Michigan State football: Worst head coach hires in program history
By Josh Yourish
2024 will be the 100th season of Michigan State football and it will begin a new era with Mel Tucker’s permanent replacement. The administration is looking for the next Mark Dantonio or maybe even better. The reality is hiring a coach can be a crapshoot and in the past, the Spartans have lost that bet.
In all, Michigan State is 606-404-30 through Week 11 of the 2023 season. These coaches didn’t have a long time at the helm, but while they were, they played a much bigger role in the 404 than the 606.
These are the worst coaching hires in the history of Michigan State. The very low bar that the next head coach of the Spartans better clear.
Mel Tucker (2020-23)
The program is circling the drain after Tucker’s three-plus year tenure, but he’s not the worst head coach in the program’s history. His 11-2 2021 will forever be held up as his crowning jewel and he should write a thank you letter a day to Kenneth Walker III for delivering it.
The reason that Tucker makes the list of worst coaching hires isn’t his 9-12 record outside of that 11-2 year, or being fired for cause for violating the university’s sexual harassment policy. It’s not even because he left the roster completely barren. It’s the 10-year $95 million contract extension that the school gave him after 2021.
They saved $80 million by firing him for cause, but that extension was nearly a catastrophic misstep.