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Playing for high stakes

New Browns defensive coordinator praised for his people skills

By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Tuesday, Feb 05, 2008

In the spring of 1995, a serious case of chicken pox ended Mel Tucker's playing career not long after he signed with the Canadian Football League.

While trying to find another goal to pursue just as passionately, the future Browns defensive coordinator paid the bills by selling steaks door to door.

''Mel would talk often that he picked up his recruiting persistence and organization and effort from his experience selling steaks,'' Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. ''If you can sell steaks door to door, you can sell Ohio State.''

Tressel was one of two coaches who hired Tucker almost sight unseen. The other was the Browns' Romeo Crennel, who had not previously met Tucker when he interviewed the then-Ohio State co-defensive coordinator in early 2005.

Three years later, Crennel fired Todd Grantham and promoted defensive backs coach Tucker to help him bolster the league's 30th-ranked defense. On Jan. 12, Tucker, 36, became Cleveland's youngest defensive coordinator, beating out Marty Schottenheimer by just under four months.

An All-Ohio selection at Cleveland Heights High School, Tucker used to ride
the bus to Browns games and remembers his dad holding him aloft so he could see a big run by Greg Pruitt. Now he'll try to turn his favorite team into a playoff contender.

''Getting an opportunity like this right here in my hometown and growing up as a Browns fan, it's incredible,'' Tucker said last week. ''It's one of those things you can only dream about. You dream about playing for the Browns; I wasn't fast enough to pull a hamstring, so that wasn't possible. But to be able to coach for the Browns. . . . I'm excited about it and so is my family.''

His parents, Mel Sr. and Brenda, who live in University Heights, and brothers Rhys and Jordan will cheer loud and long for the Browns and Mel, whom they call ''Rocky'' or ''Rock.''

''When the baby was born and they put that sock on his head and the way his jaws were with the pacifier, he looked like Rocky the Flying Squirrel,'' Mel Sr. said last week. ''I loved that cartoon.''

What most people love about Tucker is the way he connects with them. Tressel said high school coaches who came to Columbus to study the Buckeyes would start calling Tucker not long after they left. Ex-OSU cornerback Dustin Fox said Tucker gave him advice before he got married and he still talks to him at least monthly.

''Mel is always there for you. He's a great communicator and a great listener,'' Tressel said. ''People like those who are willing to listen.''

Fox said he and Ohio State teammates Donte Whitner and Ashton Youboty, all now with the Buffalo Bills, have a special relationship with Tucker.

''He made a huge impact on our lives, and I'm sure he'll continue to do that at this level,'' said Fox, a standout safety at GlenOak High School. ''His passion for the game, the way he relates to players, he really cares about us. I'd do anything for that guy.

''You can't find a former player to say anything bad about him, even if they were cut by him. When I was released by Philadelphia, I worked out with some guys released by the Browns, and they loved coach Tucker. I don't think I could ever have made the switch to cornerback if it wasn't for him. He knew the right things to say to me to build up my confidence.''

Brenda Tucker believes her son's gift comes from growing up around adults — her boys were born about nine years apart. (Rhys now works at Bedford Municipal Court and Jordan is a freshman baseball player at Walsh University.) Young Rocky participated in backgammon tournaments with his parents' friends, who couldn't wait to get him back for beating them.

''Rocky was supposed to be an only child. The other two were surprises,'' Brenda said. ''We lived in an apartment that didn't have too many children. He always had an adult mentality, wanted to see what made people tick.

''His father would always go the extra mile; I'm sure Rocky got that from him. (Mel Sr.) coached Little League for 15 years and one summer, the team didn't win a game. But the parents loved him. He got all kinds of gifts when the season was over.''

Mel Sr. and Brenda took Rocky everywhere, even on a cruise when he was 3.

''The workers in the cafeteria were spoon-feeding him,'' Mel Sr. said. ''He was always able to make his own friends. He was always respectful. His mother talked to him about treating people right.

''We'll be at his house and the phone will ring and it's one of his players from Ohio State and you hear him say, 'Are you saving your money?' Their parents will call him and ask how to go about things and he takes time to tell them. He helps kids get in school.''

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who worked with Tucker at Ohio State and at MSU, said the volume of calls Tucker receives from ex-players is ''the mark of a great coach.''

''One of my goals is to have former players call me; that counts more than wins and losses,'' Dantonio said. ''That shows how many people you've impacted in your life.

''You can be around Mel for a very short time, but you feel like you've known him for a long time. He's a person who's very easy to like. He's very light and humorous, but can also be very serious, but it comes across without being threatening. That's very important in a leader at any level.

''Players want to play for him and give their best.''

Career plans

Mel Sr. remembers Rocky's steak-selling days, when his career as a defensive back at the University of Wisconsin was over and he didn't know what to do next.

''He had a two-year contract with the Canadian League but he got chicken pox and they cut him,'' Mel Sr. said. ''He started running for pro teams. He went to Ohio State when they had all those All-Americans, Shawn Springs. I took him to Central State when they had the pro scouts there. He realized he was tired of doing that.''

So the two had what Mel Sr. calls ''that talk.'' They sat at the kitchen table until 2 or 3 in the morning discussing his future.

''He went upstairs and you could hear him sobbing,'' Mel Sr. said. ''But he never looked back. He sent out letters to all the coaches he knew to (become) a graduate assistant.''

The first to respond was then-Michigan State coach Nick Saban, who had recruited Tucker to play at Toledo. Tucker drove to East Lansing in a snowstorm.

''Nick asked him, 'Why in the world would you want to become a coach?' '' Mel Sr. said. ''Rock said, 'When I walked up to this facility and I heard a coach's whistle, I knew I was where I was supposed to be.' ''

Tucker spent 1997 and '98 at Michigan State. Then the late Terry Hoeppner gave him his first job as defensive backs coach at Miami University in 1999. Saban hired him again in 2000 for the same position at LSU.

Tressel was looking for a secondary coach in 2001, and Dantonio, then OSU's defensive coordinator, recommended Tucker because they had worked together at Michigan State.

''We were not going to get an interview with Mel unless we had a position because he had a great job,'' Tressel said. ''He had Ohio ties, he'd worked with Mark Dantonio's system and knew what we were doing defensively. When we met, you could tell immediately he was the right guy.''

Crennel impressed

Crennel brought in Tucker under similar circumstances in 2005. Crennel said he had heard of Tucker from an agent, a coach and General Manager Phil Savage, whom Tucker said he met in a hallway at Michigan State.

''I didn't know him from Adam when I met him,'' Crennel said of Tucker. ''But I was impressed with him after he walked out the door from the interview.

''He was energetic, he was organized and he had a plan. He had a football plan as well as a life plan. What he wants to do with it, how to live, the things he thinks are important on a daily basis to make him the best he can be.''

Mel Sr. believes Crennel recognized his son's loyalty.

''Loyalty is one of Rock's strong suits,'' Mel Sr. said. ''And he really knows the game. After that first year, he'd become pretty close to Romeo.''

Tressel said, ''It must be obvious to the Browns that he's a good communicator and a good team builder. He has earned his way by his performance.''

With many top-flight NFL coordinators becoming coaches, Fox is excited about what lies ahead for Tucker.

''One day, he'll be a head coach,'' Fox said. ''If the Browns do well defensively, he could be a head coach next year. I hope he gets to touch more people's lives like he has us.''

 

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.

 

In the spring of 1995, a serious case of chicken pox ended Mel Tucker's playing career not long after he signed with the Canadian Football League.

Get the full article here.


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