This week during Big Ten media day, former Colorado Buffaloes head coach Mel Tucker, who’s the current head coach at Michigan State, took some time to talk about the arrival of Deion Sanders in Boulder.
Tucker’s 10-year/$95 million deal in 2021 made him the highest-paid Black coach in American sports. The ace recruiter, who has since been surpassed by Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams ($13M per year), spoke pretty candidly about what he believes Deion Sanders will do at Tucker’s former stomping grounds.
When asked about the way Coach Prime has gone about building his team, Tucker’s response piggybacked the recent comments made by USC head coach Lincoln Riley.
Tucker Commends Coach Prime
After Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi and Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables both questioned and criticized Coach Prime’s use of the portal, Riley and Tucker are singing a different tune.
“Prime has done a great job so far, I’m pulling for him and the Buffs to get that thing going again,” Tucker said. “He’s got his own process that he’s following, obviously. And I think he’s going to be wildly successful there.”
“The portal has been a benefit for us,” he added. “We’ve used it to help upgrade our roster. We can fill some needs immediately. Some of the downside is that we all know there’s hundreds if not thousands of players that have entered the portal, haven’t found a home. And that’s disturbing. But for us, the portal is here, and we’re going to use it to benefit our program anyway that we can.”
Pretty straightforward comments from Tucker who’s one of college football’s top recruiters, yearly. Tucker purged his entire roster when he took the Michigan State job. He also hopes that portal dabbling will enable his Spartans to continue to build quickly into a powerhouse that can eventually overtake a very tough Big Ten East that features archrival Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State.
Coach Prime Ignores Naysayers
While it’s good to hear coaches like Tucker and Riley credit Sanders for doing what he feels is best for his program, everything he’s done is well within the guidelines.
But as the Pro Football Hall of Famer has reiterated on numerous occasions, he’s not listening to the noise. Turning around a 1-11 program is a big enough task in itself. Responding to competition, jealousy or even justified criticism will only distract Colorado who has some huge challenges ahead, against a tough Pac-12 schedule.
The 2023 season is loading in Boulder and East Lansing for two of the better leaders of young men in the college game. Both tasked with taking middle-of-the-road programs
