?
February 16th, 2020 at 4:31 PM ^
Larry Nassar? Their cover-up of Nassar's activities triggered the purge of MSU...um...leadership.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/msu-agrees-pay-gymnastics-doctor-larry-nassars-accusers/story?id=55208344
February 16th, 2020 at 12:58 PM ^
Don't they realize these OSU homers don't give an eff about the whole state of MI?!? They are just biding their time until they get an invite to coach at OSU.
February 17th, 2020 at 8:48 PM ^
Exactly right. In fact, Freeman's name was thrown around the OSU boards as a possible DC. Fickell would crawl from Cincy to Columbus for another shot with OSU as HC.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:01 PM ^
Did none of his staff from CU want to make the plunge?
February 16th, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
I do feel for Tucker in the sense that he's so late to the game that trying to pull local guys from established programs is going to be tough. It's also asking guys to leave stable programs for a tire fire, but there's a reason well-run programs don't change coaches in February.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:39 PM ^
It’s his own fault. He knew or should have know what he is getting himself into.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:08 PM ^
It seemed foolish not to keep some of the existing staff due to the timing of everything. It’s going to be a challenge get quality guys to leave their positions at this juncture. It could turn into a huge cluster.
edit. Looks like he kept a couple guys.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
This makes no sense. MSU makes fun of Luke Fickle for being a waffling flake and then expect his DC to leave. Mel Tucker has a long painful road to go. There is more job stability at UC than there will be at MSU.
where are all the people crawling to MSU?
February 16th, 2020 at 2:00 PM ^
They should be crawling through glass, right? I mean Dantonio said so. So it must be true.
February 16th, 2020 at 2:39 PM ^
Pride before the crawl
6.7.0February 16th, 2020 at 3:16 PM ^
Pride before stupidity.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:29 PM ^
MSU is toxic. The only guys going to go there are desperate or are going to be overpaid.
February 16th, 2020 at 1:53 PM ^
10.10.2020 -- let's win on their field this fall by 30+points, then the true sparty-freude will begin.
Let's not get "high and mighty" now, the football Gods punish us enough with irony.
Us against the World - Go Blue!
February 16th, 2020 at 3:15 PM ^
Someone tell MSU money doesn’t buy you class.