MSU hires Mel Tucker

[JScottWriter]

Connor Heyward has announced that he will be taking his name out of the transfer portal and return to msu after taking to coach Tucker. I still think he can help this team and maybe more will be coming back.

 

[gotime909]

Connor Heyward has announced that he will be taking his name out of the transfer portal and return to msu after taking to coach Tucker. I still think he can help this team and maybe more will be coming back.

Agreed he could help, just would rather see him change positions. Wr or move to defense.

Guessing this means he couldn't get any offers better than MAC schools.

 

[gotime909]

He is also Sedrick Irvin Jr?s dad. Jr is in the 2nd half of his 9th grade year and already has offers from Florida, Georgia, Miami and 5 other schools.

Kinda shows you how checked out Dantonio was with recruiting. A potential 5 star legacy recruit that's pulling major offers as a freshman and no msu mention anywhere on his recruiting pages.

 

[gotime909]

I keep waiting to see Jacub Panasuik enter the transfer portal after his millenial cry baby tweet last week.

 

[SpartyNash]

Agreed he could help, just would rather see him change positions. Wr or move to defense.

Guessing this means he couldn't get any offers better than MAC schools.

Stick him at fullback

 

[johnny2x2x]

Gilmore is on board to coach the TEs and probably be the recruiting coordinator.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Ross Els is coming from Colorado to be the Special Teams coach. He has a track record of having very good special teams, and area that we are currently a sin against all human kind in the eyes of god.

All spots filled save for DC and RB.

 

[Spartanmack]

Ross Els is coming from Colorado to be the Special Teams coach. He has a track record of having very good special teams, and area that we are currently a sin against all human kind in the eyes of god.

All spots filled save for DC and RB.

You just said Sedrick Irvin is RB coach.

Not sure I love the pattern emerging here - seems like we are taking a bunch of former MSU players and giving them big promotions from their current jobs - other than Barnett who I’m not convinced is a great coach. Then filling in the gaps with his staff from Colorado who are also mostly unproven commodities. I get that there is the recruiting aspect of the strategy but it’s not clear that these guys will be able to compete and they’re going to be learning their coaching roles under a guy without much Head coaching experience.

Of course, they can’t be much worse than what we had and it is the house cleaning many of us have been hoping for if not demanding so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and time to prove themselves. I just wonder if this is as good as the staff we could have gotten by slapping the interim label on Tressel for a year and taking more time to make these decisions.

 

[Spartanmack]

Connor Heyward has announced that he will be taking his name out of the transfer portal and return to msu after taking to coach Tucker. I still think he can help this team and maybe more will be coming back.

Agreed he could help, just would rather see him change positions. Wr or move to defense.

Guessing this means he couldn't get any offers better than MAC schools.

Given how bad our o-line is, I doubt it makes much difference for him or the team - the unit probably isn't going to be much better next year. He adds depth and is as good as anyone else we have back there - I don't think we're getting any B1G ready freshman at any position this year in fact, didn’t we lose a TB commit on signing day?

Obviously we disagree on heyward - I think he needs to stay at TB. He put up better receiving numbers and was pretty good possession receiver for 3rd down situations, but wasn't his production mostly on swing passes and screens, not as an actual receiver because our line can’t block for shit against anyone with DTs over 235lbs?

Does he have a redshirt? Can he use it or did he play in too many games last year?

 

[johnny2x2x]

You just said Sedrick Irvin is RB coach.

Not sure I love the pattern emerging here - seems like we are taking a bunch of former MSU players and giving them big promotions from their current jobs - other than Barnett who I?m not convinced is a great coach. Then filling in the gaps with his staff from Colorado who are also mostly unproven commodities. I get that there is the recruiting aspect of the strategy but it?s not clear that these guys will be able to compete and they?re going to be learning their coaching roles under a guy without much Head coaching experience.

Of course, they can?t be much worse than what we had and it is the house cleaning many of us have been hoping for if not demanding so I?m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and time to prove themselves. I just wonder if this is as good as the staff we could have gotten by slapping the interim label on Tressel for a year and taking more time to make these decisions.

Irvin not official yet.

 

[gotime909]

Given how bad our o-line is, I doubt it makes much difference for him or the team - the unit probably isn't going to be much better next year. He adds depth and is as good as anyone else we have back there - I don't think we're getting any B1G ready freshman at any position this year in fact, didn?t we lose a TB commit on signing day?

Obviously we disagree on heyward - I think he needs to stay at TB. He put up better receiving numbers and was pretty good possession receiver for 3rd down situations, but wasn't his production mostly on swing passes and screens, not as an actual receiver because our line can?t block for shit against anyone with DTs over 235lbs?

Does he have a redshirt? Can he use it or did he play in too many games last year?

I believe he can redshirt this past year and have 2 years remaining. I actually like everything about his game. He runs hard and full speed 24/7. I just question his vision out of the backfield. I'd love to see him play out of the slot running underneath routes.

 

[Spartanmack]

I believe he can redshirt this past year and have 2 years remaining. I actually like everything about his game. He runs hard and full speed 24/7. I just question his vision out of the backfield. I'd love to see him play out of the slot running underneath routes.

He can do both but one of the things that I liked about him from the beginning is he was the only TB we’ve had during his tenure that could pick up blitzes and block - LJ blocked like a matador. He can play TB and be a possession/utility receiver but he can’t pass block and also be that 3rd down slot guy.

If he can get 2 years, that would be nice.

 

[gotime909]

He can do both but one of the things that I liked about him from the beginning is he was the only TB we?ve had during his tenure that could pick up blitzes and block - LJ blocked like a matador. He can play TB and be a possession/utility receiver but he can?t pass block and also be that 3rd down slot guy.

If he can get 2 years, that would be nice.

I dont feel that he does anything superior to Collins. My hope is that Collins gets 70% of the rb workload. Rather than Heyward being just another guy fighting for scraps behind Collins, I'd move him to wr or defense.

 

[Spartanmack]

I haven’t been really impressed by any Spartan TB since LJ Scott’s freshman year. I wouldn’t mind a little open competition for the spot but no more TB by committee - pick a guy and stick with him.

But to bring it back on course, again I’ll give them all the benefit of the doubt but I’m not all that excited so far with an inexperienced head coach plucking some high school coaches for fairly big roles, even if they are former Spartans. If they’re strategic hires first recruiting and the strategy works, great but they need to be able to coach at this level too. Time will tell.

 

[JScottWriter]

I believe Hawkins is the only HS coach that we have in staff. Irvin would make 2 but that's not a done deal. I think with the timing Tucker is pulling in some decent coaches. Barnett was a DC now he comes here as the DB coach. There were a ton of Spartans that wanted him as the HC when it looked like everyone was turning us down. Yeah I would like guys with more experience but with the timing I can't expect too much. I'm really hoping these guys can pull Top 15 classes. It looks like he is trying to get coaches that can also recruit well. I'm also hoping he isn't loyal to a fault like Dantonio was with these coaches. If they aren't getting the results after a season or 2 I hope he starts actually getting the coaches he wants with better timing.

 

[Spartanmack]

I believe Hawkins is the only HS coach that we have in staff. Irvin would make 2 but that's not a done deal. I think with the timing Tucker is pulling in some decent coaches. Barnett was a DC now he comes here as the DB coach. There were a ton of Spartans that wanted him as the HC when it looked like everyone was turning us down. Yeah I would like guys with more experience but with the timing I can't expect too much. I'm really hoping these guys can pull Top 15 classes. It looks like he is trying to get coaches that can also recruit well. I'm also hoping he isn't loyal to a fault like Dantonio was with these coaches. If they aren't getting the results after a season or 2 I hope he starts actually getting the coaches he wants with better timing.

that's fine, even impressive that he's doing well given the timing, but that's what I'm questioning - did we need to put him and ourselves in this position? and if it doesn't work out, who's fault is it - Tucker's or the administration's? And yeah, Hawkins so far is the only HS coach but some of these guys aren't much more experienced and as of now, it looks like Barnett's best years, like the Spartans at the moment, are behind him. He hasn't been very successful since Narduzzi left MSU.

That's also great that he has support from the team, but there was also an entire team of Spartans that marched to the President's house on campus to show their support for hiring Bobby Williams and look how that turned out. They're not necessarily the best judges because Williams was clearly not ready to be a head coach.

I agree, he appears to be making strategic hires with an eye toward recruiting the Midwest and Florida if he gets Irvin. I hope it works out, and I'm not saying it won't I'm just concerned about the experience factor. When his hiring was announced I wondered whether we rushed into this after he and Dantonio's "hand picked" successor turned us down precisely because of the position we were in and the position we put him in.

 

[johnny2x2x]

I think getting a big name proven OC or DC is not that easy, there aren't that many of them and those guys leave for only Head Coaching positions. Even look at Um last season, they went out and paid a million dollars for a guy that had zero experience as a coordinator, was basically just a WR coach his whole career.

Jay Johnson is not an exciting hire, but he's much more proven than anyone we've had at MSU in a while. DC is still up in the air, we made a run at UGA's DC, but it sounds like he decided to stay put and ask for a raise. there's a couple NFL guys we're looking at too. Houston's DC, Doug Belk is the guy people are talking about and Tucker has worked with him and Saban recommends him highly. He's short on experience, but is a rising star who's a great recruiter and specializes in recruiting Georgia.

 

[Spartanmack]

If we can’t get a college coordinator to make a lateral move what are the chances we can get an nfl coordinator to take the job?

 

[TheVictors]

Well he does have as many B1G Championships as Harbaugh already.

But no Pac12 titles like Harbaugh, winning percentage or Super Bowl appearances. But yes, good one.

 

[johnny2x2x]

But no Pac12 titles like Harbaugh, winning percentage or Super Bowl appearances. But yes, good one.

Harbaugh never won a PAC 12 Title you clown.