Tucker Joins Ohio State Football Staff – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 9, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has added 29-year-old Mel Tucker to his coaching staff. Tucker, who will coach the Buckeyes’ defensive backfield, spent the 2000 season as the defensive secondary coach at Louisiana State University.
Tucker, who grew up in Cleveland and played his college football at Wisconsin, also coached the defensive backs at Miami (Ohio) in 1999. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State in 1997, spending two years on Nick Saban’s staff in East Lansing, where he worked with the secondary and also was responsible for the scout teams.
Tucker earned all-state honors at Cleveland Heights High School and was named to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s all-scholastic team. He played defensive back at Wisconsin between 1990 and ’94, missing the 1993 campaign after breaking his leg in fall camp. Healthy in 1994, he helped lead the Badgers to an 8-3-1 record and a bowl berth.
Tucker graduated from Wisconsin in the spring of 1995 and then played briefly with the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League.
After two years at Michigan State, he was hired on a full-time basis by Terry Hoeppner at Miami. The Redhawks posted a 7-4-1 record in 1999, including a 28-3 upset of Northwestern in the season opener.
Tucker left Miami after the 1999 season to again join forces with Saban. In his only year at LSU, the Tigers were 8-4.
“Mel is an excellent addition to our staff,” Tressel said. “He is a bright young coach, who really impresses me with his knowledge of the game. He is also an Ohio and Big Ten guy, who has quickly established a reputation as an excellent recruiter.
I am really happy to have him on our staff.”
