Report: Fickell, Mel Tucker to Interview at Michigan State
Michigan State is apparently going with what's worked before, not just for itself, but for its hated neighbor to the south, as it pursues a football coach to succeed Mark Dantonio.
The Spartans set their sights on former Ohio State player and defensive coordinator Luke Fickell from the outset of Dantonio's resignation earlier this week, which make sense on all sorts of levels.
Fickell worked under Dantonio at OSU when he coordinated the Buckeyes' national championship defense in 2002 and the seasons on each side of that magical year, and Fickell has three successful years under his belt at Cincinnati, which is exactly the term Dantonio served with the Bearcats before taking over in East Lansing for the last 13 years.
And, don't forget, much of Michigan's modern-era greatness traced to hiring former Woody Hayes assistant Bo Schembechler in 1969.
And then when Schembechler retired, the Wolverines inserted former OSU team captain Gary Moeller.
But now comes word from the Detroit Free Press that if MSU can't get Fickell, it has targeted another former Ohio State defensive assistant, Mel Tucker, now the head coach at Colorado.
Fickell must have strong interest in the job if he's willing to interview.
He could, and likely should, tell MSU that if it wants him, offer the job without requiring an interview. Fickell's two 11-win seasons at Cincinnati, and Michigan State's desperation given the horrible timing of Dantonio's resignation, give Fickell that leverage.
Of course, he may view the interview as beneficial to him to get to know who he would be working for. Still, it's not an ideal timetable and too fraught with peril and unknowns given that other, as-good-or-better jobs are likely to come open the next 3-5 years at places Fickell would be well-positioned to coach.
How's he going to feel if he takes over at Michigan State and Ryan Day leaves Ohio State for the NFL, or Michigan and Jim Harbaugh part ways, or James Franklin takes over at USC, or Brian Kelly retires at Notre Dame?
Tucker, Fickell and Dantonio coached together at Ohio State in 2003.
When Dantonio departed, Tucker shared defensive coordinator duties with Mark Snyder for one year before Tucker left for three different franchises in the NFL.
The last of those, Jacksonville, resulted in him being elevated to interim head coach late in the 2018 season before Colorado hired him on a five-year deal.
He went 5-7 with the Buffalos and would appeal to MSU because he served as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban in 1997-98.
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