Report: Michigan State Set to Make Historic Offer To Mel Tucker

Michigan State is preparing a $95 million, 10-year contract extension for football coach Mel Tucker. The deal would make Tucker the highest-paid Black head coach in American sports, according to the Detroit Free Press.

If Tucker and the Spartans come to an agreement, the 49-year-old would also become the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten, surpassing Penn State’s James Franklin's $7 million-a-year deal, according to the USA TODAY salary database.

In college football, only Alabama's Nick Saban ($9.753 million) will make more this season than Tucker would under the reported contract extension. 

Tucker would surpass Stanford's David Shaw ($8.9 million), the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin ($8 million) and the 76ers Doc Rivers ($8 million) as the highest-paid Black coach in American sports. 

The Detroit Free Press also reported that Michigan State alumni Steve St. Andre and Mat Ishbia, who walked onto the Spartans’ 2000 national championship basketball team, are private donors funding the extension.

In his first year at Michigan State during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Tucker went 2–5 after arriving from Colorado in the wake of Mark Dantonio's departure. 

But Tucker has led a revival in East Lansing in the second year of his six-year contract, leading the Spartans to a No. 7 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings with a 9–1 record. Michigan State's only loss this season came against unranked Purdue on Nov. 6 when the Spartans were ranked No. 3 in the country. 

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