Mel Tucker on potential new contract: 'Michigan State is a destination job'

marlowe alter, detroit free press

Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 6:30 PM·2 min read

Mel Tucker made his public comments Thursday morning since news broke of his pending Michigan State football contract extension that would pay him around $9 million annually.

Speaking on a podcast with Golden State forward and MSU alum Draymond Green, Green stated: "There's some reports coming out and that you're here to stay and you'll be with us for a long time."

"That's my goal. I made it clear in my initial press conferences that I thought that Michigan State is a destination job, and not a stepping stone," Tucker said on the debut episode of 'The Draymond Green Show' (watch the full interview below). "I have Big Ten roots. I played at Wisconsin, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio, my parents are 3 hours and 15 minutes away, my wife is from Chicago. I know the Big Ten landscape. This is where I started my career in 1997 as a graduate assistant for Nick Saban, so Michigan State is a special for me. So it was never my intention to come here and just pass through. I believe that we're building something special here, and I've had tremendous support here to do that. We're on the right track."

Mel Tucker's first public comments on his potential #MichiganState contract extension, via The Draymond Green Show (airing right now):

"I always made it clear that MSU is a destination job, not a stepping stone... It was never my intention to come here and just pass through." pic.twitter.com/121Yx3ZsK6
— SpartanTailgate.com (@SpartanTailgate) November 18, 2021

The Free Press reported Wednesday that MSU is preparing a historic $95 million, 10-year contract extension for Tucker, 49. He would become the second-highest paid coach in the sport, behind his mentor, Saban.

Alumni Mat Ishbia and Steve St. Andre will donate the private funding to the university, sources confirmed to the Free Press.

Tucker played at Wisconsin as a defensive back in the early 1990s and started his coaching career in 1997 at MSU under Saban,

Tucker's coaching resume includes national championships as an assistant at Ohio State (2003) and Alabama (2015), and 10 years of NFL experience, including a 2–3 record as interim head coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011.