Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
“This was my dream” - True Blue Shane Tucker makes an early impact at his alma mater
4/6/2022 5:55:00 PM | Football
Former Blue Raider running back has taken over the MT wide receiver room
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — It was a good half hour after the end of practice, a solid 10 minutes after he finished up his first spring ball interview and even after most of the quarterbacks and wide receivers had already gone inside after their usual extra reps.
But two Blue Raiders, safety Deidrick Stanley II and tight end Taharin Sudderth, were breaking down their reps of the day's practice still, so Shane Tucker was still coaching. Sudderth trying to learn how to get separation from a safety in coverage, Stanley telling him what type of moves work and, more importantly, what kind of moves don't.
"Coach Shugg", a nickname taken from his playing days Blue Raiders the new wide receivers coach uses for his twitter handle, confirmed Stanley's suggestion, and then gave even more details to the young tight end.
"He's a stickler for the minor details," wideout Jaylin Lane said of Tucker just minutes before. "At first, it's like…aaaaahhhh. But in the long run, you see what he's talking about."
Those details, and the hard work it took to discover them, have helped propel Tucker into a full-time role with his alma mater, just five seasons after he stepped off the field for the last time as a Blue Raider player in the 2017 Camellia Bowl.
"I knew in my heart that this was the place I wanted to be," Tucker said. "This was my dream to be out here on the same fields that I matured and became a man. So it was always in my head to try to get back and be a college coach, a full-time guy."
For Rick Stockstill, seeing the type of player and worker Tucker was for him and the type of coach he'd been in his various stops over the past few years made bringing him into his offensive staff from Florida A&M a decision where he knew the type of coach Tucker could be.
"Shane's a good coach, he's a good person, I felt he was going to have a positive impact on the receivers," Stockstill said. "I knew what he was made of, I knew how hard he worked as a player, I saw how hard he worked as a graduate assistant. The people I talked to at the places he had been, in talking to them, I had a good idea of what I was getting."
Tucker was an excellent all-around skill player for Middle Tennessee from 2013-17, playing both running back and wide receiver for the Blue Raiders and serving as a team captain his redshirt senior season in 2017 while racking up over 1,100 rushing yards, 850 receiving yards and compiling 28 all-purpose touchdowns.
Shortly after graduation, he was already jumping into coaching, helping the strength and conditioning staff out at MT during spring ball of 2018. But when Nolan Genovese, a graduate assistant on the Blue Raiders' offensive staff, was hired as the offensive coordinator at Dodge City Community College, Tucker saw a chance to get first hand experience coaching early on in his post-playing career.
But coaching running backs and wide receivers wasn't all he did for the Conquistadors. Tucker designed workout plans as the strength and conditioning coach, washed uniforms as the equipment manager, helped set up the field for practice every day on his own.
"Being at Dodge, it was a humbling experience and it really allows you to see how everybody's job is important," Tucker said.
After two seasons at Dodge, Tucker came back home for the first time, serving as a GA on Stockstill's 2020 staff, where he worked primarily with the inside receivers. Tucker said that many of the guys we worked with, Lane, Bryce Bailey, Yusuf Ali among them, still are around the program, which made his transition even easier.
Tucker took his experience as a GA to get a full-time job with Austin Peay, where he coached the Governors' tight ends during their 2021 spring season, then joined former Stockstill assistant Willie Simmons' staff at Florida A&M, where he was the running backs coach for the Rattlers as they made the FCS Playoffs in 2021.
Tucker said he learned so much at every single stop along the way, but his heart was always back in Murfreesboro, even to how he kept in touch with Coach Stockstill before and after every game and how he reached out to Brent Stockstill for advice on coaching tight ends, a position he'd worked with at Florida Atlantic when he was a quality control analyst.
"Up until the day I got hired, I tried to work my butt off in every area that I could, when I was a strength coach, when I was an equipment manager, when I was running backs, receivers, it didn't matter," Tucker said. "I just tried to get better daily."
For his head coach that's now his boss, getting former lettermen like Tucker on staff has clearly been a priority. Tucker is the third former player under Stockstill to join the 2022 staff, after Brent Stockstill and Kenneth Gilstrap return from the 2021 team.
"I know how important coming back to your alma mater is as a coach," Rick Stockstill said. "I never had the opportunity. But I've seen people at other places. There's a special pride walking out here or out there on the practice field where you know you played here, this is your school. And now you're coaching, and you want these guys to understand and appreciate all of your sacrifices and that they'll take the same pride in playing that you did when you played here."
It's more than just school pride that makes having a former player like Tucker such an asset for the football staff. A native of Memphis, Tucker has great connections in that metro area for recruiting, to go along with a wide variety of coverage areas he's grown familiar with at past jobs (western Mississippi, southern Alabama, southeastern Florida, among others). But the fact he's been in these players' shoes as a Middle Tennessee football player can help him get the most out of them at times, there's no question.
"It's been good to have a familiar face back," Lane said of Tucker. "He's come in and he can relate to us really well, he does a great job with that."
Spring ball has been very busy for Tucker, with him helping install a new system under offensive coordinator Mitch Stewart, and transition Tucker is pleased with so far. But mostly, he's just been honored by the love shown for his return, and the chance to have his dream job so early on in his coaching career.
"It's really a dream come true," Tucker said, "to be able to coach the guys and be able to mentor them like so many great coaches did for me."
But two Blue Raiders, safety Deidrick Stanley II and tight end Taharin Sudderth, were breaking down their reps of the day's practice still, so Shane Tucker was still coaching. Sudderth trying to learn how to get separation from a safety in coverage, Stanley telling him what type of moves work and, more importantly, what kind of moves don't.
"Coach Shugg", a nickname taken from his playing days Blue Raiders the new wide receivers coach uses for his twitter handle, confirmed Stanley's suggestion, and then gave even more details to the young tight end.
"He's a stickler for the minor details," wideout Jaylin Lane said of Tucker just minutes before. "At first, it's like…aaaaahhhh. But in the long run, you see what he's talking about."
Those details, and the hard work it took to discover them, have helped propel Tucker into a full-time role with his alma mater, just five seasons after he stepped off the field for the last time as a Blue Raider player in the 2017 Camellia Bowl.
"I knew in my heart that this was the place I wanted to be," Tucker said. "This was my dream to be out here on the same fields that I matured and became a man. So it was always in my head to try to get back and be a college coach, a full-time guy."
For Rick Stockstill, seeing the type of player and worker Tucker was for him and the type of coach he'd been in his various stops over the past few years made bringing him into his offensive staff from Florida A&M a decision where he knew the type of coach Tucker could be.
"Shane's a good coach, he's a good person, I felt he was going to have a positive impact on the receivers," Stockstill said. "I knew what he was made of, I knew how hard he worked as a player, I saw how hard he worked as a graduate assistant. The people I talked to at the places he had been, in talking to them, I had a good idea of what I was getting."
Tucker was an excellent all-around skill player for Middle Tennessee from 2013-17, playing both running back and wide receiver for the Blue Raiders and serving as a team captain his redshirt senior season in 2017 while racking up over 1,100 rushing yards, 850 receiving yards and compiling 28 all-purpose touchdowns.
Shortly after graduation, he was already jumping into coaching, helping the strength and conditioning staff out at MT during spring ball of 2018. But when Nolan Genovese, a graduate assistant on the Blue Raiders' offensive staff, was hired as the offensive coordinator at Dodge City Community College, Tucker saw a chance to get first hand experience coaching early on in his post-playing career.
But coaching running backs and wide receivers wasn't all he did for the Conquistadors. Tucker designed workout plans as the strength and conditioning coach, washed uniforms as the equipment manager, helped set up the field for practice every day on his own.
"Being at Dodge, it was a humbling experience and it really allows you to see how everybody's job is important," Tucker said.
After two seasons at Dodge, Tucker came back home for the first time, serving as a GA on Stockstill's 2020 staff, where he worked primarily with the inside receivers. Tucker said that many of the guys we worked with, Lane, Bryce Bailey, Yusuf Ali among them, still are around the program, which made his transition even easier.
Tucker took his experience as a GA to get a full-time job with Austin Peay, where he coached the Governors' tight ends during their 2021 spring season, then joined former Stockstill assistant Willie Simmons' staff at Florida A&M, where he was the running backs coach for the Rattlers as they made the FCS Playoffs in 2021.
Tucker said he learned so much at every single stop along the way, but his heart was always back in Murfreesboro, even to how he kept in touch with Coach Stockstill before and after every game and how he reached out to Brent Stockstill for advice on coaching tight ends, a position he'd worked with at Florida Atlantic when he was a quality control analyst.
"Up until the day I got hired, I tried to work my butt off in every area that I could, when I was a strength coach, when I was an equipment manager, when I was running backs, receivers, it didn't matter," Tucker said. "I just tried to get better daily."
For his head coach that's now his boss, getting former lettermen like Tucker on staff has clearly been a priority. Tucker is the third former player under Stockstill to join the 2022 staff, after Brent Stockstill and Kenneth Gilstrap return from the 2021 team.
"I know how important coming back to your alma mater is as a coach," Rick Stockstill said. "I never had the opportunity. But I've seen people at other places. There's a special pride walking out here or out there on the practice field where you know you played here, this is your school. And now you're coaching, and you want these guys to understand and appreciate all of your sacrifices and that they'll take the same pride in playing that you did when you played here."
It's more than just school pride that makes having a former player like Tucker such an asset for the football staff. A native of Memphis, Tucker has great connections in that metro area for recruiting, to go along with a wide variety of coverage areas he's grown familiar with at past jobs (western Mississippi, southern Alabama, southeastern Florida, among others). But the fact he's been in these players' shoes as a Middle Tennessee football player can help him get the most out of them at times, there's no question.
"It's been good to have a familiar face back," Lane said of Tucker. "He's come in and he can relate to us really well, he does a great job with that."
Spring ball has been very busy for Tucker, with him helping install a new system under offensive coordinator Mitch Stewart, and transition Tucker is pleased with so far. But mostly, he's just been honored by the love shown for his return, and the chance to have his dream job so early on in his coaching career.
"It's really a dream come true," Tucker said, "to be able to coach the guys and be able to mentor them like so many great coaches did for me."
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