Michigan State University Athletics
Mel Tucker Press Conference Coverage
9/17/2020 6:52:00 PM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Following the Big Ten Conference's announcement on Wednesday that the 2020 football season would begin the weekend of Oct. 23-24, Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker answered questions from the media for 30 minutes on Thursday afternoon.
The Spartans will hold workouts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before starting practice on Monday in preparation for the season. The team has been in the midst of a strength and conditioning program that began on Aug. 12, the day after the Big Ten postponed the season.
Below is a transcript from the call:
Opening statement...
Thank you all for joining us. I really appreciate your support, everything that we do here, you know we need your help. You guys are a big part of Michigan State football, and just how we go about our business. So, I really appreciate what you do, I know that you are busy just like I am and have a lot of challenges, and so I respect that.
I'm just very excited to get going for our players and for our staff and for our families, our university, our fans, and all of our supporters. I want to thank the Big Ten Medical Task Force for all the work that they've done to help us get to this point. We have always said from the beginning that we want to play in the worst way, but we wanted to make sure that the safety and well-being of our student-athletes, staff, administrators were at the forefront and that was the most important thing. And so, we've had new information. And I was thankful for our president, our (Big Ten) presidents, to re-visit the issue, and based upon information from our medical folks, the (Big Ten) presidents feel like and everyone feels like it is safe for us to proceed and play. And so we're very excited about that.
Our players have been working relentlessly since the postponement. I think maybe the postponement was on Tuesday and our players were back in the weight room on 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. We've gotten a good, solid, probably five weeks of running and lifting, and we're actually in better condition now than we were when we started camp previously before postponements. So, I'm just excited to get going, and I am just looking forward to getting back out on the grass with our guys. So with that, I'm ready to open up for questions. Thank you so much.
On when playing in the fall started to become a reality...
Within the last week, it was brought to my attention that this could be a possibility. We, as a coaching staff, we had a series of different plans on the coaching side up, and also with our strength and conditioning program, relative to potential start dates. And so when we got the news that we were starting up, we just began to implement that particular plan.
On the process of preparing the team these last few months...
Yes, it's been very different. Different than anything that I've ever experienced, but you know, what we've what learned during this process of COVID is that you really have to take it one day at a time. And we always knew that we wanted to play. We always knew at some point that we would be able to play; we just didn't know exactly when. But when that time did come when the time was right, we wanted to be ready. So we always operate on information that we do have. And then, based on information that we had on that day we tried to get it right that day, with whatever we're doing. And our attitudes of our coaching staff and our players have been great. And we've worked really hard to connect and communicate with our players to give them the most up to date information. Since mid-June, we've had seven Zoom meetings were all of the parents, and I believe that has helped quite a bit, just to make sure that everyone's on the same page, and the lines of communication have been open constantly.
On how the team has dealt with social injustice and mental health issues during these times...
Communication, education and resources are what we've talked about you know all summer, and so we really worked hard to connect with our players to support our players. We've had several meetings with all of our players. So guys can express how they feel about things, all of our players, and also the coaches express how they feel about social injustice and the things that have transpired over the spring and summer. And just by doing that, and making sure that the players know that we're supporting them that has gone a lot that has gone a long way, I believe. And then, not only just that, but also some of the initiatives that we've implemented in terms of the education and the resources that we have provided, because our players want action, not just statements and words. And so, there's been quite a bit of programming. I know Bill (Beekman) talked about that quite a bit, previously, but there's been quite a bit of programming on our side with our team, guest speakers and things of that nature, whether it's mental health, financial literacy, civil engagement, all of those things, all those people, and those discussions have really empower our players, educate our players, and they know that they have a platform. They know that we're going to support them. And, they all know where asked where I stand, because you can't lead a team if your team doesn't know where you stand. And I have communicated that on several occasions to our players, and it's a constant daily dialogue. My door is always open. I feel really good about how we've dealt with this, and how we can communicate with our players, but it's a work in progress. It's a daily process, and it's something that we're going to continue to work on daily.
On players who had opted out now possibly reconsidering and opting back in...
I don't have any updates today, but obviously within the next few days, that will all shake out, and if there are any opt outs, that should be settled here probably within the next few days or so, and we'll know more then, but my stance has not changed, we're going to support our players regardless whether they opt in or they've opted out. Everyone has a different circumstance, and we respect that and we're supporting our players 100 percent with whatever they decide to do.
On being the head coach since February, but not had a proper run up to a normal season, and how much he feels like he knows about this team and its capabilities and how much still need to learn about them...
I learn something new every day. Just working hard to connect with our players, and also with coaches that I haven't gone through a season with before, and so it's a process of getting to know everything and there's still a lot of evaluation that needs to take place on the football field, but the things that I do know is that we've got a great bunch of guys that are high character guys that love football, that like to work hard, they love what we're doing in the weight room, they've embraced our new coaching staff and our schemes, offense, defense and special teams, and they're excited to play. So we'll continue to evaluate as we get on the practice field, and we'll get to know our players better and better every day.
On using this time as a benefit to get to know players better, get everything installed and having guys understand things better...
We just want to make the most of all of the opportunities that we have, whether it's in season or out of season, or if we're playing or not, and we've taken full advantage of the time that we've had. We've put our players right back in the weight room with (strength & conditioning head coach) Coach Novak and his staff with strength and conditioning, running and lifting and they've embraced that. We feel like our team is in better condition than they were five weeks ago. And that's been a positive and then we've continued to reach out and connect with our players and with their parents and keeping them up to date, keeping them engaged and let them know that you know we're here for them and we care about them. Now obviously, academics is a part of what we're what we're doing now, players now have an academic load as well as an athletic load and balancing those two. And so we're supporting them every way that we can. I've been really, really impressed and proud of our coaching staff and our administration, with our team doctors and our trainers; everyone's been just really focused on the student-athlete and their well-being, and we work really hard to be on the same page and be aligned and always keep the student-athlete front and center. President Stanley, a couple of days ago, got on a call with the players and the parents and expressed his views about returning to play, and how he felt and the excitement and anticipation that he had, and he felt like he was in a good place and we were in a good place here at Michigan State in terms of moving forward. So, we've been completely aligned from President Stanley all the way down, and that has helped our players as well, knowing that we're all on the same page with their health and well-being always remaining in the forefront.
On Athletic Director Bill Beekman addressing the uncertainty that's ahead with moving forward with the football season and with the uncertainty of moving forward...
Yes, the uncertainty is part of the norm, and I believe you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And so we deal with it day-by-day as things come, we don't try to get into the hypotheticals of 'what if this' or 'what if that,' and those scenarios, we take them as they come, we have protocols in place that we feel are tremendous, and we trust our medical folks, and we're going to follow our protocols to the best of our ability; behavior modification is something that we talk about constantly with our players, and then we're going to move forward boldly and be ready to adapt and change and adjust as needed going throughout this season.
On timeline for resuming practices and what the schedule will look like until the start of the season...
Today and tomorrow we're going to lift, we're going to run, we're going to do some conditioning by position, we're also going to do some 11-on-11 formation recognition work, and then we're going to do some 7-on-7, and the offensive and defensive line will obviously have more time with their position coaches while we're doing 7-on-7. On Saturday, we plan on having a film session, and really an extensive kind of stretch and flexibility and kind of a recovery type of workout. Then we're going to do some walk-throughs and then they're going to have Sunday off. Then Monday, we'll start with what would be somewhat of a more normal football practice. And then maybe sometime Saturday afternoon, maybe after we work out, we'll be having another Zoom meeting with our players and our parents. That will make it the eighth meeting that we've had with the parents, and we're going to lay out our plan moving forward on how we plan on practicing, how we've been ramping our guys up. We believe in using all of the exercise science that we have, we have people in place that monitor our player loads and use our Catapult GPS units and things like that so we have a plan for player loads for week one, starting next Monday, and then the following week, we'll increase the load. Then the next two weeks before game week, we will be at probably a full normal player load for practices, which will prepare us for a solid game week preparation and where our guys will be in shape and ready to go for game day.
On not feeling relief, but feeling the opportunity to forge ahead to get that real excitement going for a season now...
Yes, I'm really excited about the season. I'm excited that our fans will get a chance to enjoy Spartan football again, even though they won't be in the stadium. They'll still be able to support us and see what we have. Our plan is to put our best foot forward week in and week out. I don't believe in relief, that's just not part of something that I believe in, even though we haven't had the green light to play, every day there's work to be done on the football side of it. So we've been super busy, connecting with our players and team, continuing to develop our schemes, offense, defense and special teams; working with our medical folks, tightening and working on our protocols and making sure that we're aligned there. We knew that at some point that we will have an opportunity to play, we just didn't know when it would be, so once we got the green light, then we really kind of flipped into that mode. But there was really no element of relief, so to speak.
On if the team's schedule changed at all this week…
Previously, we planned to have some 7-on-7s Thursday and Friday; we just added the Saturday workout, based upon the announcement yesterday. We haven't changed very much this week at all. Obviously, next week's plan has changed, but that was pretty much already in the books, we just had to pull it out when the announcement came. There's been very few modifications for this week.
My understanding is that Sept. 30 is when we will have an opportunity to put the pads on.
On the recruiting dead period extended to Jan. 1…
Well, it's really just a continuation of what we been doing all along. We have a strategy in place to recruit the best players based upon the circumstances that we have and the parameters that we're working under. So we'll continue to do those things that we've done to secure the commitments that we have up until this point, and always working to get better and adapt and change based upon what we need to do to service those players and their parents to make sure that they get all the information that they need to make an informed decision, which is a huge decision for them. We're just going to continue to work our process.
On the mental health aspect of the COVID-19 situation for the players, and how much work the team did on the field back in August before the season was postponed…
Since the postponement, our players have primarily been with our strength and conditioning staff, lifting and running, and doing change of direction and things like that. That's what's been taking place the last four and a half, five weeks. We're going to start some 7-on-7s, today and tomorrow, and then we'll start what looks like a normal type of football practice on Monday.
The mental health of our players is something that we talk to them about. We've had mental health practitioners talk to our players as a team. We have tremendous resources here at Michigan State with mental health practitioners that are available to our players to make sure that we know how to get our players to those professionals when need be. The players know what resources are available. We understand that that is an issue, and we work hard to address it, because the safety, the health, and the well-being of our student-athletes is our No. 1 concern.
Before that (postponement), I think we might have got four or five practices in, I can't remember exactly how many we got in, but prior to the start of "camp" so to speak, we were getting in some conditioning by position in and some field work and things like that.
On having a level approach during this pandemic…
I just believe in "neutral thinking," not getting too high, not getting too low, just taking things how they come. Really focusing on what the facts are and what is the truth, and then taking that information and deciding based upon what I know right now, what do I need to do next? And how can we get it right today? And that's the approach that I take to everything. It's important for me to be consistent, in my demeanor, and in my approach, so that my staff and my players know exactly what they're going to get from me, day in and day out. That's important, because I think that the coaching staff is a reflection of the head coach, and the players will feed off of the coaching staff and will reflect the coaching staff. If we're very deliberate and process oriented, and stay neutral as a staff, then that should carry over to our players, and it's just a mentality of "play the next play." The most important play is the next play. It doesn't matter what happened on the last play. Don't look at the scoreboard, just continue to execute and focus on the process, and the outcome will take care of itself.
The Spartans will hold workouts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before starting practice on Monday in preparation for the season. The team has been in the midst of a strength and conditioning program that began on Aug. 12, the day after the Big Ten postponed the season.
Below is a transcript from the call:
Opening statement...
Thank you all for joining us. I really appreciate your support, everything that we do here, you know we need your help. You guys are a big part of Michigan State football, and just how we go about our business. So, I really appreciate what you do, I know that you are busy just like I am and have a lot of challenges, and so I respect that.
I'm just very excited to get going for our players and for our staff and for our families, our university, our fans, and all of our supporters. I want to thank the Big Ten Medical Task Force for all the work that they've done to help us get to this point. We have always said from the beginning that we want to play in the worst way, but we wanted to make sure that the safety and well-being of our student-athletes, staff, administrators were at the forefront and that was the most important thing. And so, we've had new information. And I was thankful for our president, our (Big Ten) presidents, to re-visit the issue, and based upon information from our medical folks, the (Big Ten) presidents feel like and everyone feels like it is safe for us to proceed and play. And so we're very excited about that.
Our players have been working relentlessly since the postponement. I think maybe the postponement was on Tuesday and our players were back in the weight room on 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. We've gotten a good, solid, probably five weeks of running and lifting, and we're actually in better condition now than we were when we started camp previously before postponements. So, I'm just excited to get going, and I am just looking forward to getting back out on the grass with our guys. So with that, I'm ready to open up for questions. Thank you so much.
On when playing in the fall started to become a reality...
Within the last week, it was brought to my attention that this could be a possibility. We, as a coaching staff, we had a series of different plans on the coaching side up, and also with our strength and conditioning program, relative to potential start dates. And so when we got the news that we were starting up, we just began to implement that particular plan.
On the process of preparing the team these last few months...
Yes, it's been very different. Different than anything that I've ever experienced, but you know, what we've what learned during this process of COVID is that you really have to take it one day at a time. And we always knew that we wanted to play. We always knew at some point that we would be able to play; we just didn't know exactly when. But when that time did come when the time was right, we wanted to be ready. So we always operate on information that we do have. And then, based on information that we had on that day we tried to get it right that day, with whatever we're doing. And our attitudes of our coaching staff and our players have been great. And we've worked really hard to connect and communicate with our players to give them the most up to date information. Since mid-June, we've had seven Zoom meetings were all of the parents, and I believe that has helped quite a bit, just to make sure that everyone's on the same page, and the lines of communication have been open constantly.
On how the team has dealt with social injustice and mental health issues during these times...
Communication, education and resources are what we've talked about you know all summer, and so we really worked hard to connect with our players to support our players. We've had several meetings with all of our players. So guys can express how they feel about things, all of our players, and also the coaches express how they feel about social injustice and the things that have transpired over the spring and summer. And just by doing that, and making sure that the players know that we're supporting them that has gone a lot that has gone a long way, I believe. And then, not only just that, but also some of the initiatives that we've implemented in terms of the education and the resources that we have provided, because our players want action, not just statements and words. And so, there's been quite a bit of programming. I know Bill (Beekman) talked about that quite a bit, previously, but there's been quite a bit of programming on our side with our team, guest speakers and things of that nature, whether it's mental health, financial literacy, civil engagement, all of those things, all those people, and those discussions have really empower our players, educate our players, and they know that they have a platform. They know that we're going to support them. And, they all know where asked where I stand, because you can't lead a team if your team doesn't know where you stand. And I have communicated that on several occasions to our players, and it's a constant daily dialogue. My door is always open. I feel really good about how we've dealt with this, and how we can communicate with our players, but it's a work in progress. It's a daily process, and it's something that we're going to continue to work on daily.
On players who had opted out now possibly reconsidering and opting back in...
I don't have any updates today, but obviously within the next few days, that will all shake out, and if there are any opt outs, that should be settled here probably within the next few days or so, and we'll know more then, but my stance has not changed, we're going to support our players regardless whether they opt in or they've opted out. Everyone has a different circumstance, and we respect that and we're supporting our players 100 percent with whatever they decide to do.
On being the head coach since February, but not had a proper run up to a normal season, and how much he feels like he knows about this team and its capabilities and how much still need to learn about them...
I learn something new every day. Just working hard to connect with our players, and also with coaches that I haven't gone through a season with before, and so it's a process of getting to know everything and there's still a lot of evaluation that needs to take place on the football field, but the things that I do know is that we've got a great bunch of guys that are high character guys that love football, that like to work hard, they love what we're doing in the weight room, they've embraced our new coaching staff and our schemes, offense, defense and special teams, and they're excited to play. So we'll continue to evaluate as we get on the practice field, and we'll get to know our players better and better every day.
On using this time as a benefit to get to know players better, get everything installed and having guys understand things better...
We just want to make the most of all of the opportunities that we have, whether it's in season or out of season, or if we're playing or not, and we've taken full advantage of the time that we've had. We've put our players right back in the weight room with (strength & conditioning head coach) Coach Novak and his staff with strength and conditioning, running and lifting and they've embraced that. We feel like our team is in better condition than they were five weeks ago. And that's been a positive and then we've continued to reach out and connect with our players and with their parents and keeping them up to date, keeping them engaged and let them know that you know we're here for them and we care about them. Now obviously, academics is a part of what we're what we're doing now, players now have an academic load as well as an athletic load and balancing those two. And so we're supporting them every way that we can. I've been really, really impressed and proud of our coaching staff and our administration, with our team doctors and our trainers; everyone's been just really focused on the student-athlete and their well-being, and we work really hard to be on the same page and be aligned and always keep the student-athlete front and center. President Stanley, a couple of days ago, got on a call with the players and the parents and expressed his views about returning to play, and how he felt and the excitement and anticipation that he had, and he felt like he was in a good place and we were in a good place here at Michigan State in terms of moving forward. So, we've been completely aligned from President Stanley all the way down, and that has helped our players as well, knowing that we're all on the same page with their health and well-being always remaining in the forefront.
On Athletic Director Bill Beekman addressing the uncertainty that's ahead with moving forward with the football season and with the uncertainty of moving forward...
Yes, the uncertainty is part of the norm, and I believe you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And so we deal with it day-by-day as things come, we don't try to get into the hypotheticals of 'what if this' or 'what if that,' and those scenarios, we take them as they come, we have protocols in place that we feel are tremendous, and we trust our medical folks, and we're going to follow our protocols to the best of our ability; behavior modification is something that we talk about constantly with our players, and then we're going to move forward boldly and be ready to adapt and change and adjust as needed going throughout this season.
On timeline for resuming practices and what the schedule will look like until the start of the season...
Today and tomorrow we're going to lift, we're going to run, we're going to do some conditioning by position, we're also going to do some 11-on-11 formation recognition work, and then we're going to do some 7-on-7, and the offensive and defensive line will obviously have more time with their position coaches while we're doing 7-on-7. On Saturday, we plan on having a film session, and really an extensive kind of stretch and flexibility and kind of a recovery type of workout. Then we're going to do some walk-throughs and then they're going to have Sunday off. Then Monday, we'll start with what would be somewhat of a more normal football practice. And then maybe sometime Saturday afternoon, maybe after we work out, we'll be having another Zoom meeting with our players and our parents. That will make it the eighth meeting that we've had with the parents, and we're going to lay out our plan moving forward on how we plan on practicing, how we've been ramping our guys up. We believe in using all of the exercise science that we have, we have people in place that monitor our player loads and use our Catapult GPS units and things like that so we have a plan for player loads for week one, starting next Monday, and then the following week, we'll increase the load. Then the next two weeks before game week, we will be at probably a full normal player load for practices, which will prepare us for a solid game week preparation and where our guys will be in shape and ready to go for game day.
On not feeling relief, but feeling the opportunity to forge ahead to get that real excitement going for a season now...
Yes, I'm really excited about the season. I'm excited that our fans will get a chance to enjoy Spartan football again, even though they won't be in the stadium. They'll still be able to support us and see what we have. Our plan is to put our best foot forward week in and week out. I don't believe in relief, that's just not part of something that I believe in, even though we haven't had the green light to play, every day there's work to be done on the football side of it. So we've been super busy, connecting with our players and team, continuing to develop our schemes, offense, defense and special teams; working with our medical folks, tightening and working on our protocols and making sure that we're aligned there. We knew that at some point that we will have an opportunity to play, we just didn't know when it would be, so once we got the green light, then we really kind of flipped into that mode. But there was really no element of relief, so to speak.
On if the team's schedule changed at all this week…
Previously, we planned to have some 7-on-7s Thursday and Friday; we just added the Saturday workout, based upon the announcement yesterday. We haven't changed very much this week at all. Obviously, next week's plan has changed, but that was pretty much already in the books, we just had to pull it out when the announcement came. There's been very few modifications for this week.
My understanding is that Sept. 30 is when we will have an opportunity to put the pads on.
On the recruiting dead period extended to Jan. 1…
Well, it's really just a continuation of what we been doing all along. We have a strategy in place to recruit the best players based upon the circumstances that we have and the parameters that we're working under. So we'll continue to do those things that we've done to secure the commitments that we have up until this point, and always working to get better and adapt and change based upon what we need to do to service those players and their parents to make sure that they get all the information that they need to make an informed decision, which is a huge decision for them. We're just going to continue to work our process.
On the mental health aspect of the COVID-19 situation for the players, and how much work the team did on the field back in August before the season was postponed…
Since the postponement, our players have primarily been with our strength and conditioning staff, lifting and running, and doing change of direction and things like that. That's what's been taking place the last four and a half, five weeks. We're going to start some 7-on-7s, today and tomorrow, and then we'll start what looks like a normal type of football practice on Monday.
The mental health of our players is something that we talk to them about. We've had mental health practitioners talk to our players as a team. We have tremendous resources here at Michigan State with mental health practitioners that are available to our players to make sure that we know how to get our players to those professionals when need be. The players know what resources are available. We understand that that is an issue, and we work hard to address it, because the safety, the health, and the well-being of our student-athletes is our No. 1 concern.
Before that (postponement), I think we might have got four or five practices in, I can't remember exactly how many we got in, but prior to the start of "camp" so to speak, we were getting in some conditioning by position in and some field work and things like that.
On having a level approach during this pandemic…
I just believe in "neutral thinking," not getting too high, not getting too low, just taking things how they come. Really focusing on what the facts are and what is the truth, and then taking that information and deciding based upon what I know right now, what do I need to do next? And how can we get it right today? And that's the approach that I take to everything. It's important for me to be consistent, in my demeanor, and in my approach, so that my staff and my players know exactly what they're going to get from me, day in and day out. That's important, because I think that the coaching staff is a reflection of the head coach, and the players will feed off of the coaching staff and will reflect the coaching staff. If we're very deliberate and process oriented, and stay neutral as a staff, then that should carry over to our players, and it's just a mentality of "play the next play." The most important play is the next play. It doesn't matter what happened on the last play. Don't look at the scoreboard, just continue to execute and focus on the process, and the outcome will take care of itself.
Monday, October 05
Saturday, October 03
Monday, September 28
Saturday, September 26