Mel Tucker had 1 job: Coach football games.

He didn’t even have to win games. Literally. Based on the terms of the 10-year, $95 million contract extension Tucker signed in 2021, Tucker could have lost every game and still would have been owed every cent.

Lose 10 straight games? 20? 30? 50?

That’s on Michigan State. They’d fire Tucker at some point, but he’d still be a very wealthy man as a result. Michigan State is the one that chose the investment and would pay the price for it going bust.

Michigan State had only 3 ways of voiding the deal.

Tucker either had to break the contract, be convicted of a crime, or partake in conduct which, “in the University’s reasonable judgment, would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule on the University.”

Seems like a pretty simple equation for $95 million, no?

In a world where people ask hypotheticals on the internet like, “You get $5 million, but you can never eat bacon again. Can you do it?” Tucker had a much easier task to accomplish for much more money.

Don’t get arrested. Heck, get arrested, as long as you’re acquitted. And don’t partake in conduct that will bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule on Michigan State University.

With an estimated $80 million remaining in his future bag, Tucker allegedly managed to fumble. He is now suspended pending the outcome of a Title IX hearing scheduled for Oct. 5-6.

Tucker is at the center of a complaint filed by sexual assault victim advocate Brenda Tracy, who accused Tucker of making sexually suggestive comments and masturbating during an April 2022 phone conversation between the two.

Tucker, who is married, has already admitted to investigators that the graphic conversation took place. He maintains it was consensual “phone sex.” Tracy, a rape victim who now speaks to football teams to raise awareness of sexual assault, says his advances were unwelcomed and unasked for.

The hearing, which is scheduled for Michigan State’s bye week, should mete out the full truth.

In theory, Tucker could still recover his fumble. Due process and such. But the optics are incredibly grim.

This is maybe even more true at Michigan State than most institutions.

The school turned a blind eye and deaf ear to the actions of notorious doctor Larry Nassar, a convicted serial sexual assaulter of underage victims. In the aftermath of that case, Michigan State paid a $500 million settlement to his hundreds of victims.

There are very few comparisons to the monstrous Nassar anywhere. But the subject of sexual assault is an extremely sensitive matter on the campus in the aftermath. That much was made obvious when interim Michigan State president Teresa K. Woodruff made repeated references to the “MSU of now” in the press conference announcing Tucker’s suspension.

Thus, Tucker should never coach another game with the Spartans. Having him represent the university — in particular this university — is untenable. The details we know already are enough to disqualify him from walking into a parent’s house and telling them he’s going to mold boys into fine young men.

The only question is whether MSU owes him the money remaining on his contract. And his legal team figures to have a heck of a battle maintaining that his actions didn’t already cause Michigan State to experience “public disrespect, contempt or ridicule.”

It’s truly lamentable how foolish all of this is.

Michigan State’s gargantuan guaranteed contract extension goes down as an all-time gaffe if Tucker is vindicated of a Title IX violation. The Spartans can’t possibly bring him back, but they’ll still owe him the money.

And if the evidence sinks Tucker, he will be immortalized as one of the all-time idiots in coaching history. He might lead the pack of stupidest actions to ever get a coach fired.

Kelvin Sampson texting recruits? Mike Price going on a bender with strippers before coaching a game at Alabama? George O’Leary fired from Notre Dame for lying on his resume? Hugh Freeze canned at Ole Miss for calling escorts on his university cell phone?

They all pale in comparison.

Tucker is accused of violating a person who has made eliminating all variety of such actions her life’s crusade. He’s innocent until proven guilty. But if that is in fact what he did, it is a truly unspeakable act.

Legally and morally, Michigan State is obligated to let that process play out as scheduled next month. But regardless of how it turns out, the answer is already clear — Mel Tucker has coached his final game with the Spartans. There can be no other way.