Voice of the Fantlebury: Getting Real with College Coaches
Three days after turning down Michigan State, Mel Tucker turned heel on Tuesday night by accepting the Spartans’ second offer, leaving Colorado after one season (and a week removed from National Signing Day).
I’m a big proponent of doing what’s in the best interest of you and your family; I do not blame college coaches at all for looking for the next big opportunity or payday or rung to climb the professional ladder.
I also don’t blame student athletes for doing the exact same thing.
But what continues to get me is the lack of transparency in big-time college coaching circles. While so many recruits or players announce their commitments, de-commitments, transfers or NFL declarations with some mention of the fact that college sports are a business, first and foremost, that fact is very rarely publicly acknowledged by the coaches themselves.
Tucker leaving for Michigan State — whatever. There’s very rarely a good time to leave a job; while a week after NSD isn’t a great look, these players will still have opportunities whether it’s at Colorado or elsewhere.
But the gall of Tucker's initial tweet after that first round of Sparty is what bothers me:
(An aside: if you’re going to go hashtag crazy, maybe get your marketing folks to come up with some more unique phrases for your program.)
So what changed in the four days from the sanitized Twitter version of this NSFW speech to Tucker going Hollywood Hulk Hogan on the Buffs? The money, of course. I’d respect the hell out of a coach that would make some version of this statement when they publicly turn down another program’s interest:
“I’m committed to #TheBuild of our program because the other offer was not financially enticing enough.”
That was what got me during the whole Mike Anderson Show seemingly every offseason during his time at Mizzou (once the Tigers started winning). Anderson didn’t have to publicly admit he was looking for either a perceived better opportunity (which came eventually with Arkansas) or a bigger payday (using Georgia and Oregon and others to do that). But he didn’t have to act like we’re all idiots (that includes the fans, the media and his players) for reading between the lines.
Instead, we got this quote, which was included in this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article after the 2010-2011 basketball season — right before Anderson left for Arkansas:
“I’m … a substance guy … I’m not a guy who goes out and tries to find jobs. … People that know me, know I’m not a money guy.”
Again, respect the hustle. Do what you (ethically) can do to put yourself and your family in the best position, whether it’s because of the size of the money or the size of the opportunity. But why do so many college coaches think they need to keep the business side of their profession a secret?
For Tucker, though, maybe this could have all been alleviated by following the first rule of Twitter:
Don’t tweet.