LSU coaching search: Mel Tucker responds to being linked to job
By Keith Farner
Published:
Mel Tucker is preparing for a huge game at Michigan State this week against arch-rival Michigan, but during his team’s bye week last week, Tucker’s name was linked to the open LSU job, and him being a strong candidate.
“My focus is on the upcoming game against the school down the road,” he said during his first media availability since the report, per the Detroit Free Press. “That’s where my concentration and my focus is, and I really appreciate you understanding that.”
Bruce Feldman on the FOX Sports Big Noon Kickoff show reported before LSU coach Ed Orgeron officially became a lame duck coach that Tucker would be a potential candidate.
“Another name to keep an eye on is Mel Tucker at Michigan State,” Feldman said on FOX. “I am told that there are some very influential people inside LSU who are really, really high on Mel Tucker.”
Tucker has extensive experience in the SEC, including at LSU.
After a 10-year stint in the NFL, Tucker coached at Alabama as a defensive backs assistant, then was Georgia’s defensive coordinator for 3 years before he left to be the head coach at Colorado.
Before the NFL, Tucker was defensive backs at LSU in 2000, and defensive backs at Ohio State (2001-03) and co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs at Ohio State (2004).
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
