Michigan State's Mel Tucker gets B- in CBS Sports third-year coach grades

On Tucker’s performance, Patterson wrote: “The 11-2 season in 2021, Peach Bowl win and top-10 finish is doing a lot of work for this profile as Tucker was 2-5 in the COVID-shortened year and 5-7 this past season. He is 2-1 against Michigan, which means a little bit more considering the rivalry and Wolverines' status at the moment, but also has three losses to Ohio State by 29 points (2022), 49 points (2021) and 40 points (2020). Tucker picked up one of his most important roster additions through the transfer portal with running back Kenneth Walker III, but there's a question -- not dissimilar from the position of Mike Norvell at Florida State -- of whether reliance on the portal is a feature of the coach's first years on the job or a key piece of the long-term plan for success. Tucker's got the chops to be successful at a proud program like Michigan State, but Year 4 will be a pivot point for determining whether the success of 2021 was a breakthrough or an outlier for the Spartans.”

Tucker’s debut season was more complicated than most, because while every staff had to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was hired later than any of them, officially being announced in East Lansing on Feb. 12, 2020. A month after taking the job, MSU’s campus was shut down and Tucker was forced to recruit his first signing class almost exclusively remotely. After a disjointed preseason filled with uncertainty about whether a season would even be played, the Spartans struggled on the field that fall, going 2-5 with a win over rival Michigan.

The next year, a hero named Kenneth Walker III emerged from the transfer portal and carried the Spartans to an 11-2 mark and a Peach Bowl win. In 2022, MSU was unable to live up to its preseason top-25 billing because of a lack of development at key areas, injuries to important contributors and a more challenging schedule than the previous season.