AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
The Michigan State Spartans and football head coach Mel Tucker have reportedly completed a 10-year, $95 million contract extension, per Matt Charboneau of the Detroit News.
Word of the deal being in the works has been in the news for a week. Last Wednesday, Inside the Locker Room podcast hosts Brian Mosallam and Jason Strayhorn (h/t Detroit Free Press‘ Chris Solari and David Jeese) reported that MSU alumni Mat Ishbia and Steve St. Andre would provide private funding for the deal. University sources confirmed that news to Solari and Jesse.
Per Charboneau, private funding takes care of the “bulk of the contract.”
According to the USA Today college football coach salary database, this deal would make Tucker the second-highest paid college football coach in the county behind only Alabama’s Nick Saban ($9.753 million).
The deal also makes Tucker the highest-paid Black head coach in American sports, per Charboneau.
Tucker’s 2021 season is the second year of a five-season deal that would pay him just under $5.5 million per campaign.
He is in his second season as Michigan State’s head coach. The Spartans went 2-5 last year before bouncing back with a 9-2 overall mark (6-2 Big Ten) this season.
MSU started the 2021 campaign 8-0, which was good enough for the No. 3 spot in the College Football Playoff ranking. The Spartans have since lost to Purdue, beaten Maryland and fallen to Ohio State en route to being No. 12 in the nation.
Tucker, who turns 50 years old in January, joined Michigan State after one year at Colorado, where he led the Buffaloes to a 5-7 record. His resume includes stops with three NFL teams as their defensive coordinator (Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars).
He was also an assistant head coach/defensive backs coach for Alabama in 2015 and Georgia’s defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach from 2016 to 2018.
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