Mel Tucker's move to Michigan State bothers one former Big Ten football coach

For just a few moments, Gary Barnett sounded like a caller on drivetime talk radio.

His voice was filled with disbelief, concern and resignation as he riffed on Mel Tucker’s move from Colorado to Michigan State football.

He kept reciting one word to summarize his feelings.

“Crazy,” he said three times in a span of two minutes.

To Barnett, college football has turned upside down, becoming warped and a bit twisted. In the eyes of the former coach, it’s a world where money takes precedence in all matters, transforming a level playing field into a tiered system among the Power Five schools. Barnett has a unique perspective on this subject, as he once made the inverse move that Tucker did — going from a Big Ten program, Northwestern, to Colorado in 1999.

Barnett’s decision to ditch the Wildcats and cast his lot with the Buffaloes wasn’t met with many raised eyebrows back then. After flirting with the likes of Notre Dame, UCLA and Georgia, he was returning to the state where his career began — first as a coach in the high school and small-college ranks, then as an assistant with the Buffaloes on Bill McCartney’s staff. He was also inheriting a proven winner. As Barnett resuscitated Northwestern, Colorado won at least 10 games four times in the 1990s and claimed a national championship at the beginning of the decade. The school, which competed in the Big 12 at the time, also offered him a 73% raise, taking his annual compensation to as much as $710,000 — a paltry sum in the context of today’s head coaches’ salaries.

“I made all my moves regardless of money,” Barnett insisted. “That had nothing to do with my choice.”

But it was a major factor in Tucker’s decision to leave Boulder for East Lansing.

Last year during Tucker’s only season at Colorado, 57 FBS coaches netted more than the $2.4 million he earned. Among them was Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, one of Barnett’s former players whose annual compensation more than doubled what Tucker received.

That is no longer the case, as Tucker is set to make $5.5 million per year at Michigan State — exceeding Fitzgerald’s 2019 package by roughly $350,000.

Tucker’s windfall is accompanied by an enlarged salary pool for his assistants — $6 million compared to $3.15 million at Colorado.

“There's a strong commitment here to excellence and being the best,” Tucker said. “That was apparent in every action that they took and the way that they went about their business in regards to me. I was very impressed by that. …There's very few jobs like this in football, a place that has this type of tradition, history, commitment and resources.”

According to the U.S. Department of Education, Michigan State’s football program produced $77,930,837 in revenue during the 2017-18 school year — approximately $34 million more than Colorado football.

The discrepancy highlights the growing financial gulf within the Power Five, where the Big Ten and SEC have separated from the other major conferences — most of all the Pac-12, where Colorado now resides.

Television revenue has widened the chasm, creating an economic divide within a sport fueled by money.

“If I were just a normal person and not involved with athletics and football, I would question it,” Barnett said. “I really would say, ‘Really? Is this what it is supposed to be about?’ ”

Barnett’s cynicism has developed over a period when Colorado football has receded into darkness. The Buffaloes have one winning season since he was forced out 15 years ago amid declining results and off-the-field controversies.

From both near and afar, he has watched the program erode into a lesser job than Michigan State or even Northwestern, which has had three 10-win seasons since 2012.

After Colorado cycled through one disappointing coach after another, Barnett hoped Tucker would revive the fallen Buffaloes.

But his first meeting with Tucker gave him pause.

“He talked about not having enough money,” recalled Barnett, who is a radio analyst for Colorado. “And my statement to him is you got what you need.”

Barnett’s input fell on the deaf ears of a coach whose previous two stops were at Georgia and Alabama — a pair of SEC juggernauts with enviable resources.

“He was pretty much obsessed with going out and raising more money,” Barnett rued.

In fact, Tucker’s final act at Colorado was a sales pitch at a donor event in Denver the night he agreed to become Michigan State’s coach.

The next day he was in East Lansing, where he was feted at an introductory news conference.

In front of an enlarged Spartans logo at the Breslin Center, Tucker concluded his speech with this exhortation: “Go Green!”

As Barnett would attest, the words were fitting.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Big Ten newsletter.