Mel Tucker

Melvin Tucker II (born January 4, 1972) is an American football coach and former player.He is currently the head football coach at Michigan State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Colorado.

Tucker was the interim head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) for five games in 2011. He has worked as the defensive backs coach at the Ohio State University and the University of Alabama and as the defensive coordinator for both the Chicago Bears of the NFL as well as the University of Georgia.

Melvin Tucker II was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Cleveland Heights High School where he was a football standout. He then attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he played defensive back for the Wisconsin Badgers football team. He graduated in 1995 with a degree in agricultural business management.

NCAA

Tucker began his coaching career in 1997 as a graduate assistant for the Michigan State University Spartans under head coach Nick Saban. In 1999, he served as a defensive backs coach for the Miami University Redhawks, and then in 2000 followed Saban to Louisiana State University to fill the same position with the LSU Tigers. In 2001, he became defensive backs coach for the Ohio State University Buckeyes under coach Jim Tressel.In 2002, Tucker was the defensive backs coach as Ohio State won a national championship, and in 2004 he was made co-defensive coordinator.

NFL

In 2005 Tucker entered the National Football League (NFL) with the Cleveland Browns. He coached defensive backs from 2005–2007 and was promoted to defensive coordinator in the 2008 season following the firing of Todd Grantham. Under Tucker, Cleveland consistently ranked fifth in the league, with the defense making 73 interceptions. After the firing of Browns head coach Romeo Crennel, Tucker was replaced by Rob Ryan.

In 2009 Tucker was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars as the defensive coordinator. In the 2011 season head coach Jack Del Rio put Tucker in charge of defensive play-calling, and the team quickly became the fourth highest rated in the NFL. On November 29, 2011, Tucker was named Jacksonville's interim head coach following the firing of Del Rio. He ran the team for their final five games and was in consideration for the job full-time until Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was named head coach on January 10, 2012. Tucker got his first victory as a head coach in week 14, a 41–14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He went 2–3 as interim head coach. On January 12, 2012, he informed the media he would return to his position as defensive coordinator for the Jaguars. On January 13, 2012 it was announced that Tucker would also be the assistant head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On January 18, 2013 Tucker was named defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears. Following one of the worst defensive seasons in Bears' history in 2013, Tucker was criticized by the media. As a result, the team fired two of Tucker's assistant coaches, linebackers coach Tim Tibesar and defensive line coach Mike Phair. The Bears replaced them with Paul Pasqualoni as defensive line coach and Reggie Herring as linebackers coach.

On January 20, 2015, following another record-setting low defensive season for the Bears in 2014, Tucker was replaced by former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio under new head coach John Fox.

Return to NCAA

Tucker spent the 2015 season with the Alabama Crimson Tide as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach, during which the team won the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship.

In 2016, Tucker moved to Georgia as the defensive coordinator, where he remained through 2018.

2019 season

On December 5, 2018, Tucker signed an agreement to become the Colorado Buffaloes football head coach starting in 2019. In his lone season at the helm, Tucker's Buffaloes posted a 5–7 record (3–6 in the Pac-12).

2020 season

On February 12, 2020, Tucker resigned as Colorado's head coach to accept the same position at Michigan State. Tucker's contract at Michigan State is worth $5.5 million annually for 6 years; more than double his contract at Colorado (5-year, $14.8 million) and more than $1 million annually over previous head coach Mark Dantonio ($4.3 million per annum). At the time of signing, Tucker became the 12th highest paid head coach in FBS and 4th in Big Ten.

With the COVID-19 pandemic severely affecting training camps and forcing a late start for Big Ten teams in the 2020 season, Tucker's Spartans made their debut on October 24, 2020. MSU turned the ball over seven times in Tucker's head coaching debut and lost to Rutgers, 38–27. MSU rebounded the following week to defeat in-state rival Michigan, 27–24, for Tucker's first win as a Spartan. After lopsided losses to Iowa and Indiana, Michigan State upset then-#8 Northwestern, 29–20, handing the Wildcats their first loss of the season. Tucker would finish the abbreviated 2020 season with a 2–5 record.

2021 season

Unranked to begin the 2021 season, Tucker's Spartans jumped out to a 3–0 start, including victories over B1G opponent Northwestern in the season opener, Youngstown State in Week 2, and the 24th-ranked Miami Hurricanes in Week 3. This led to MSU being ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll and No. 21 in the Coaches Poll heading into Week 4, when they defeated a stout Nebraska team in overtime to go to 4–0. The Spartans climbed to a No. 17 ranking in the AP poll and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll following this victory. After handily defeating Western Kentucky in Week 5, MSU moved up to No. 11 in both polls. After another victory over Rutgers, Michigan State moved up to No. 9 in the Coaches Poll and No. 10 in the AP poll, sitting at 6–0 and becoming bowl eligible. This marked the first time MSU had been ranked in the top ten since Week 3 of 2016. Following a hard-fought road victory over Indiana, the 7–0 Spartans moved up to No. 7 in the Coaches poll and No. 9 in the AP poll.

NFL

College