
Woelk: New Buffs Coach Tucker Will Embrace Expectations
December 06, 2018 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Already, this much is clear when it comes to new Colorado football coach Mel Tucker:
Tucker won't blink under the burden of expectations. He will embrace them. The man who helped win national championships at Ohio State and Alabama, the man who helped take Georgia to the brink of a national title, comes to Colorado with the goal of accomplishing the same with the Buffaloes.
"Obviously the expectations are high," Tucker said at his Thursday morning introductory press conference. "We're here to win championships. I've never been in a game, as a player or a coach, that we weren't expecting to win. Ever. So there's one thing that I can tell you, there's no one on this planet that can put more pressure on me than I can put on myself. The expectations I have for this university and this program are extremely high. We're going to start working today to get this thing going in the direction it needs to go."
Tucker did not deliver a fire and brimstone speech. He did not present a sales pitch geared to wow the audience. But underneath the calm, measured demeanor there was no doubt a passion to win burns brightly just under the surface.
He plans to instill that passion — his go-to word is "relentless" — in his new players.
"I met with the players this morning and had a really good conversation," Tucker said. "Sometimes you just know, and I know the young men in that room are hungry. They want to win. They want to compete for championships. They want to be relevant. I promised them that if they follow the process, buy in and do the things that we're going to ask them to do, that we will achieve at a high level and they will reach their full potential. We will be able to compete for championships, be in that conversation, year-in, year-out."
That is, of course, exactly what Athletic Director Rick George expects his new coach to do. George wrapped up a national coaching search last weekend with the man he believes is the best fit possible for Colorado — and the man he believes will return Colorado football to the elite level.
"He's been a part of two national championships and that is where I aspire this program to be," George said. "Those are the expectations that we have for this program. It is about winning championships and he has experienced success at the highest level. That is a level we want to be at here at the University of Colorado."
Since the day he announced he would be changing coaches, George has made it clear he believes the pieces are in place to win immediately. Colorado's roster is filled with talented youngsters, and George is not in the mood for a rebuilding project.
Rather, George told reporters, the opportunity to be successful immediately is present — and it is why he decided to bring Tucker to Colorado.
Tucker's influences and mentors are clear. He worked for Nick Saban at three different stops (Michigan State, LSU and Alabama), Jim Tressel at Ohio State and Kirby Smart at Georgia, and he spent a decade in the NFL.
But now, he has a chance to develop his style, his program — his process.
"You will hear me use that word, process, quite a bit," Tucker said. "Everyone wants to win, but how do you win? There is a process of winning. If you do things the right way each and every day and the standards and expectations are high and the environments are right, then you can achieve success. But there is a process. We will work that process day in and day out. All of the great coaches I have been around have had a plan. They have had a process that they implemented and haven't wavered, and have gotten great results."
On Tucker's plate immediately will be two major concerns: putting together an assistant coaching staff and wrapping up an early recruiting period that culminates with national signing day on Dec. 19.
He began addressing both immediately. He will greet a group of recruits this weekend in Boulder, and he began informal meetings with the current CU staff right away.
But, while he plans to move quickly on putting his staff together, he did not offer a specific timeline.
"I can't promise that I'm going to bring in every guru, X and O guy that there is," Tucker said of his staff. "The one thing I promised Rick is that, first and foremost, we will have coaches on our staff that have the highest integrity and the highest character, that care about young men, that are going to love young men, that are going to treat these young men like our own sons. Obviously our staff will be extremely competent in the Xs and Os, and we will be relentless recruiters. What that staff makeup will be remains to be seen, but time is of the essence. We'll get moving in the right direction from a staff standpoint right now."
Tucker has been a defensive coach throughout his career. While he hasn't been specific about his offensive plans, he has said that he wants to take advantage of the current talent on the roster. He played a 3-4 base defense at Georgia, and will almost assuredly maintain that scheme with the Buffs, something that should bring a measure of continuity.
But more than scheme, Tucker is bent on implementing a work ethic that will reap the most out of every player. The Buffs, he promised, will be a relentless, physical team on both sides of the ball.
"You're going to see a team that has a tremendous foundation," Tucker said. "First and foremost, we will be best conditioned. In order to win big, you've got to play harder and longer. We will be technically sound and fundamentally sound. It's not just about the Xs and Os. We'll always be able to rely on our technique and fundamentals, on both sides of the ball and on special teams. We will play smart. We won't beat ourselves. We'll be able to come through in the clutch, in the red zone, short-yardage, goal line, two minute, all of those critical areas. We'll play fast. How do you play fast? You recruit fast players, first and foremost. Players play fastest when they know what to do. Our players will know what to do and they will play fast."
And, he vowed, the Buffs will be a team that leaves a lasting impression on the opponent. To illustrate that, he remembered his first visit to Folsom Field as a player in 1994, when he came to Boulder with the 10th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers and left with a 55-17 loss.
"I remember vividly how dominant Colorado football was at that time," he said. ""It was a team that you didn't want to play. That is a team that we are going to have. We want to have a team that changes the way people think. When it is all said and done and when they leave the field, we want them to think, 'We never want to play here again.' That is the team we had here in the early '90s. It is very, very possible. This is a no excuse program as of right now."
Tucker arrived Wednesday afternoon, but has already clearly gathered a lay of the land. He has met with university officials, met with his team, toured the facilities and is meeting with current staffers.
After just 24 hours, he had only one remaining question:
"As you walk through the facilities and you meet the people here, the leadership in place here, the question that comes to mind is: why not us? Why not the University of Colorado? Why not the Buffs? Why not CU? There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to compete at a championship level and win championships. It's been done here before. This is a great place. It's a great University, great tradition, great facilities. The time is now."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu