I keep thinking there’s nothing a college athletic director can do any more that would surprise me, and I keep being proven wrong.
If all goes as planned, Mel Tucker will become the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten. And Michigan State will make a major show of strength that it plans to be a significant spender in college football in the next decade.
MSU is preparing a historic $95 million, 10-year contract extension for Tucker to remain with the Spartans, university sources confirmed to the Free Press on Wednesday. The 49-year-old Cleveland native is set to become among the highest-paid coaches in the country.
Alumni Mat Ishbia and Steve St. Andre will donate the private funding to the university for Tucker’s reworked contract, according to “Inside the Locker Room” podcast hosts Brian Mosallam, a former MSU Board of Trustee member, and MSU radio analyst Jason Strayhorn. University sources confirmed Ishbia and St. Andre as the donors for the new contract.
The deal surpasses the estimated $7 million contract of Penn State’s James Franklin that is the highest salary in the Big Ten in 2021, according to a USA TODAY salary database. Only former MSU coach Nick Saban at Alabama ($9.753 million) is making more this season than Tucker will under his reworked contract, according to the database.
You read that correctly. Mel Tucker, the current possessor of a lifetime head coaching record of 16-13 (11-6 at MSU), will soon be making more than his former boss, Kirby Smart. Not only has Mel not even sniffed a division title in his three seasons of coaching, he finished his first two seasons with losing records.
These people are fucking nuts.
I don’t need to tell you who Tucker’s agent is, do I? I also don’t need to tell you the sales pitch getting ready to be thrown Josh Brooks’ way soon by the same agent, do I?
Get The Picture 
They just don’t want to get him poached. It’s insane though. The bar just keeps driving higher. Or lower, depending on your perspective.
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Yeah, they’re afraid of losing him. Unfortunately for Jimmy, CKS ain’t goin nowhere, so that’s a lever he can’t pull on Brooks.
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I hope you’re right about Smart not going anywhere, but can Brooks afford to take that chance? You think USC or LSU wouldn’t back up the Brinks truck to Smart’s house in a heartbeat? All Sexton has to do is start a rumor. And in the event that Smart did leave, would you want to be the AD that let him get away?
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Damn! That’s a commitment. I guess they’re tired of being a “stepping stone” job and want to be a destination.
We think 1980 was a long time ago.
MSU is staring at 1966.
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I would 100% play paint it black (or any other #1 hit from 1966) at every rivalry game, were I Michigan.
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Good grief. They should have at least waited to see how MSU looks against tOSU this Saturday.
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Sexton will make sure this is signed before kickoff
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Hold on to your wallets.
Hey, maybe we’ll at least get some hardware out of Kirby’s deal before it gets reworked/extended.
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Jimmy Sexton is bored with dominating SEC ADs. He’s coming for those B1G yankees, now!
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I chose the wrong fucking profession.
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The best job in the world is a fired FBS head coach. Coach O will be kicking back on his bass boat with a cold one. No pressure. No schedule. All the while raking in $17 million. Nice work if you can get it.
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All you have to do is fail, in an extremely public manner. I get the sentiment, but most of these guys aren’t driven by money. I knew a few coaches doing Grad Assistant work and it’s crap work. Long hours, very low pay. To do that for a long period and work your way up takes drive.
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I now a few TURD fans that would disagree about the weirdo in Jortsville.
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Believe that Orgeron’s problem is not so much his coaching acumen as it is his participation in the coverup and perhaps participation in some stuff (see Adam Anderson article above)
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Wow? Headline: Southern boy takes Yankee’s for a lot of money. Why would any coach not want to be in Jimmy’s stable?
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What is Sexton’s cut? Is there an industry average?
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I don’t know about this industry in specific, but agents will usually make 10% for acting. Same with managers. Literary agents make around 15%. So this is most likely the range. For models it’s upwards if 20-40%.
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So you’re saying market forces aren’t in play, Senator? Isn’t the market comprised of AD’s and Presidents that have the capital? They’re not leveraged contracts and although they’re based on future earnings, the money will be there. I know the numbers seem ridiculous but I don’t hear any alumni complaining.
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Listen to FU fans right now.
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In other words:
Dear LSU, UF, Virginia Tech, etc.,
Don’t come after our coach.
Thanks,
MSU
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I hate to break it to the Michigan State AD, but there are a lot of coaches who can beat Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. You’re afraid Mel Tucker may leave? LET HIM. My goodness, he’s one hell of a coach, but what in the world has he ever done to justify being the highest paid coach in the Big Ten and one of the highest in the sport other than having his name MENTIONED for the LSU job BY REPORTERS, not even by the LSU search?
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OPM BABY! 💰
(other people’s money)
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Peeps sitting around at a cocktail event, one high roller $ays “anybody want to throw in on 95 mill for our coach”, (silence hits the party) a couple of mid level roller$ eek out “we’re in for 20-30 mill”, all of a $udden it’s a done deal…the roller$ get a wall, $treet, roof named after them, msu gets their coach a new deal (no co$t to them)…power broker$ $peak, all hail to the green back…
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Sunny beach…my annual review is coming up in a few weeks, someone get Jimmy Sexton on the phone stat…papa could use more than a 5% bump.
Why in the hell did I not become a gym teacher?
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Pimpn’ ain’t easy, that’s true. But 5% is all you get.
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Preach it RR, what really sucks is with this inflation I’m going to have to convert my 74 Ford Highboy from gas to run on Gator tears since they’re so abundant. I can barely afford to fill up my panty dropper these days.
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What y’all think Kirby’s gonna get?
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Whatever he gets, I hope there’s enough left over to give some to Lanning and Monken.
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This dovetails (for me at least), with your post yesterday about the Fuente firing and, in particular, the point of Hale’s tweet which was, “there are only so many above average guys.” And to me, it also dovetails with your post from Monday regarding McGarity and the Richt firing/Kirby hiring.
There are only so many coaches that can move the needle – in fact, that was one of the biggest concerns moving on from Richt. As events have borne out, if we hadn’t gotten Kirby, we would’ve ended up with someone who didn’t move the needle very much (Herman and Mullen being the other two “main” candidates I suppose), and destroyed a lot in-between (as our rivals have experienced the past 5-10 years).
Maybe Mel is a “needle mover”, maybe not – Michigan State presumably thinks he is. But the insane compensation and constant churn are destructive for the sport, IMO….
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Y’all may laugh at me for asking a dumb question, but.
The money that these coaches are paid largely comes from the athletic association which is not part of the university which leaves me to wonder, do the AD’s negotiate with the agent on behalf of both the university and the association? Technically the university pays the coach a fixed amount that probably never changes.
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Jimmy is the new Lord in the coaching world.
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Gotdam hippies.
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Listen to that voice! She could have been a drill sergeant – or a Ranger.
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Priorities all out of whack – and I love college football (circa pick a year between 1970 and 1999).
Agents for pro athletes get something in the 3% range. Jimmy Sexton can afford a Big Mac if he chooses.
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Sexton will leak Kirby to LSU next. Bank it
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I’d call that bluff if I were Brooks. Just no way that makes any sense for Kirby, regardless of how much LSU would be willing to pay for him.
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Pay that man his money.
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Kirby isn’t going anywhere, period. He worked his ass off at several places, 10 years at Alabama, and has his program at home firing on all cylinders. UGA won’t be looking for a coach for another decade-plus.
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I sure hope you’re right. If the Dawgs get it done this year, and Saban hangs it up…. Who do you think Bama will come after first? And how much do you wanna bet Sexton is in Brooks’ ear telling him to send a message now.
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No, CKS will make bank on hardware, not to “keep him”.
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Ill take “University Presidents have Lost Complete F’ing Control of their Athletic Departments ” for $200 Alex.
A.) Mel Tucker
Q.)What is Leveraging LSU.
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Life ain’t fair, and it sure seems to enjoy reminding me of that fact.
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Down, Munson! Down, I say!!!!!!!
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Oh, I’m down, Bill.
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Agree with most of what’s been mentioned, but the thing that stood out to me was that 2 people were fronting most of the money. In that case, I kinda let the school off the hook a little bit because if Tucker ends up being a one-hit(year)-wonder, then it’s those 2 chumps that pissed away the money. I guess ADs are always playing with someone else’s money to an extent, but this just makes it so much easier. It’s like having a super-rich drunk uncle take you to Vegas and continuing to let you gamble with his money. Why would you stop?
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I’m a huge college football fan, but I can’t help thinking, what a waste of money.
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Coming soon: the Ishbia-St. Andre Packaging building.
(Yes, that’s a real major at MSU).
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Good on Tucker for getting paid, but holy crap that amount is ridiculous. Maybe MSU is still hurting from when Saban left them for LSU and they’re trying to prevent a repeat of history, but…damn! People have been saying for years that coach’s pay and facilities and everything else in college football is an “arms race”, but this seems like it could kick things up a notch.
And I don’t want Tucker to fail, but I would love for this to blow up in MSU’s face somehow.
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Tucker is at MSU now. I can understand the love for former coaches but not for their school. Piss on MSU. I hope they fire his ass mid-season next year and he becomes another millionaire analyst at UGA.
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Lol. He did what ‘ol Danny boy down south should have done. Overhauled his team with over 20 transfers and picked them wisely. Then, he told them to go out there and kick ass, and they have done.
If his QB can handle the pressure this could be a fun month. Their RB is nothing to sneeze at and Mel has a D that is playing over their skiis.
As an aside, I am glad Mel is getting the commitment. The only thing I know about him is that he is from Cleveland, so he can stay up there, lol. I am sure Roquan would have been who he is regardless of who coached him.
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I said this before…the ADs are not stupid, just obedient to their richest boosters.
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And funny…it’s still the coaches raking in the alumni dough, not the kids with NIL agreements. Paying for the best X’s and O’s will get you the right Jimmy’s and Joe’s is the big boy’s bet.
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I get the feeling that every one has lost site of the fact that this is SHOW BUSSINESS. Is a Coach of a football team worth 10 million a year? He must be, some one signs that check and the guy signing is making big dollars by being the Coaches’ boss. We the fans pay big bucks to support the team and big bucks to buy a ticket to see OUR 10 million/year Coach win another game. Why bitch about some guy making a bunch of money doing something that very few other people could do?
Pay Kirby and his assi. Coaches, then enjoy the ride..
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