BOULDER — Midnight Mel was never more than a rental. We knew that from the minute he rolled in, another Midwest transplant who saw the mountains and reached for the sky.
“We are going to build it the right way, because if you build it the right way, that means you can sustain it,” Mel Tucker said Dec. 6, 2018, as he was introduced to CU Buffs fans at the Champions Center. “This is a no-excuse program as of right now.”
This is a no-coach program as of Wednesday morning.
Midnight Mel charmed the pants off us. That might explain, in part, the mix of rage and sadness as the realization rose with the dawn.
We got played. All of us. CU, especially. The Buffs were a stepping stone. A leverage ploy.
Michigan State swooped in, waved a wad of Mike Gundy money in his face, and that was that. Fourteen months flew by in a blink, save for the last five days, which felt more like 50.