Michigan State Football: 1 reason Mel Tucker’s right and 1 reason he’s wrong about NIL

Why he’s wrong: NIL donations do not always equate to wins

Here are the top five schools in terms of NIL donations: Tennessee, Miami, Texas A&M, Oregon (duh), and Florida. What do all these schools have in common? None, with the exception of Oregon nine years ago, have made the College Football Playoff. Recruiting is great and extremely important, but if that talent isn’t getting the proper coaching, then none of it matters.

Mel Tucker needs to prove that he can coach, which there are plenty of examples that he can with a 10-1 record in one-score games. He’s also lost 12 games by more than 11 points. It makes this season for Tucker all that more important.

Win 7-8 games, show that you can coach and develop talent, show that you have competent coordinators, and fans and alumni will be lining up to give the program money. Win five or six games and no one will want to invest in a sinking ship. It’s really that simple.

For me, Tucker has shown with his 2022 recruiting class that he can recruit without insane sums of money but the 2023 is currently lagging. It needs to be less “we have the money so now we can recruit good guys and win games” and more “we can recruit and win games, so we need more money to recruit the elite players, and those 1-2 games we lose every season.”

Get to a level where 2021 is the norm, and money will follow. Make fans want to give, and earn their hard-earned money.