Mel Tucker Discusses How Spartan Football Is Dealing With COVID-19 Impact
The Michigan State Spartan football team is undergoing a major overhaul with new head coach Mel Tucker. But with the COVID-19 pandemic and the new safety protocols that caused spring football and the beloved green vs. white spring game to be canceled, there is a new normal.
Tucker joined the Spartan Sports Network to talk about the offseason. He talked about a myriad of issues.
Tucker talked about how the COVID-19 is changing Spartan football. "Honestly, I have to admit, it's heartbreaking for our student-athletes and for our coaches not to be here on campus, but if I know anything about Spartan Nation, our coaches and our players, and everyone involved, is that we have tremendous grit and resolve. I know that when the time is safe and is right, we'll get back to hard work here on campus, but right now, we're all working from home."
With the COVID-19 impact, our verbiage has changed. One of those new words is “social distancing” and Tucker said of that impact, "It's simple for me – it's about people first. My players, the coaches, the staff's safety and health are the most important things to me as a head football coach. This is a global health crisis, this is not a football crisis. We really need to come together as a country, as a state, as a city, as a community to do what each of us can do to help put the health and safety of our people first. I've tried to do that in my little way, and I would encourage every Spartan out there to do the same."
So as Tucker rebuilds the program, how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the day-to-day operations of a program undergoing an overhaul? "Communication is key. Over communicating. For our coaches and our staff, we're using the Zoom application from everything to defensive staff meetings, full-staff meetings, offensive meetings, special teams meetings; we're relentlessly recruiting electronically, with text, emails, receiving calls, making sure that our prospects understand that they are a priority for us and that we care about their health and well-being also.”
He continued saying, "For our players, we're implementing the same online video conferencing that our professors are using throughout the university. Our academic support staff, as well as our coaches, are doing a fantastic job of making sure that our players are still progressing academically, from a compliance standpoint, and also in football.”
He added on the day-to-day operations, “On the football side of it, I'm doing my team meetings with Zoom, using YouTube as well, our position coaches are using Zoom to meet with their players online three days a week. Our strength and conditioning staff is also using Zoom to group me, to make sure the players have their workouts on videos and demonstrate the techniques, and getting all the help they can get online and making sure they're still connected. Like you said, this is our new normal. We're making sure that we're moving MSU football forward the very best and safe way that we can for our team, our school and for Spartan Nation."
For an established program, missing an entire spring may not impact them. But for a rebuilding program with a new staff, does that put the Spartans behind the proverbial eight ball? "I don't think that really anyone can honestly say that they have the answer to that yet. We don't know how the NCAA is going to deal with these issues. We all know that they have a lot on their plates right now, but ideally, as we get closer to the season, we'll just have to wait and see. But I can tell you that quite frankly, that's the least of my concerns about our team right now."
So does this new normal bring up any unique situations or concerns for him moving forward? "I've had an opportunity to talk with several head coaches across the NCAA, consulted with friends, with colleagues, with mentors, and all of us I believe are worried about the same things. We're worried about our student-athletes, their physical, their emotional, their mental health at this time. When our players are here on campus, we can see them, we can look at them eye-to-eye, we can work with them, and we know what services we have here for them on campus, for a laundry list of potential issues, but right now, they're not here. They're scattered about, they're back at their permanent homes, so I'm more concerned about are they safe, are they making smart decisions, do they have enough to eat, and the football part of it is secondary. What I do know is that our players, our coaches, our administration, our fans, are relentless, resilient, and we're going to come out of this thing stronger on the other side. And when the time is right, I look forward to getting back on the field with the players and the coaches, and Spartan Nation supporting us 100 percent."
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