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Mel Tucker killed my love of college athletics

dio

Admin
Club Member
Junta Member
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.
 
I’ve been trending away from college sports for the past few years. The whole system is just ridiculous and I don’t know if I can be so dedicated to something I don’t even believe in. MSU just threw a ton of money at an unproven coach, I wouldn’t even want us to counter that offer. The players, once again, are who get screwed over in all of this. Easier to justify my love of sports through pro ball.
 
You should walk away. Better for your life. Not a bad thing either. Do what is best for you. I've carved out quite a few things from my life that don't give me anything but anger such as politics and golf.

Do what is best for you.
 
Either accept the reality of the college athletics landscape or don’t. Your choice.
 
I've been bearish on the program and the NCAA essentially since the ugly Embree exit and Coach Mac accusing the university of racism. That was probably rock bottom for me.. As a jaded cynic, it helps my heart from being too broken on days like today.

I've been using the term "cautiously optimistic" to describe Tucker's momentum over and over again, because I've been burned by this program so many times.

If there is any silver lining positive spin here -- it's that Tucker hasn't proven himself to be a good gameday coach, one solid recruiting class doesn't make a program -- and if he's really got such low integrity, then perhaps this is better long term? I know it feels like sour grapes,and it is, but I think there is some truth to it.
 
Mel Tucker doesn't have that much juice in my life. He's just another guy. His integrity is for sale and he got a good price. Next.

It isn't like a 5-7 HC is that hard to find. He had a good upside, but we'll never know if he would not have been what his record showed him to be...a loser. He lost more than he won here. He had some recruiting success, and things were looking up, but can anyone here EVER say they were not optimistic going into year 2 of a new coaching regime?

Bottom line, Mel Tucker is replaceable. You might even get a coach that has a sense of loyalty and decency next time around. Three years from now we may look back and be glad, or not. We don't know, but I am not going to lose sleep over a career 5-7 HC leaving the Buffs.

I hope MSU gets beat like a red headed step child in the Big Integer.
 
I sat down for dinner at Chipotle across the street from the MSU campus last night enjoying my burrito, reflecting on the serendipity of the fact I was driving through Lansing and Tucker was at CU. Then woke up this morning at 5am to this soul crushing bull****. Joke was on me last night I guess, ****ing sucked.
 
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.
You hit the nail on the head. I was in denial that college athletics is broken until now. It's all a lopsided business affair with the facade of school pride and loyalty. Before now, I thought we at least had the chance of being competitive in a meaningful way. I don't want to be emotionally attached to a perpetual bottom feeder.
 
CU is the last college athletic program I’m pulling for and this happens.

Time to blast away baddies in Doom & Destiny 2.
 
Just hoping for a decent (Wisconsin) type program. We will never be an SEC type program unless and until we get media money like they do.

I do enjoy the games as my old roommate and his wife have season tickets next to me and my wife. We like the tailgating and being surrounded by fellow fans we have now known for over a decade. Do we expect to have Alabama type seasons, no, but we have other reasons to enjoy our tickets.

Win more than lose, and be competitive in losses, and I would be happy.
 
CU is the last college athletic program I’m pulling for and this happens.

Time to blast away baddies in Doom & Destiny and others.
 
I fear this may be the death blow for Colorado football.
We'll revisit this when we know who RG hires. If the reports are true that they were willing to match the MSU offer (or come close), then I am confident they can pull another Tucker caliber coach from the coordinator ranks. Would be awesome if this galvanized the AD, boosters and even administration (yes I know not likely) and CU ponied up the resources to put together a great staff.
 
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.
I think that the FBS is creeping towards the verge of being separated into two divisions.

The Pac12 needs everything to go right to get a playoff spot, Group of 6 teams can't crack the playoff if they have back to back undefeated seasons.

I think we may be 5 years away from a select group of Pac 12, ACC, and Big XII teams along with the majority of the SEC and B1G Ten restructuring into a 40-50 team division and the rest becoming a separate entity.

I'm fine with that. I still want to root for CU to win and with some hope that a National Championship could happen once in the next 50 years.

With the current financial structure, I just don't see how the vast majority of programs can even fathom actually winning it all.
 
We'll revisit this when we know who RG hires. If the reports are true that they were willing to match the MSU offer (or come close), then I am confident they can pull another Tucker caliber coach from the coordinator ranks. Would be awesome if this galvanized the AD, boosters and even administration (yes I know not likely) and CU ponied up the resources to put together a great staff.

And what's to stop that coordinator from bolting after a season or two like Tucker did when a B1G/SEC comes calling? The Pac-12 is ****ed as long as this $ disparity continues and CU is in the lower half of a broke ass conference. I'm just venting on a ****ty day, but it's hard to see how we pull ourselves out of this right now.
 
And what's to stop that coordinator from bolting after a season or two like Tucker did when a B1G/SEC comes calling? The Pac-12 is ****ed as long as this $ disparity continues and CU is in the lower half of a broke ass conference. I'm just venting on a ****ty day, but it's hard to see how we pull ourselves out of this right now.
I agree, but again, this was a complete aberration. It simply does not happen even at the highest levels of college football. We knew Tucker was likely only here for 3-4 years if things went well. I expect that to be the case for the next guy as well. My point is, if RG can make a good hire, we'll be in the same position we would have been with Tucker going into year 2 or 3.
 
I agree, but again, this was a complete aberration. It simply does not happen even at the highest levels of college football. We knew Tucker was likely only here for 3-4 years if things went well. I expect that to be the case for the next guy as well. My point is, if RG can make a good hire, we'll be in the same position we would have been with Tucker going into year 2 or 3.
I like your optimism, I think it's a tad excessive though. Best case, I think we're at where we were a year ago if we get a good hire.
 
The Brilliance of My Cat

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.

This is exactly how I felt when I awoke this morning, too. Major dick punch. It actually has made me sick to my stomach.

I have been sitting here watching my cat throw kitty litter from his box trying to set up a better place to go inside what is clearly too small a box for him. It seemed like he was making a statement, and it smelled really bad. But, he's a cat. This is what he does in response to not being able to go outside during this two-week window when he has to take meds to stay alive. Of course, I'd be upset too if I was suddenly relegated in a tiny world for reasons I didn't understand, when I'd become used to living in a big world, especially if I had to learn to go in a box instead of anywhere I wanted.

A neighbor dropped by to say hello, pick up her mail. My cat ran away from her and hid under the bed, even though the door was open and freedom presented itself. I sat down to do some work, and my cat reappeared, and found a place curled up at my feet. He didn't want anything in particular, just preferred to be close by.

Not all cats are loyal, I suppose. Not all cats prefer to live outdoors. I imagine most cats really don't like being forced to use a litter box. But, that's where the crap has to go; it's just the rules inside the house.

I think cats even have a form of ethics. When playing with other cats, they don't fully extend their claws; it's just playing, and it's not real danger. Amazingly, when my cat plays with me, he's incredibly careful not to scratch or bite too hard. Sometimes I play with him while wearing an oven mitt, so that he can really dig in and do some solid biting and clawing. The fascinating part about my cat is that as soon as his paw feels my arm and not the oven mitt, he pulls in his claws so he won't scratch me. He seems to have a sense of right and wrong, good and bad, what can be torn apart and what shouldn't be. I respect him greatly for that.

We have only had this cat for about three years, since he appeared in our back yard. It took a while, but we think of him as our cat now. Yet, my cat has a chance to leave us almost every day, when I let him outside. But everyday he comes back, he likes us and has made our home his home. Sometimes, he just appears at the back door, meowing asking to come in, only to walk straight through to the front door and back outside again. That's how family works.

I think my cat has a sense of loyalty. I think my cat has a sense of ethics and fair play. But, he's just a cat, and if someone else offered him mountains of fresh tuna day in and day out, maybe he'd leave and follow the strong pull of his most powerful, instinctual urges. That much tuna could be an unfair distraction.

I wouldn't fault him for doing so, if he did, though it would be dick punch, too.

I'm very sure my cat doesn't have an understanding of my emotional needs. He also never promised me he'd stay, even though my wife and I just spent thousands of dollars on his recent hospital stay. Ultimately, my cat has never lied to me. He is his own cat and will do what he wants. He didn't mislead me into feeding him, caring for him, hospitalizing him just so he might someday follow the allure of greater tuna. I have always known that was a possibility.

My cat couldn't possibly conceive of the pain he would cause me if he left, and I know my cat would never purposefully hurt me or anyone in my family.

Some cats are different from others, I suppose; but it almost always smells really bad when they leave a big crap in a small box.
 
I like your optimism, I think it's a tad excessive though. Best case, I think we're at where we were a year ago if we get a good hire.
It's excessive to say if RG makes a good hire, we will be in the same place as we are now? The bad thing about Tucker is that he was only here for one year. The good thing about Tucker is that he was only here for one year. CU can go 5-7 with another coach too...
 
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