Michigan State took another swing and missed again when it came to trying to pry away a member of Cincinnati’s football staff.

New Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker attempted to land Cincinnati defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, but it failed, according to a report. Per 247Sports, Freeman declined the opportunity to join the Spartans staff in East Lansing, despite Tucker making a “significant push” to lure him away.

Freeman has been a member of Luke Fickell’s staff at Cincinnati since 2017, when Fickell took the job. Before that Freeman was the linebackers coach at Purdue from 2013-16. He played under Fickell at Ohio State from 2004-08.

Tucker has no struck out twice on attempting to hire staff members. Late last week, Tucker made a push to land Kentucky’s Vince Marrow, but he decided to remain in Lexington with Mark Stoops.

So far, Tucker has retained longtime Michigan State assistants Ron Burton and Mike Tressel from Mark Dantonio’s staff.