A year ago, many would have considered Michigan State’s Mel Tucker a lower-tier coach in the Big Ten and certainly on the national level. But a lot has changed since this time last year.
Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports is ranking all 65 of the power five head coaches in college football, and with that he has Tucker in the top 25. Tucker jumped 33 spots from last year and came in at No. 24 in Fornelli’s rankings.
Here’s a little of what Fornelli had to say about Tucker:
“Tucker was at 57 last season following a 2-5 debut at Michigan State, but an 11-2 record and Peach Bowl victory catapult him into the top 25. The trick will be to see if he can keep it up because expectations have been raised.”
Tucker ranked No. 8 among Big Ten coaches, falling behind Ryan Day (No. 6), Jim Harbaugh (No. 9), Kirk Ferentz (No. 13), Paul Chryst (No. 14), James Franklin (No. 15), Pat Fitzgerald (No. 21) and P.J. Fleck (No. 24).
Tucker will be entering his third year as the Spartans’ head coach this fall with an overall record of 13-7. That record alone isn’t anything to sneeze at, but the type of transformation he has already done with Michigan State’s roster and taking a team many picked to finish last in the Big Ten East Division entering last year to 11-2 with a Peach Bowl victory is why he’s so high in these rankings.
Click on the tweet below to see the complete write-up on Tucker from Fornelli and the rest of his power five coaches rankings:
The Top 25 football coaches in the Power Five RANKED.
If you don’t like the rankings, blame @Chip_Patterson.
Ranking the top 25 Power Five college football coaches entering the 2022 seasonhttps://t.co/hTkdO96N8u
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) May 18, 2022
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