Former Cowboys WR Drew Pearson calls Mel Tucker a 'con man' after Tucker leaves Colorado for Michigan State
Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Drew Pearson is not happy that Mel Tucker left Colorado for Michigan State.
Tucker agreed to be Michigan State’s next coach late Tuesday night after repeated proclamations that he was staying with the school that hired him ahead of the 2019 season. But after Michigan State struck out with Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell, it turned back to Tucker and doubled the coach’s salary in addition to providing him with more money for his staff.
That didn’t sit well with Pearson, who called Tucker a “con man” for taking the Michigan State job after telling him he was staying with the Buffaloes. Pearson’s grandson Toren Pittman is a three-star recruit who signed with Colorado a week ago on National Signing Day.
MEL TUCKER IS A CON MAN! He recruited my grandson to go to CU said he wasn’t going anywhere then ups and leaves. Sat there and lied to my face he wasn’t going anywhere!
So I want to beat him up today on social media.
What else can I do?— Drew Pearson (@88DrewPearson) February 12, 2020
This was Pittman’s reaction Wednesday morning.
It is what it is
— Toren Pittman (@TorenPittman) February 12, 2020
While Pearson has every right to be unhappy that the coach who recruited his grandson to Colorado will never actually be Pittman’s coach, who among us wouldn’t take a 100 percent increase in salary after just one year in our current positions? Michigan State was clearly desperate enough to make a huge financial commitment for Tucker. And you can’t blame him for taking the money.
You can, however, blame him for looking like a hypocrite after saying there was no transfer portal “in the real world” in October. Tucker made that comment in his first year with the Buffaloes after he was Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2018. As Tucker has shown in the last two years, it’s much easier for college coaches to change jobs than it is for college players to transfer.
Hopefully the NCAA’s new transfer rules will allow Pittman and all of the players who signed with Colorado in December and February the immediate opportunity to find new schools if they so choose. But with recruiting classes filled up at most other FBS programs, those players aren’t going to have other lucrative options like Tucker did.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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