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LSU coaching search: Tigers top candidate close to ‘huge’ new deal at current school, per report
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Amid rumors that he’d take an interview if LSU called, Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker is reportedly set to extend his contract with the Spartans.
A Detroit-based radio station reported on Friday that Tucker was in negotiations with Michigan State to make the second-year coach one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the country and keep him in East Lansing for the foreseeable future. On Saturday, Colin Cowherd lent some credibility to that reporting.
I’m told Mel Tucker & MSU are close to a new deal. Negotiations are friendly and moving quickly. This isn’t Colorado. MSU is all in on football. Contract offer is huge. Reminder, Dan Gilbert is billionaire alum. He and donor Mat Ishbia all in.
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) November 13, 2021
Earlier this week, CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd reported that Tucker was not only the coach LSU should hire to fill its head coaching position, but the coach it would hire. “Word on the street is that Tucker will accept an interview if contacted,” Dodd wrote. “Tucker is a studious, fast-rising talent who could quickly get LSU back on top.”
The Tigers announced on Oct. 17 they’d be parting ways with coach Ed Orgeron at the end of the season. Two years removed from winning a national championship, Orgeron has followed up a disappointing 5-5 campaign with a 4-5 record through 9 games in 2021.
Tucker would have brought SEC experience and a pedigree for turning programs around. The Spartans were 2-5 in his first season in East Lansing but currently sit at 8-1, firmly in the College Football Playoff picture.
If not him, LSU’s search will turn elsewhere. Of course, the dream target—as Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel reported this week—is still out there.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
