Why this season is crucial for Mel Tucker's future with Michigan State football

INDIANAPOLIS — At one moment Wednesday during Big Ten media days, Mel Tucker acknowledged the demands he faces in a microwave society that wants instant gratification.
“We’re in a ‘win now’ culture,” the Michigan State football coach suggested.
Then, seconds later, he delivered a subtle plea for patience, telling the reporters in his midst that “it takes time to build a program and get it the way we want it.”
The contradictory monologue captured the predicament Tucker is confronting in Year 4 of a tenure that has featured a little bit of everything and lacked almost any continuity. Since his arrival in February 2020, the Spartans have spun through a boom-and-bust cycle marked by surprising highs and disappointing lows that has left outsiders wondering what is real and what is illusory.
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Was the 2021 season, when Kenneth Walker III galvanized the Spartans’ shocking ascent to an 11-2 record, the truest representation of Tucker’s Spartans. Or was it the unforeseen crash that unfolded last fall as MSU finished 5-7 and missed a bowl game?
Offensive guard J.D. Duplain, a rather biased observer, is convinced 2022 was a “fluke year.”
“I think we had some unfortunate things happen,” he elaborated.
Injuries, for one, impinged the threadbare depth of a team that had a talent shortage within certain position groups. Then there was the fallout from the Michigan Stadium tunnel incident, when eight defensive players were suspended multiple games for their involvement in the Oct. 29 altercation following a loss to the rival Wolverines.
As the bad juju accumulated, all the momentum gained from their dizzying rise evaporated. Recruiting began to ebb, which forced MSU to dip into the transfer marketplace again to stock its roster. According to 247Sports.com, 47% of its 2023 class is comprised of college imports, leaving some to question whether MSU can build and sustain success with players who have already used up some of their eligibility. Even Tucker doesn’t seem too certain it is a winning model.
To that point, he said of MSU’s recruitment process: “We start in the high school ranks.”
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But because of the state of his program, Tucker doesn’t have the freedom of choice in the same way that Alabama, Georgia and Big Ten heavyweight Ohio State do. Lifting MSU to that elevated tier alongside them is his lofty goal. Asked when he will know the Spartans have caught up with the sport's elite, Tucker didn’t hesitate.
“When you’re winning the games you’re supposed to win, you’re competing and winning games with the best teams in the conference and you can do that on the consistent basis,” he said. “That’s when you can say the program is consistently at that level.”
But right now MSU appears far from reaching that plateau. One leap forward has often been accompanied by two steps backs, blunting any progress made. The shocking departures of quarterback Payton Thorne and star receiver Keon Coleman this past spring left major voids on a team already trying to fix a porous defense and a substandard ground attack. Even though Tucker says the overall roster, from a talent perspective, is better than it has ever been during his time at MSU, few are expecting another resurgence this coming season with MSU facing a schedule rated the second-toughest in the country.
The media who cover the Big Ten picked the Spartans to finish fifth in the East Division this fall.
Prognosticators often get it wrong, but when extrapolating that ranking to the entire conference, the forecast is eerily similar to one Tucker heard before he cast his lot with MSU three years ago.
“When this opportunity came up,” he confessed, “I had several people tell me, ‘Do not take that job. You go into the conference eighth or ninth walking in the door.’”
In Year 4, it’s hard to say if Tucker has advanced the Spartans to a better slot in that pecking order. With USC and UCLA set to join the league next year, an argument can be made that the Spartans are in danger of falling even further behind.
Although Tucker insists this is not a make-or-break season for him, it could become crucial for his long-term goals in East Lansing as he aims to put MSU back on the right track.
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As Duplain said, “We’ve taken this offseason extremely serious. We don’t want a repeat of last year.”
The urgency to deliver positive results is palpable because the patience is wearing thin. Time is something even a coach with a $95 million contract can’t buy.
“It’s about winning football games,” Tucker said. “That’s our goal. That’s why we’re here.”
It's his mandate. It's clear as day even when so much inside his program is not.
For openers
Matchup: Michigan State (5-7 in 2022) vs. Central Michigan (4-8 in 2022), season opener.
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Sept. 1; Spartan Stadium, East Lansing.
TV/radio: FS1; WJR-AM (760).
Line: TBA.