First Year Colorado Head Coach Mel Tucker Expresses Frustration over Perception Problem – “What has Nebraska done?”

Mel Tucker is frustrated and he wants you to know that. The first year Colorado head coach told The Denver Post that the Buffaloes have a perception problem when it comes to recruiting in-state athletes.

“There are in-state kids here who don’t care a thing about CU, so it’s a sell job,” Tucker told The Denver Post. “It’s like, you’ve got to win games before they’ll even consider you. I’ve been through that before, that’s just how it is.”

In Tucker’s mind, Nebraska has done a better job of selling their brand not just in the Cornhusker state, but across  borders as well.

There are kids right now that you (ask), ‘Well, who are your top guys?’ And they’ll say, ‘Nebraska.’ And you look and say, ‘Well, what has Nebraska done?’ But in their mind, that’s like way, way better than CU.”

NU lost eight games last season, including a 33-28 loss to the Buffaloes at Memorial Stadium in Scott Frost’s first official game in charge of the Big Red. However, Nebraska won four of their last six games to finish their season on a strong foot. Colorado on the other hand suffered a collapse, losing the final seven games of the year after a 5-0 start to the season. Head coach Mike MacIntyre was fired and the Buffaloes turned to Tucker, the defensive backs coach from the University of Georgia.

Nebraska is having no problem recruiting Colorado. The Huskers currently have 10 players that played for a Colorado high school on their roster, including Valor Christian QB, Luke McCaffrey.

“I don’t negative recruit, so I never talk about another school to a kid,” Tucker said. “But there’s a perception here, obviously, that they have a more relevant program … but you know, winning solves all that.”

The Huskers are set to play Colorado on September 7th in Boulder. KLIN will have full coverage of the game, starting five hours before opening kick.

(Photo – Kenny Larabee)