Michigan State to hire Colorado's Mel Tucker as football coach

Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Michigan State is planning to hire Mel Tucker as their next football coach.

Sources told The Athletic, the Detroit Free Press and 247 Sports Wednesday that the school reached an agreement to hire away Tucker from the University of Colorado. The addition of Tucker ends the Spartans' high-profile search to replace longtime coach Mark Dantonio, who abruptly resigned Feb. 4.

Sources told The Athletic Tucker is expected to receive an annual salary of more than $5 million.

Tucker, 48, has one season of college football head coaching experience, a 5-7 campaign at Colorado last season. He spent the 2015 season as an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach at Alabama. He was the defensive coordinator at Georgia from 2016 through 2018.

Tucker also spent more than a decade in the NFL as a defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears.

Tucker began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State in 1997 and coached defensive backs at Miami University in 1999 before taking the same job at LSU in 2000. He was defensive backs coach at Ohio State from 2001 through 2003 before being promoted to the Buckeyes' co-defensive coordinator. Tucker accepted a job from the Browns the following season.

Tucker served on the same coaching staff as Dantonio and fellow Spartans coaching candidate Luke Fickell while with the Buckeyes in 2003. Fickell turned down an offer to become the Spartans' next coach earlier this week, opting to stay at Cincinnati.

Colorado ranked 100 out of 130 teams in points per game last season. They ranked 96th in points allowed.

The Spartans begin their 2020 regular season against Northwestern on Sept. 5 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich.