Mel Tucker shares pressure he feels to fix Michigan State

Mel Tucker knows there’s a lot of pressure on him and his staff to turn it back around at Michigan State. Just two years removed from an 11-win season and a giant contract extension, the Spartans took a major step back last fall.

This year could be different, but now people want to see the team prove it. Tucker acknowledged there’s always pressure to succeed at a high level.

But with his long term contract in place, the level of teams like Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State within their own division, the Spartans coach knows it needs to happen fast.

“I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself all the time,” Tucker said, via SpartanMag. “So the pressure I feel, the same pressure I feel every day and for the last 27 years is to coach hard and get the people that are around me to coach hard and play hard. No one could put more pressure on me than I put on myself. I mean, there is no situation possible.

“And so I mean, I’ve coached at the highest level, the smallest place I’ve coached was Miami of Ohio for one year in ‘99 and I’ve never been anywhere where you weren’t expected to win games.”

Tucker elaborated and said it wasn’t exactly pressure he felt when it came to needing to succeed at Michigan State.

“You’re expected to win and that’s what we’re doing here,” Tucker said. “So it’s not even about the pressure for me. It just comes with the deal. Pressure is not even the word. Quite frankly, I’m not sure what the word is, but it’s not pressure that I feel.”

Tucker is 18-14 overall at Michigan State after a 5-7 season in 2022. The 2021 campaign say the Spartans go 11-2, win the Peach Bowl and have a win over in-state rival Michigan.

But sandwiched in between that season were two under .500 years, including the 2-5 record during the COVID shortened season in 2020.

Currently, Michigan State has the No. 43 overall recruiting class in the 2024 cycle. Out of 18 total teams in the conference next year, that ranked No. 14 in the Big Ten.

That comes on the heels of the No. 21 overall recruiting class in 2023, a sign of potentially good things to come for the program.

Tucker and Michigan State open the season against Central Michigan, but have yet to name a starting quarterback between Noah Kim and Katin Houser. Fans hope that is one of the many questions to be answered sooner rather than later.

Can Tucker push the right buttons to get it back to where it was just two short years ago? He might have to or that pressure will in fact, be real.