This is the first in a series of columns and essays by longtime Michigan State observer and media executive Crowley Sullivan:

And just like that, Spartans are recalibrating themselves to sync back up with their seasonal rhythms and routines.

The Wizard of Beast Lansing might have been presented with more challenges than usual in this strangest of seasons – and even he might have had a doubt creep into his mind about the reliability of the earth’s axis as the calendar turned to March.

But, with the sand emptying into the bottom of the hourglass, Tom Izzo wasn’t going to let anything or anyone (rival or otherwise) get in his program’s way.

Sunday’s gut punch to UMAA was delivered with typical Green & White moxie and it likely secured a 23rd straight March Madness to feature Izzo’s granite-like program that oftentimes runs on pride and tradition.

The last time Michigan State was not part of the Madness, the world was a different place.

The last time State limped into March, the world was still celebrating Parifal Di Casa Netzer’s domination of the Westminster Kennel Best in Show competition.

The last time March came in like a lamb, this very publication was a newspaper that was mailed to my home where I waited with bated breath for the edition of each month’s 30-page banana split to land in my mailbox.

The last time March didn’t feature presidents of these United States picking State to reach yet another Final Four, a substantial portion of Spartans weren’t just mumbling, they were borderline clamoring for the removal of the guy who had not yet done much of anything as the head coach of the basketball program (Tom Izzo).

March hasn’t been quiet for us in a long time.

And there is a sense that this March might not only be void of any peace and quiet, we might be in for some standard fireworks.

For right now, though, let’s take a breath – we’ve all earned it – and stop to think about what’s going on right now across the street from where Izzo whips up his annual magic.

One might have to squint to see what’s stirring in the brew pub over there – but if you’re open to taking a good, hard look, it’s easy to see that stuff is happening.

There’s a man taking on a challenge not too dissimilar to the one Izzo took on when Jud stepped aside after a proud run that had lost a bit of its fire.

Mel Tucker and his relentless crew aren’t in an “off season” type of mindset, routine, or focus.

For these guys – some of whom are still wondering how to find parking for The Peanut Barrel (which, of course, doesn’t really exist) – this period isn’t even called “off season.”

Michigan State football’s head man has introduced the “out of season” approach to working on the development, enhancement, and growth of a football machine that, not too long ago, was recognized as a Top 10 program.

These days, this is the type of thing that warrants a reminder since our collective attention spans mean that something that happened in 2015 might as well have happened during the Mesozoic Era.

But let’s take a moment to level-set and simply look at some facts.

Nobody would win an argument that the last two seasons of the prolifically successful Mark Dantonio Era were emblematic of the peak of the era.

But, for the skeptics and cynics, it’s not as if those last two years were reminiscent of the Muddy Waters years.

Over the last three seasons with Michigan State’s winningest coach of all time at the helm, State earned an overall record of 24-15.

You want to include the disastrous 2016 autumn that featured a 3-9 campaign?

Okay.

27-24 over those four seasons.

But if we’re going to do that, then we have to include the 2015 season that featured Dantonio’s third Big Ten Championship, typical takedowns of Columbus University and UMAA, an appearance in the College Football Playoff, an offense that set program records, and a final mark of 12-2.

39-26 over the final five seasons.

Whatever route you choose to take, the last batch of years don’t exactly represent the disintegration of a football program.

I don’t have the data in front of me but I don’t think there are many head football coaches who get asked to take to the hammock due to a three-season run of 24-15 with victories over rivals and Top 10 teams to go along with bowl wins in two of three years.

Some coaches actually get contracts extended with that sort of three-year run (although some of those extensions feature salaries getting cut in half combined with public relations nightmares).

However, with the passage of time, it also becomes simpler and necessary to acknowledge some dynamics that nobody would have thought would be true about the Mark Dantonio Era.

The program lost its fire.

It happens.

The program lost its maniacal focus on every single day’s routines, quality control, and general commitment to what got the program to the top.

And, perhaps most importantly, the operation lost a significant portion of what has always been the key element any time the Michigan State football program has been successful – rugged and relentless toughness.

Again, with the benefit of time, we should see what was pretty clear a year ago (it doesn’t seem like it, but it’s only been one year) – Mark Dantonio was gassed and simply wanted to do what any man his age starts to yearn for: step away on his terms so he could do what he hadn’t done for his entire life - relax just a bit and spend more time with his family.

I saw a photo of Coach D with his grandchild recently and he looked more like Tony Stark than the guy who had to explain what happened on the sideline at the end of the 10-7 loss to Arizona State on an otherwise sparkling afternoon along the banks of the Red Cedar River.

Let’s put aside the granular debates that were aflame over those last two 7-6 seasons.

The entire era delivered the greatest run of football experienced by anyone in Green & White since the days of Duffy Daugherty and Biggie Munn.

Over the 13-year run orchestrated by Dantontio, there are maybe – maybe – two football programs in the Big Ten that can claim to have equaled or surpassed the success that came out of Beast Lansing.

Columbus University was, has been, and appears poised to continue to be the program that carries the torch for the conference for the foreseeable future.

The University of Bratwursts was, for the most part, State’s equal over the 13-year period and the battles between the two programs were epic.

Other than those two programs, nobody in the Big Ten can even come close to the achievements registered by State.

Imagine, for a second, what it must be like to go without a Big Ten Championship since, say, 2004.

A lot of things have happened since 2004.

For instance, the Cubs won the World Series.

Not much more needs to be said when putting into the proper perspective a Big Ten football program’s length of time since it’s last conference championship, does it?

One year ago, Mel Tucker was introduced as Mark Dantonio’s successor – and he sure did look good in that Spartan tie someone was smart enough to get to him.

This man took the reins of a program with recent success but with a roster and an ethos that had become far more comparable to the locker room at North Shore Country Club than the Michigan State locker room around, say, October of 2013 or November of 2015.

I’m no different than anyone throughout The Underground Bunker who dissects the forty-six reasons why that kid flipped and chose to select the University of Massachusetts at Ann Arbor not too long ago – although, I spent exactly zero seconds worrying about that youngster’s decision.

To be perfectly candid, I wish that chap nothing but the best.

I did get a kick out of the way the UMAA circus machine chose to dust off the “Little Brother” nonsense and tout the “victory” of that day.

A recruiting victory a handful of months after getting punked by your non-rival rival on your home playing surface is a little bit like finding the A1 sauce the day after you drastically over did the steaks when your father-in-law visited the previous night for dinner.

What I’ve chosen to do is focus on the work being done by the folks with their heads down working…….relentlessly……on strengthening the football program they were brought in to lead.

There has been plenty of handwringing over the “rankings” of the recruiting class and plenty of concern over whether or not Tucker’s regime can ever bag the elephants necessary to beat Alabama.

While leaving the visions of Alabama just out of reach for the time being, let’s acknowledge what everyone already knows is a new reality – the transfer portal.

The recruiting gurus and experts won’t want to hear this since hell hath no fury like a recruiting analyst scorned but the truth is that ranking a recruiting class without baking in the gains made to the roster via the transfer portal is a little but like critiquing a zoo after spending a 17-degree day there when all of the Mammalia, Reptilia, Mollusca, Chordata, and so forth chose to spend the day in their holes.

First order of business when assessing our own perspective on the transfer portal dynamics relative to what Mel Tucker is working on –

Spartans who “chose” to enter the transfer portal might/maybe/perhaps/possibly had been slightly reluctant to adjust to the new environment that was, literally on Day 1, a far cry from the aforementioned North Shore Country Club locker room.

I’ll rarely name specific college students living their lives when critiquing State’s overall football program – but, without naming names, does anyone really think that a backup linebacker who might not have wanted to work that hard who then chose to get into a public fight that, perhaps, demonstrated immaturity, who “chose” to enter the transfer portal has hurt the Spartan program?

Rocky Lombardi earned a never-to-be-forgotten legacy with the way he orchestrated the punking at UMAA – but I don’t even think Rocky would argue that he’s more suited to succeed at Northern Illinois compared to Michigan State.

It’s been far, far, far too long since State has had an impactful rushing attack.

With nothing but respect for the Spartans who have carried the ball over the last season or three, does anyone really doubt that Auburn transfer Harold Joiner and/or Wake Forest transfer Kenneth Walker have immediately upgraded State’s potential to pound the ball?

The offensive line had its own cushy section of the North Shore Country Club. But with new direction, things will improve rapidly. Transfer portal gem Jarrett Horst will be paving the way for running backs and protecting quarterbacks in the NFL not long from now.

But, before Horst does any of that, he immediately strengthens a line that has the potential to be at full strength for once.

The Spartans from the secondary who have carefully “selected” to enter the transfer portal left a void across the unit.

The secondary room is now back to being full and if State would have landed Chester Kimbrough as a recruit originally, one would have thought that Ronnie Lott in his prime had committed to Beast Lansing.

Question:

What is bad about former UMAA linebacker Ben VanSumeren transferring to State?

Answer:

Absolutely nothing since depth has been added to the linebacker unit and Ben’s younger brother is now a good bet to become a Spartan.

Drew Jordan will play in the NFL but he’s going to terrorize opposing quarterbacks for State before any of that starts for him.

Jordan was a three-year starter who made over 100 tackles and 10 sacks while at Duke and he looks great coming off the bus.

He’d still be playing at Duke if Duke didn’t think that its own graduate program should only accept members of the Stephen Hawking Academic Union.

Instead, he’ll immediately improve a defensive line that already shows plenty of promise.

Question:

What was the difference between Northwestern’s 3-9 team in 2019 and the 2020 Northwestern squad that lost 22-10 to Columbus University in the Big Ten Championship Game?

Answer:

It’s not quite fair to suggest that there was one, single difference – but transfer quarterback Peyton Ramsey sure did elevate the entire Northwestern team in a way that was undeniable.

Anthony Russo is a fifth-year senior who stands 6’4” and weighs 240 pounds.

Russo was being projected as a mid-round NFL prospect during his previous season as the quarterback at……. Temple.

After two seasons as the starter for Temple, Russo threw 9 touchdowns and 6 interceptions for the Owls in 2020. Russo only started the first three games last fall due to injury and COVID and being bitten by snakes and catching a really rough dose of gout.

Payton Thorne has a bright future – and Hampton Fay is already making an impression.

But, when considering all of the ways the new Spartans have undeniably upgraded the roster, isn’t it reasonable to envision a fifth-year senior like Russo injecting maturity, experience, skill, leadership, motivation, and toughness at the position where all of that is needed most?

Okay – so the recruiting sages have announced from on high (i.e. their basements) that Tucker’s recruiting class warrants a No. 37 position in the Big Ten.

Fine.

But the general point here is to take a deep breath and consider the entire collection of new football players who will be wearing green and white and consider that all of these guys, as a collective, have made this team better.

Tucker has coached a total of seven games for State. Getting pantsed by Columbus is – for now – forgivable.

But we certainly take any opportunity to remind our friends in Columbus that Denicos Allen had an insane ability to leapfrog offensive linemen, that Urban Meyer loves to eat cold Domino’s Pizza, and that Michael Geiger won’t have to pay for a drink in Beast Lansing for the rest of his life.

There is nothing good about the steamrolling at the hands of Tom Arnold University in Iowa City.

Nothing good about getting skunked at home by a basketball school that hasn’t had any basketball success in more than a decade.

Nothing good about giving Rutgers the football 26 times in the opener.

Beating Peyton Ramsey and the Big Ten West Champions registers.

Running out of gas at Penn State is nothing to throw a soggy banana at.

And out-toughing, out-scheming, out-executing, out-focusing, out-classing, and simply out-playing UMAA more than registers.

Props to Coach Tucker for not crying in the UMAA locker room after the victory the way the UMAA coach wept in the Spartan Stadium locker room after his team’s 21-7 victory that occurred after the UMAA player’s temper tantrum at the Spartan Stadium midfield logo was incited by the home team going through its 12-year tradition of……….walking across its home field.

Props, also, to Mel Tucker for not producing a music video touting the manner in which nobody has it better than him and his program with an unknown music song artist.

Additional props to Mel Tucker for not sleeping in tree forts and running around with his shirt off and not taking the team to Stockholm and not whining incessantly about shiny objects that might creep into his vision that might annoy him.

With spring football right around the corner, it might be worth taking a breath and recognizing some of the dynamics noted here.

This guy has come in and politely suggested to anyone not willing or interested in working as hard as necessary to feel free to depart.

He’s brought in a wave of football players who appear ready, willing, and able to make an immediately positive impact on the team and the program.

He’s done all of this in a way that shows he knows what it means to be a Spartan.

This thing has yet to really get started.

Someone told me he’s skeptical about the Tucker years ever becoming anything more than a 7-6 type of era.

The reasons for the skepticism were the lopsided losses to Columbus, Bobby Knight College, and the University of Gene Wilder; the lack of head coaching experience/success; and the “bad recruiting.”

Mark Dantonio had a three-year record of 18-17 at Cincinnati before he took over at State.

The lopsided losses in the 2020 COVID-impacted season?

Nothing good about those but Mark Dantonio took his lumps at the outset and it took longer than anyone remembers for the program to start to hum.

As for the “bad recruiting?”

Analyzing the “recruiting” of the Tucker Project just isn’t complete without taking a good, hard look at his approach to the transfer portal – an approach that is part of college football recruiting in 2021.

Let the man keep at it.

Let the man continue to do what he’s doing.

Let the man continue to clean up, toughen up, scheme up, and strengthen up his program.

Then, we can watch the man bring more rivalry trophies to Beast Lansing, win more games against Top 10 teams, win divisional titles, and win conference championships without acting like he’s entitled to anything.

That’s the way he wants to do this.

Crowley Sullivan is a 25-year veteran of the sports media industry. He spent ten years at ESPN where he won two Emmys and a Peabody Award for his work as a Producer on the iconic series “SportsCentury.” As an Executive, he led ESPN Classic and ESPNews Programming and served as an Executive Producer for ESPN Original Entertainment. He also has served as EVP/GM of Campus Insiders, he’s been a USA Today Sports contributor, and he now oversees UFC Fight Pass as its VP/GM. And, he once at lunch and dinner at The Peanut Barrel for 26 consecutive days/nights.