Mel Tucker was expecting to be presiding over his first game as Michigan State’s new head coach tonight. Instead, Tucker is still in the process of establishing relationships with his players as the Spartans continue to train through the postponement of the 2020 Big Ten season.
“With COVID-19, the biggest challenge has been getting to know our players and our players getting to know us, the connection part,” Tucker said on Thursday during the debut edition of the Mel Tucker Radio Show.
In the original 2020 schedule, Michigan State was slated to play at Northwestern tonight. That game was replaced on Aug. 5 by a scheduled visit from Minnesota to Spartan Stadium, slated for today, as part of the Big Ten’s revised schedule. Six days later, the Big Ten postponed the season, and today Big Ten football fans wait. The coaches and players at Michigan State carry forward with player development.
Tucker and the Spartans have focused on strength and conditioning, 12 hours a week as allowed by the NCAA, plus additional optional work, in preparation for the actual debut of the Tucker era - whenever that is.
In the meantime, Tucker has worked to strengthen the “connection" part of program building.
Tucker believes “connection” is one of three pillars to building a program, along with “culture” and “process.”
“Connection is critical,” Tucker said. “Football is the ultimate team game. Chemistry on your coaching staff and on our your team is really your glue, and it’s been more of a challenge now with COVID-19 because we haven’t been able to connect like we normally would. But that’s not an excuse. So we have found ways and are always searching for different ways to connect with our players, build those bonds, create authentic relationships and build that mutual trust so that we can move forward as a football team united.