I checked my phone as I was falling asleep night and was bowled over by the news that Mel Tucker was leaving CU to take the head coaching gig at Michigan State.
A week ago, it was leaked that Mel Tucker was interviewing for the position at MSU – but ultimately he removed is name from consideration. He announced his choice via Tweet, he joined Rick George on a major booster tour along the California coast. He spent all of Tuesday on radio shows reiterating his vision for CU football. He spent Tuesday night with boosters in Boulder sharing and committing to the University.
Two hours later, Mel Tucker quit. Two hours later, Mel Tucker left his word at the door and screwed over a host of recruits who a mere seven days prior signed their National Letter of Intent to play football at the University of Colorado.
Mel Tucker killed my last vestige of hope and love for college athletics.
It is reported that Tucker is essentially getting his salary and budget doubled to coach at MSU. My rational side understands that it is appropriate for him to take that opportunity. I mean who wouldn’t?
At the same time, it is important to have operate on some moral and ethical basis. Money can’t excuse your behavior. Spending four days lying through your teeth to an Athletic Director who has tried his best with the resources available to set you up for success is not ok. Lying through your teeth to fans who come and spend hard-earned money on tickets, gear and donations is not ok. Lying through your teeth to student-athletes who make major life decisions based on what you say to them, is not ok.
What Mel Tucker did last night is not normal. It is not normal to lose head coaches in the middle of February. To every media member who has spent this morning chiding CU fans for ‘not getting the business of college football’ – you can f right off. We all get it, but what just occurred is not how the business should operate.
But Mel Tucker is the symptom of a growing problem in college athletics. There is a huge disparity in the resources that individual schools can put into the game. Some schools are funded by a single mega-donor, like Oregon. Other schools are the beneficiaries of being the center-point of their community and a regional power. Most schools are doing what they can on limited budgets.
We are also now seeing the disparity in conferences overall. So while Ohio State and Rutgers might have a huge disparity in funding at their schools individually, they are both receiving nearly $40MM dollars from their media deal. This is stretching and stratifying the college football world.
It has destroyed my love for college football.
Most of the major sports in the United States have figured out that leaving a fanbase without hope year in and year out will eventually kill the entire sport. They have devised a variety of systems to level the playing field – from a yearly draft to salary caps. College football has none of those things, and the difference between the have and have nots is increasing.
CU is a have not. The entire western half of the United States is a have not. Major programs from the fabric of college football history are now have nots – including USC, UCLA, Washington and of course Colorado. There are differences within the conference and the level that these schools are have nots, but all these schools are on some level a have not due the stratification and money that has plagued this sport.
But it isn’t just college football. CU is lucky to have found a coach of the quality of Tad Boyle. Someone committed to the University despite its limitations. But college basketball is plagued by corruption of its own, with numerous blue blood programs cheating and tilting the playing field to their advantage. And why wouldn’t they? The punishment is so light that most of the schools haven’t missed a beat. Why wouldn’t you cheat in that situation?
The unequal playing field even exists in pro-sports. The Houston Astros blatantly cheated their way to a World Series, and are receiving practically no punishment for it. They still get their championship. The New England Patriots have cheated for the better part of 20 years, and while they have received punishment, they are still allowed to keep a cabinet full of championships.
Where does this all leave me as a fan?
It leaves me utterly hopeless.
Some want to blame the CU administration, or the faculty, or the Board of Regents. But CU wasn’t the problem in all this. We wanted facilities – the facilities were built. We wanted a high-end coaching candidate. We got a high-end coaching candidate. We wanted a new focus on recruiting. We got a greatly increased and modernized recruiting operation with staff. We wanted looser admission requirements. We received that. Perhaps the only place we didn’t get what we wanted was the salary pool for assistants… and that is right to put at the feet of CU for bungling the Mac buyout.
But the CU stepped up as best it could, despite the protests of some on the Board of Regents.
And none of it mattered. Mel Tucker still lied and still left to go to a middling Big 10 program.
So why should I care? Why should I spend the next 50 years of my life watching a sport that I used to love get destroyed? Why should I care when the best I can hope for is a once a decade run to the Top 10? Why should I care when my school can do most things right, and still not even remotely compete.
Mel Tucker killed something in me last night. Something that Jon Embree and Dan Hawkins couldn’t even kill. Mel Tucker killed my love of college athletics.
A week ago, it was leaked that Mel Tucker was interviewing for the position at MSU – but ultimately he removed is name from consideration. He announced his choice via Tweet, he joined Rick George on a major booster tour along the California coast. He spent all of Tuesday on radio shows reiterating his vision for CU football. He spent Tuesday night with boosters in Boulder sharing and committing to the University.
Two hours later, Mel Tucker quit. Two hours later, Mel Tucker left his word at the door and screwed over a host of recruits who a mere seven days prior signed their National Letter of Intent to play football at the University of Colorado.
Mel Tucker killed my last vestige of hope and love for college athletics.
It is reported that Tucker is essentially getting his salary and budget doubled to coach at MSU. My rational side understands that it is appropriate for him to take that opportunity. I mean who wouldn’t?
At the same time, it is important to have operate on some moral and ethical basis. Money can’t excuse your behavior. Spending four days lying through your teeth to an Athletic Director who has tried his best with the resources available to set you up for success is not ok. Lying through your teeth to fans who come and spend hard-earned money on tickets, gear and donations is not ok. Lying through your teeth to student-athletes who make major life decisions based on what you say to them, is not ok.
What Mel Tucker did last night is not normal. It is not normal to lose head coaches in the middle of February. To every media member who has spent this morning chiding CU fans for ‘not getting the business of college football’ – you can f right off. We all get it, but what just occurred is not how the business should operate.
But Mel Tucker is the symptom of a growing problem in college athletics. There is a huge disparity in the resources that individual schools can put into the game. Some schools are funded by a single mega-donor, like Oregon. Other schools are the beneficiaries of being the center-point of their community and a regional power. Most schools are doing what they can on limited budgets.
We are also now seeing the disparity in conferences overall. So while Ohio State and Rutgers might have a huge disparity in funding at their schools individually, they are both receiving nearly $40MM dollars from their media deal. This is stretching and stratifying the college football world.
It has destroyed my love for college football.
Most of the major sports in the United States have figured out that leaving a fanbase without hope year in and year out will eventually kill the entire sport. They have devised a variety of systems to level the playing field – from a yearly draft to salary caps. College football has none of those things, and the difference between the have and have nots is increasing.
CU is a have not. The entire western half of the United States is a have not. Major programs from the fabric of college football history are now have nots – including USC, UCLA, Washington and of course Colorado. There are differences within the conference and the level that these schools are have nots, but all these schools are on some level a have not due the stratification and money that has plagued this sport.
But it isn’t just college football. CU is lucky to have found a coach of the quality of Tad Boyle. Someone committed to the University despite its limitations. But college basketball is plagued by corruption of its own, with numerous blue blood programs cheating and tilting the playing field to their advantage. And why wouldn’t they? The punishment is so light that most of the schools haven’t missed a beat. Why wouldn’t you cheat in that situation?
The unequal playing field even exists in pro-sports. The Houston Astros blatantly cheated their way to a World Series, and are receiving practically no punishment for it. They still get their championship. The New England Patriots have cheated for the better part of 20 years, and while they have received punishment, they are still allowed to keep a cabinet full of championships.
Where does this all leave me as a fan?
It leaves me utterly hopeless.
Some want to blame the CU administration, or the faculty, or the Board of Regents. But CU wasn’t the problem in all this. We wanted facilities – the facilities were built. We wanted a high-end coaching candidate. We got a high-end coaching candidate. We wanted a new focus on recruiting. We got a greatly increased and modernized recruiting operation with staff. We wanted looser admission requirements. We received that. Perhaps the only place we didn’t get what we wanted was the salary pool for assistants… and that is right to put at the feet of CU for bungling the Mac buyout.
But the CU stepped up as best it could, despite the protests of some on the Board of Regents.
And none of it mattered. Mel Tucker still lied and still left to go to a middling Big 10 program.
So why should I care? Why should I spend the next 50 years of my life watching a sport that I used to love get destroyed? Why should I care when the best I can hope for is a once a decade run to the Top 10? Why should I care when my school can do most things right, and still not even remotely compete.
Mel Tucker killed something in me last night. Something that Jon Embree and Dan Hawkins couldn’t even kill. Mel Tucker killed my love of college athletics.
