Heights Alum Named Head Football Coach At Univ. Of Colorado

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — Former Heights High Tiger Mel Tucker has been named the head football coach of the University of Colorado Buffaloes.

Once the quarterback for Heights High, Tucker went on to the University of Wisconsin, where he was a four-year letterman as a defensive back. He went on to a long, two-decade coaching career with stops in both the NFL and venerable NCAA football institutions.

Tucker's first coaching gig was under Nick Saban at Michigan State in 1997. His first NFL coaching gig was in 2005 with, who else, the Cleveland Browns, the Denver Post reported.

In 2015, Tucker was an assistant coach for Saban's national title winning Alabama Crimson Tide. For the past two years, he was the defensive coordinator for the University of Georgia. Then, on Dec. 5, he was hired to lead Colorado.

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Tucker will earn $2.4 million next season, with raises of $275,000 each year of his five-year contract.

(Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)