Michigan State coach Mel Tucker is currently at the podium for his third Big Ten Media Day. Once again, he is doing what all football coaches do at all Media Days- speaking for prolonged periods of time without actually saying anything. It’s a cliche convention for the gridiron set, and if you want to play the buzzword bingo, we’ll get to that in a minute.
For now, we’re going to flash back to when Tucker took the stage in 2021, for his first ever B1G Media Day.
He then gave a very long-winded opening statement, which used up a large portion of his time on dais. It left less time for reporter questions, and honestly, if I were a coach, I would do the same thing.
Tucker was lacking in energy and pizzaz, with his speaking style leaving much to be desired. However, I have to respect his cliche game, especially his commitment to a certain bit that’s prevalent in football talking season.
You know it, you love it, the “gritty blue collar” routine.
Mel Tucker said the following:
When you think about Michigan State, think about Michigan State football, you think of tough, hard-nosed, physical, meat and potatoes, not a lot of French pastries, all-weather football. That’s what Michigan State football is all about.
“Rugged, lunch pail, it’s a working program. It’s for the people. It’s for the fans.”
He also added:
“Our fans, our alums, 550,000-plus living alumni, our former players, the Spartan Dawgs, they deserve winning football, the brand of football that they expect, tough, physical, relentless.”
And to make sure he got most of the meathead motif blue collar buzzwords in, Mel Tucker also included:
“We’re just going to keep our head down and continue to go to work. We do have a chip on our shoulder. We really do. We have got a lot to prove.”
This was a joke, right? It had to be a bit, yes? There was no way he was serious wit this nonsense! He can’t be!
What a hilarious idea!
And you got to hand it to him, he really stayed on theme. Mel Tucker committed to the bit.
His days as Chicago Bears Defensive Coordinator must have obviously exposed him to plenty of living Chicago meathead stereotypes, meatball local talk radio.
Mel Tucker also provided a steady stream of your more garden variety buzz phrases and cliches, the kinds of words that almost every coach does at these things. Tucker told the media assembled at Lucas Oil Stadium:
“As a program, we believe in process. We believe in process. We’re not focused on the outcome.
“The process of things that you have to do, the behaviors that you have to exhibit day-in and day-out to build a winning organization, to have consistency and performance, attention to detail, sense of urgency, teamwork, togetherness, a culture of accountability.
“We’re moving in the right direction. We have got a lot of work to do and we’re a work in progress, but the process of day-to-day cementing that culture of accountability is — I feel the momentum.”
And perhaps if you watched along at home on BTN, you heard him say:
“Culture is a process. Infrastructure precedes culture. We have the pieces in place, the staff, the support staff. We have the resources.
“We have the infrastructure. We have created a winning culture, a winning mindset. Culture is everything. ”
I hope you had process, culture and accountability on your BIG Bingo cards.
Again, just a brilliant stand-up comedy routine by Mel Tucker here.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager ofย The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
Heโs written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and theย Chicago Tribune.ย He regularly appears onย NTD Newsย andย WGN News Now.ย Follow the websiteย onย Twitterย andย Instagram.
