After nearly a quarter-century of coaching, rivalries are hardly new to Mel Tucker.
And the one he’s now fully immersed in — Michigan State and Michigan — is not foreign, either. Tucker’s first coaching gig was as a graduate assistant for the Spartans under Nick Saban back in 1997 and ’98, and there was never any question as to how important that game was to the former MSU and current Alabama head coach.
So, Tucker has a fairly good handle on what it means when Michigan State heads to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan at noon on Saturday.