OT: Freep reporting MSU to offer Tucker $95m/10 year contract
November 17th, 2021 at 3:41 PM ^
Damn. And I mean that.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:41 PM ^
The article notes that two alums are funding the contract (perhaps the increase over the previous contract).
As in the NIL battle, the schools where some rich alumni are willing to spend money on athletics have an advantage. Michigan largely will not play that game with respect to recruiting and impermissible benefits, as I understand it. Now that there are legal ways to compensate players, however, I hope some alumni get creative and help level the playing field between Michigan and the very top programs.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:41 PM ^
Mel will only see $3M/year of that. The transfer portal isn't cheap.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:42 PM ^
That’s an offer you can’t refuse. Unless he really wants to coach in the PAC-12 or SEC for some reason. Hopefully they are made to regret that this weekend. I do give them credit for making a ton of plays against us although I still think the officials put them over the top. We win that game 7 times out of 10.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:44 PM ^
Poor Mork thought he screwed the school by collecting that last bonus check. Now they do this. At least he has lifetime season tickets.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:47 PM ^
The money paragraph (literally):
Only three NFL coaches in 2021 are making more than Tucker's new deal: New England's Bill Belichick ($12.5 million), Seattle's Pete Carroll ($11 million) and New Orleans' Sean Payton ($9.8 million). San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich ($11 million) is the only other NBA coach making more than Tucker.
Da-ahm!
For those of you who follow the MSU-Alumni-Led-Michigan-Based-Mortgage-Companies-Blood-Feud, really interesting that Gilbert is not involved.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
Ishbia is an ex Izzo player so he is probably personally closer to the hoops program and possibly the AD as well, not to mention he's out to overtake Gilbert/Rocket as Michigan's mortgage company so he has a little more incentive. Rocket's marketing is more national (you'll see their logo in arenas across the country), while UWM by virtue of being a wholesaler is almost exclusively local/in-state.
November 17th, 2021 at 6:36 PM ^
UWMC stock hit their all-time low today, dropping about 10% on the day. Interesting coincidence that that happens the same day their CEO is mentioned as being involved in funding this.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:31 PM ^
Well, when your talent is essentially free in college, you have a lot more of your profit to spend on bidding wars for head coaches so it's not really 1:1.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:49 PM ^
I read that the MSU Pres was holding it up? Anyway, this kind of seems like a Charlie Weis type deal to me. Give him a huge contract after a good year to fend off other suitors. He seems to be a good coach/guy but really has not proven anything with his recruits.
Good for him though, literally quadrupled his pay on less than 2 years!
All I know if Nick Saban will be making $9.6M a year here shortly.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:12 PM ^
Regardless of the source of money, it's bad optics to have recently asked faculty to volunteer in dining halls or whatever and they cut Men's and Women's swim and diving within the last year due to budget issues. This is definitely the reason for the university president to not love the idea.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:49 PM ^
Your new Delta Chi nickname is... Teddy KGB. I mean I guess that's the nickname for the walk-on hoops player from 2000 footing the bill. Now I must go shower. I feel dirty after reading the freep.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
LOL, Do it.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:53 PM ^
That's a hell of a lot of money, but I'm glad they're trying to keep him. He seems like a good person and that's rare with college coaches. I'd much rather play against him than someone like Dantonio.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
So two donors are pledging to donate the money to back this. Don't tell me MSU doesn't have the weirdest fanbase in college athletics.
This smells like one of those "what will it take to get you to stay" deals and he threw out a ridiculous number not expecting them to go with it.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:09 PM ^
Staee fans constantly bring up Harbaugh’s salary. This is beyond ironic. But since Michigan is cursed and Staee isn’t they will win the Big Ten this season.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:15 PM ^
That's an interesting gamble. We definitely will need to see the buyout numbers on both sides to figure out how crazy this offer really is. If Tucker can leave without paying much of a penalty (similar to Jimbo) or MSU can fire him for less than $20M then the $95 means nothing other than being a splashy number.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
Was Freep's source Mel Tucker's agent?
This seems like a dumb move if true. Even if MSU has that kind of money to throw around, why not just match whatever offers Mel actually gets? I wouldn't be surprised if he gets some interest for the open jobs, but "highest paid coach in the country" interest seems unlikely.
November 17th, 2021 at 5:37 PM ^
Because if you had identical offers from LSU and MSU, which one are you taking?
November 17th, 2021 at 6:20 PM ^
Identical offers? MSU probably, because they are less likely to can my ass 2 years after a national championship.
But whatever - MSU can roll out the $100 million after LSU offers $80m, which is still probably way more than Mel Tucker is worth, if they want to keep him that bad.
Point is, MSU is basically making a huge bet on the idea that Mel is going to be a ridiculously hot commodity a month from now and they need to lock him up now.
That's a head-scratcher, unless they have intel that he's getting competitive offers already.
November 18th, 2021 at 5:48 AM ^
You’re also never going to win a national championship at MSU… then there’s the whole: don’t go 9-11 after your national title and don’t have a slew of off-field antics cause problems with the administration and they won’t want to fire you thing for Ed O…
November 17th, 2021 at 4:24 PM ^
Mel Tucker's 11-6 at MSU although it could just as easily be 8-9 if the ball bounced a little differently a couple times. I guess getting left in the lurch by Saban two decades ago still stings.
I'm not sure what would be funnier - a top tier school outbidding MSU for Tucker, or him staying, taking a fat contract, and turning out to be the 0.500 win rate coach the data says he is.
November 17th, 2021 at 8:07 PM ^
Him leaving for less would be the most hilarious
November 17th, 2021 at 4:25 PM ^
Nothing would crack me up more than him get this big extension and then lose to OSU and/or PSU to end the year, then watch Walker sit out their mid-tier bowl game and them wind up ending the year having lost 3/4 out of their last 5 games.
I get there's an arms race with college coaches but this absolutely feels like a school paying at the absolutely zenith of value. I know people run back with "we said the same thing about Dantonio" but I'm of the belief that teams don't usually fall ass-backwards into two great coaches especially when the latter absolutely didn't want to go to your school the first time.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:26 PM ^
I dont care how the interviews went. The fact that a 6-6 coach and a 5-7 coach are the program saviors is so Michigan State. Its the bobbled punt of coaching search luck.
Also what would Mel Tucker have to do for us to say he is a good coach? Hell earlier this year it was how Day is a bum and falling apart. Sometimes a tip of the cap to the other team/coach is better for our collectively sanity as well.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:32 PM ^
Yea we can keep saying MSU beat us bc pandemic/luck but that doesn't change the fact that they beat us in games we should have smoked them
November 17th, 2021 at 4:37 PM ^
Yeah worst case scenario for Sparty is he's actually sub-.500 coach like you said, and Dan Gilbert gets rotated in to be the billionaire-alum with the privilege to pay his buyout.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:35 PM ^
I don't think he's a bad coach, he's far less hateable than Dantonio tho. I think it's quite a lot but MSU probably does have to pay to keep him in town, so it makes some sense.
I still think we're the better team this year and the better program in the coming couple of years. If he stays, I look forward to it. If he leaves, I hope we see him again to get some revenge.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:43 PM ^
November 17th, 2021 at 4:43 PM ^
MSU would be stupid to not throw this money at him, especially since 2 donors are funding the whole thing. Tucker seems to be a good motivator and an improved recruiter compared to Dantonio. Not sure about in-game coach but he checks a lot of boxes.
If Harbaugh started 2-0 against osu you’d better believe he would have been able to demand whatever number he wanted.
November 17th, 2021 at 6:26 PM ^
Mel Tucker is highly likely to start 0-2 against OSU, just like Harbaugh.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:16 PM ^
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read considering he’s 2-0 against Harbaugh.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:45 PM ^
So many here thinks its dumb because he hasn't won anything yet. Well, he's one game from basically winning the toughest division in the P5. What if he wins, and he hasn't been extended with a huge offer?
Yeah, buh-bye.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:53 PM ^
Penn state would like a word.
November 17th, 2021 at 6:24 PM ^
What if he wins, and there's still not a school out there that wants to offer him anywhere close to $100 million? MSU is allowed to counter-offer you know.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:46 PM ^
Isn't Jim Harbaugh who is 0-2 against Tucker making that kind of money? Sounds like crazy money to me but If one of their billionaire alumni wants to pick up that tab so be it. At least this way Harbaugh will get a few more shots at Tucker.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:56 PM ^
1. The most negative talk was how Harbaugh hadnt won anything while making 8 million a year.
2. Tucker is one loss, with two tough games left, from doing the same thing.
3. Harbaugh is now making around $4mil before incentives.
Question is if Tucker has the same first 5 years basically as Harbaugh will the media be up his ass?
November 17th, 2021 at 4:59 PM ^
Harbaugh is at $4mil/yr, not even close.
November 18th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
Harbaugh makes less than half of that now, and at Harbaugh’s highest paid he was making $2 million less.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:46 PM ^
$95 million for only a two year sample size. One of those seasons was a 7 game season in which he went 2-5. And this year its looking like a 9-3 record.
Makes sense for Michigan State.
November 17th, 2021 at 6:46 PM ^
He’s 2-0 against the team that matters most, and has them at 9-1 in Year 2, after they were left as a smoking crater when he arrived.
I don’t think his team is as good as it’s record. They could easily be 8-4 right now with losses to Nebraska, Indiana and Michigan, but their record is their record, and they are technically conference and playoff contenders right now.
They’re smart to try and lock him up now.
November 17th, 2021 at 9:03 PM ^
Would you pay that much to beat OSU but lose to MSU? More importantly, is it really market value? Is there a business case? I like what little I know about Tucker and wish him the best but that is a ridiculous amount of money for someone with his overall track record. MSU might lose its next three games. It is just too early for that kind of talk. Counter offers are also available.
Your 8-4 comment should carry more weight as 4 losses is still possible meaning 5 losses may be the norm.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:48 PM ^
Based off of one good year. They better hope he doesn't regress.
November 17th, 2021 at 6:23 PM ^
Not even a full year. How smart does this look if they get shellacked by OSU this weekend?
November 18th, 2021 at 7:00 PM ^
We are definitely getting shellacked by them this weekend, doesn’t really change the calculus — especially since it’s donor money. We refused to ante up for Saban and got BWxJLS as a result.
Record aside, Tucker has inspired a ton of confidence already. It would be a wretched mistake to let him walk right now. If anything, I’d say the extensively documented “overachieving” is a mark in his favor; our roster is much weaker than people seem to realize. The guy motivates a resilient team that plays above its level. He’s a must-keep.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:48 PM ^
Lot of Michigan fans trying to convince themselves this is a mistake for MSU for some reason. He's been off to a great start at MSU and if they didn't pay him this someone was going to make a big offer. Its not MSU's money but booster money. Hope he fails but man people are showing their ass in this thread
November 17th, 2021 at 4:57 PM ^
It's just based off of being 5-7 and 2-5 before this year. He is a good coach I believe. Is he a Nick Saban level coach? No. They played even with Nebraska and Indiana.
November 17th, 2021 at 5:12 PM ^
Honestly, good for him if he gets paid but he went 2-5 last year at MSU and his recruiting has been no better than their historical average. Has any of their younger players really popped? Also, "it's not MSU's money it's boosters money" ignores the fact that it's all coordinated. It's not like MSU AD got a call from these guys saying "pay Mel and I'll cover the tab"; the AD put out some feelers and solicited funds from rich alumni, which cuts into the ability of the school to also tap these alums for cash. Now maybe they'd never give to anything other than sports but if not then it is materially the same. Like when Ross helped get Harbaugh to UM - he didn't make that decision on his own.
Anyway, I'm find admitting I'm wrong if Tucker turns out to be a stud, but a lot of people claiming we're all showing our ass pointing out the issues with him are just showing a different side of their asses if they don't admit there's a chance he's a one-hit wonder and a school that can't pay for it's cafeteria staff could have used this money more than Tucker
November 17th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
Hmmm. Well in his first season he went 2-5, so 'off to a great start' might be a little much. Yes, he's beat Michigan twice, yes, he's having a good season this year. But as others have mentioned, Brady Hoke went 11-2 in his first season. Making someone the highest paid coach because he's won a grand total of 9 games so far in two seasons is a mistake, and I love me some Michigan State mistakes. :)
November 17th, 2021 at 5:26 PM ^
Agree with this. That program was spiraling when he took over. He took it out of a nosedive and is 9-1 in his 2nd year on campus. They’re probably not as good as their record, but before the season it seemed like 7-5 or 8-4 would have been a home run year for them.