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Michigan State is preparing to offer Spartans head coach Mel Tucker a 10-year, $95 million extension that would make him the second-highest paid football coach in the nation, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

The “Inside the Locker Room” podcast also reported the impending deal, adding that MSU alums Mat Ishbia and Steve St. Andre are donating the private funding for the extension.



Tucker, 49, would be No. 2 nationally behind only Alabama’s Nick Saban, per the USA Today salary database. Tucker would pass Penn State James Franklin for tops in the Big Ten, per the database.

Further, only three NFL coaches (Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Sean Payton) would be making more than Tucker once the deal is consummated. It would also make Tucker the highest paid Black coach in all of American sports, passing Stanford’s David Shaw. Mike Tomlin is the highest paid Black coach in the NFL at $8 million.

Big-Time Raise

Tucker’s current salary of $5.632 million is fourth in the conference and 13th nationally, per USA Today.

Tucker is 11-6 as Spartans head coach in just shy of two full seasons. He went 5-7 in one year at Colorado before leaving for East Lansing.

The Spartans (9-1) are No. 7 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

Taking the Spartans from afterthought to a Top 10 team this season made Tucker the odds-on favorite to become the new head coach at LSU, which is parting ways with Ed Orgeron at season’s end.

Tucker being linked to LSU was a catalyst for the new deal, per the Free Press report.

Ishbia is chairman, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage The former Sparty basketball walk-on also donated $32 million in February toward a new football facility. St. Andre is the founder of marketing firm Shift Digital.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)