Will Mel Tucker Survive the Tunnel Assault?
I think to most objective observers, it's quite obvious that MSU bought a lemon.
How do you spend $95mm on a 10 year guaranteed contract on a .500 coach?..., well, he wins the only game that matters to a program two years in a row (one a Covid year, the other the K9 + replay fluke game) and there is seemingly market interest from other tier 1 programs like LSU. These are the poor decisions that many programs are making these days with coaching hires - adding in the Spartans regional brand and lack of identity outside of the UM rivalry, and it's understandable how MSU may have mortgaged their decade to a cliche machine, NFT / monorail salesman - with instagram photos in sports cars while smoking cigars....cool.
However.....Did MSU possibly just luck into an out with Mel Tucker? Could he be fired with cause here and let go for lack of institutional control due to the assault in the tunnel? I'm no lawyer, but it seems the university may have grounds to fire him at year end and use this as a breach of contract in upholding xyz standards amongst student athletes under his watch. If nothing else, this hurts the brand of the football program and the university through actions and results off the field of play. I'm no mgo-lawyer here, but I'd think if MSU wanted to cut loose from that albatross of a contract, they may have an opportunity this year - to at the very least let him go with an agreed upon buyout much lower than the guaranteed $95mm.
Obviously, as a UM fan, I'm very pleased thus fare with Tuck's coaching and now imploding recruiting class. I hope he's around for a long time. I have no ill will towards any man who due to a confluence of events falls into an incredibly lucrative deal - and a great deal of financial success in life is due to luck- but I do believe if MSU could cut bait from a sweatier, more animated version of Brady Hoke, at a much lower buy out - they just might.
Incidents like this, or Hoke's 'not fully aware, aware" concussion mismanagement, make it much easier for universities to pull the trigger.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
The lack of control and bad example from slap or punching a fan himself entering the tunnel.
Then again it is Michigan State and they may keep him because they're proud of the incident.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:30 PM ^
Slapping away a hand that is touching your head that you didn't invite to touch you is absolutely fine. No problem with that.
EDIT: Seth says on Twitter that fan's been banned permanently.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
Yeah, the fan who did that is a shithead.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
Horse-shit-hand
October 30th, 2022 at 9:10 PM ^
I wanted to add that I saw it happen and the fan who did it was acting a little loopy in the minutes leading up to it. Not trying to sympathize with him or justify it (it was 100% shitty behavior), but it seemed more like someone with a lack of control rather than something malicious. Either way, permanent ban is the right response.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
That fan should be banned. What happened with Myles Garret and Mason Rudolph? I forget tbh, but I think this tunnel stuff should be similar.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
Six games plus the playoffs. I think it should be more, since it happened outside the context of the game. I also think they should be suspended for any future Michigan games they'd be eligible for.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
Playoffs?…
October 30th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
The Browns didn't make the playoffs that year, but it was part of his suspension at the time:
October 30th, 2022 at 2:14 PM ^
Who in their right mind would want to touch that sweaty head? Tells you the guy was a nut.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
Man, it took one university barely over 12 hours to give meaningful repercussions to a random fan for a non-harmful but still unacceptable act.
The other university hasn't done more than tweet when they have video evidence of their own people, wearing their names literally on their backs, committing crimes.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:53 PM ^
Hey, give them some time, MSU's top men are on the case.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:55 PM ^
One of them touched a coach and the other of them is dealing with a legal investigation to conclude. I'd say the two aren't exactly parallel.
October 30th, 2022 at 3:24 PM ^
MSU could easily (and publicly) have kicked the guilty players off the team by now. They don't have to wait for any investigation to do that much. In fact it would probably help their case to be seen getting out in front of it. Instead they're circling the wagons like you'd expect.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:41 PM ^
Bullshit. There is zero reason to wait for a legal investigation. Staee can act on their own and issue suspensions and/ or throw players off the team. Criminal charges are completely separate.
October 30th, 2022 at 8:05 PM ^
But then they wouldn't be standing firm behind their players and program the way the fanbase is calling for, because as you know, this whole thing is Michigan's fault due to the rogue culture that Harbaugh has installed during his tenure. {eye roll}
October 30th, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
The Michigan Difference
October 30th, 2022 at 9:16 PM ^
This reminds me of the quote “I ain’t never hit no biatch………that didn’t deserve it”. Not sure who said it but I’m sure msu fans are thinking it today.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
I looked pretty closely at that video and it looked to me like the fan's hand was a pretty decent distance away from Tuck's head. Almost like he was extending his hand down for a high five or something and Tuck was pissed at anything and everything at that moment and just slapped the hand away. But yeah, I admit that it was difficult to say for sure given the camera angle.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:40 PM ^
Who in their right mind would want to touch that sweaty head? Tells you the guy was a nut.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:47 PM ^
you're not the only one who feels that way apparently
October 30th, 2022 at 3:15 PM ^
Honestly, I would probably do the same thing if someone touched my head like that. It may even have been involuntary, like swatting away a fly.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:09 PM ^
MSU folks are just plain dumb - period. They are argue their toilet paper degree is as good as ours, then they turn around and find excuses to justify assault. If you recruit people who act like animals, you are responsible for their actions. Period. Any parent who has kids there should honestly question what they teach in East Lansing.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
I hope so!
October 30th, 2022 at 1:31 PM ^
There's nothing unusual, or surprising, about MSU football players engaging in criminal conduct. This IS their culture.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
It’s a trash program.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
Tuck comin'.....to post bail!
October 30th, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
With a shit head coach. His words.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:26 PM ^
Paging Glenn Winston.
October 30th, 2022 at 3:19 PM ^
You remember that time when Glenn Winston was picked up by a grad assistant from the ingham county jail to go to practice?
it’s called Tuesday in east Lansing
October 30th, 2022 at 8:06 PM ^
That shining prison on the hill.....
October 30th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
MSU will take no disciplinary action whatsoever against Yuck or any of his hooligan players. If there is any discipline it will have to come from the Big Ten or law enforcement.
MSU won't cut ties with their coach this soon after giving him that enormous contract because doing so would leave them with major egg on their faces.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
They already have egg on their face by giving Tucker a 10 year 95 million contract.
October 30th, 2022 at 9:02 PM ^
If MSU has any buyer's remorse, this is the perfect out for them to cut him loose for cause. If they don't, it's fully on them and I have no sympathy (not that I really have much now, but you know).
October 30th, 2022 at 3:22 PM ^
Would there be a civil suit here? Could the victim file a suit against msu?
many 1-800 call Sam folks on here?
October 30th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
It would be shocking if he didn’t
October 30th, 2022 at 1:34 PM ^
Tucker was kind of out of control on the sidelines from really early in the game. MSU had a very bad night last night.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:55 PM ^
He's so in above his head, it's not even funny. Actually, it is.
October 30th, 2022 at 9:05 PM ^
I'd be curious to hear what people at the game might have observed about him on the sidelines. From what I saw on TV, he way overplayed the emotion, maybe in hopes of firing up his team, and it ended up too far.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
Mentioned this in another post, but unless Tucker ordered/encouraged it, I don’t see how they can fire him with cause. Personally, from a coaching standpoint, I want him to stay.
October 30th, 2022 at 2:35 PM ^
I don’t think Tucker is a bad guy, per se, although I don’t think he’s worth his contract. I also don’t think he’s directly responsible for his players’ behavior, although he will have to deal with this appropriately. The person who introduced this pathologically aggressive behavior to MSU culture is Dantonio (too many examples to recap here) and there are still several players on the team that played under Dantonio. Gonna take awhile to wash that shit out…
October 30th, 2022 at 2:52 PM ^
I don’t think he’s worth his contract
Now we're making REALLY bold statements!
October 30th, 2022 at 2:40 PM ^
Well, part of being a coach in a university, or high school or any similar, setting, is helping your players learn not only how to be good players but good people. IF he’s not doing that well, that’s a problem. Whether it can be shown that he failed to do that is another story. And, even if that can be shown, any action MSU might want to take is highly dependent on what’s in his contract.
October 30th, 2022 at 3:09 PM ^
Tucker ordered the Code Red!
October 30th, 2022 at 3:20 PM ^
Dude was going nuts the whole game. Players imitate what they see from leadership
October 30th, 2022 at 9:06 PM ^
How is the coach not responsible for his team? It demonstrates a lack of control. I mean, it's not every Saturday we see stuff like this going on.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
I'd be surprised. But let's wait and see what his contract looks like.