Mel Tucker is a name that isn’t remembered all too fondly at Michigan State. While he did lead the Spartans to an 11-2 season and a Peach Bowl victory in 2021, he left the program in a dark place when he was fired in 2023 for his alleged off-field actions.
Although his tenure didn’t go exactly as planned, he was doing what was necessary to build on his success, but the coaching part wasn’t as good as his recruiting.
Tucker showed flashes of good coaching by beating Michigan a couple of times and winning 11 games in a season isn’t easy. Any time you can win a New Year’s Six bowl, you’re doing something right. I think he may have just lost focus after signing a huge contract. Either way, he just couldn’t figure out how to sustain success despite having an elite eye for talent.
Yes, I said elite eye for talent.
Don’t believe me? The 2026 NFL Draft is all the proof you need.
2026 NFL Draft is loaded with former Mel Tucker guys
If you’ve been paying attention to the 2026 NFL Draft so far, you’ve probably heard a lot of familiar names through the first two days. A lot of the guys drafted have been former Tucker targets or even guys who the former head coach signed at Michigan State.
Through the first two rounds of the draft alone, former Spartans Zion Young (45th overall) and Germie Bernard (47th overall) were selected. Last year, it was Derrick Harmon going early and then the year before, it was Keon Coleman. All of those guys transferred out of the program, but each one very obviously had NFL talent — though they weren’t all super highly ranked as recruits.
Outside of those guys, there were a few more top Tucker targets who Michigan State was either leading for or in the final group for during their recruiting targets who went in the first two days of the 2026 NFL Draft:
- Spencer Fano (No. 9 overall)
- Chase Bisontis (No. 34)
- Colton Hood (No. 37) — former MSU commit
- Zion Young (No. 45) — former MSU DE
- Germie Bernard (No. 47) — former MSU WR
Identifying talent was never the issue, but Tucker was just never really able to consistently beat out the big boys for top recruits. Still, five guys who could have all been teammates in East Lansing went in the top 47 picks — two of them were teammates.
Although no one is wishing Tucker would return as head coach, getting that type of recruiting back would be fun — well, as long as the Spartans could win a couple more of those recruitments.
Tucker will unfortunately be remembered for the downfall, but people need to realize just how good he was at identifying elite talent.
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