By Zain Bando
The last fourteen weeks have been dark for the Big Ten for its coaches.
Mel Tucker was the latest domino to fall, as his firing became official Wednesday. The man thought to have saved Michigan State football from the depths of despair after over a decade of success under his predecessor, Mark Dantonio, was out of a job in fewer than four seasons.
MSU’s termination letter to Mel Tucker. pic.twitter.com/cLIKVYrH87
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) September 27, 2023
The Buck Stops With Michigan State
Plain and straightforward – Michigan State (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) is the one to blame in this mess of incompetency. Tucker may have led the Spartans to a Peach Bowl victory in 2021, with near shades of the 2015 Big Ten championship in the rear-view mirror. However, a 5-7 season in 2022 didn’t do Tucker and his 10-year, $95 million-dollar contract extension any favors.
The details of his firing are horrifying, foolish, and unprofessional. It leaves a dark spell on a program with so much prestige, a winning culture, and a standard of excellence that had been upheld since Dantonio’s arrival in East Lansing over a decade ago.
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It was an embarrassment so unfathomable that a month ago that Hollywood couldn’t write a better script.
Steering the Ship Forward Shouldn’t be Priority No. 1
The on-field play doesn’t matter right now. After dropping a 31-9 game against a 4-0 Maryland team last week, Michigan State gets a sluggish 3-1 Iowa opponent Saturday night in Iowa City.
Kirk Ferentz’s team is desperate for a win after getting smacked 31-0 in Happy Valley just five days ago, as it’ll look ahead to Big Ten West competition for seven of the final eight weeks of regular-season play.
As for the Spartans, they are now faced with an uphill battle from here on out. Although the season has to move along as scheduled, a bowl berth seems easier said than done, with undefeated teams Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State still on the schedule.
The Spartans likely won’t be favored in any of those games, as all three teams will likely be vying for a Big Ten title game spot in December. Could the Spartans play spoiler and inspired football down the stretch under interim Harlon Barnett? Absolutely, but the unlikeliness of them doing so remains far greater than the latter.
Reflections for the Spartans’ Future
Michigan State has to look in the mirror and ask, “what-if?” More importantly, after such a burden and financial headache to help get the program back on track, Tucker’s firing, while the right decision, is a worst-case scenario for a team looking to contend with the conference’s big boys. He was supposed to be the guy and failed after one good year.
The season is far from over, but its remembrance won’t be around the emergence of Noah Kim as an elite passer, nor if Barnett has done enough to earn his stripes as a college football head coach.
The Spartans will take a long time to become nationally relevant again. The Big Ten’s addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington will only make the rebuild even harder. Still, when they eventually do, it will be great for the league and bring even more healthy competition.
Kickoff against the Hawkeyes is set for 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on NBC. Iowa is a 12.5-point favorite despite winning just one game in its last four tries against the Spartans. The last meeting occurred in 2020, with Iowa winning 49-7 at Kinnick Stadium during the COVID-shortened season.
