BOULDER – On the 25th anniversary of “The Miracle at Michigan,” Mel Tucker sat in his office on a spectacular autumn morning, with 24-karat sunshine streaming through a huge window that frames a million-dollar view of Folsom Field, when the new CU coach suddenly spun around in his chair, startled by a happy blast from the Buffaloes’ glorious football past.
“Are you still harassing everybody here in Boulder?” said Kordell Stewart, offering me a handshake as he walked unannounced into Tucker’s office with the same big, athletic strides that made him famous as Slash.
“My, my, my,” I replied to Stewart, who heaved the football 70 yards in the air during the final seconds of the fourth quarter to beat Michigan 27-26 at the Big House on Sept. 24, 1994. “Itap Mr. Hail Mary. Twenty-five years to the day!”
Jumping up to greet his unexpected visitor, Tucker said: “Dang! Look who’s here. My day just keeps getting better and better! Whatap up, my man? Dang! Was that game against Michigan really 25 years ago?”
“Yes, and I was at least 30 pounds lighter,” confirmed Stewart, chuckling as he patted his stomach.
Happiness danced in the eyes of Tucker as he hugged Stewart. The 46-year-old former CU quarterback stood as confirmation why Tucker did the right thing by leaving Georgia and a sweet gig as a defensive coordinator in the mighty Southeastern Conference to take a job to rebuild the Buffs.
Guys like Stewart make Tucker 100 percent certain he can revive a program that has enjoyed only one winning season in the past 12 years. “The Miracle at Michigan” gives Tucker faith it won’t require a miracle to return the Buffs to the conversation when analysts predict conference champions and vote for the nation’s top teams.
Tucker knows first-hand how dominant CU football can be on the national stage. How? Well, here’s a fun fact to know and tell: A scant seven days prior to the “Miracle at Michigan,” Tucker ran onto Ralphie’s turf as a defensive back for the Wisconsin Badgers.
“Were you playing on that Wisconsin team that came to Colorado in ’94?” said Stewart, who honestly didn’t know he had squared off against Tucker on the field. “We played, y’all? Really? What were you playing? Defense? You was, Coach? Really?”
Yes. Really. And 25 years later, the pain still lingers for Tucker.
“You guys blew our doors off,” Tucker confessed to Stewart.
The 10th-ranked Badgers were trampled by Ralphie under the lights of Folsom in September of ’94, losing 55-17 to Colorado, as members of the Wisconsin Alumni Association drowned their sorrow in 45 barrels of beer on the quad in front of the CU library, where hundreds of Cheeseheads unable to procure tickets to the game had gathered to watch the action on a big-screen television.
“You guys killed us,” Tucker said. “And I left the game in a boot. My ankle got rolled up … I think on special teams.”
“Sorry, man,” Stewart replied. “But I wasn’t sorry at the time.”
Stewart ticked off the names of future NFL players who were CU teammates that gave a merciless beatdown to the Badgers. The list was so long it was difficult not to forget somebody: Michael Westbrook, Rashaan Salaam, Rae Carruth, Christian Fauria, Matt Russell, Ted Johnson, Chris Hudson, Bryan Stoltenberg, Darius Holland …
“That was a heckuva CU team,” Tucker said. “You guys had a lot of dudes, man. Colorado had dudes everywhere. And thatap how you get it done. You stack the team with dudes that go on to play in the NFL.”
The conversation between the former Colorado quarterback and the new Buffs coach didn’t last long. Stewart had to run, with another appointment to keep.
“But I just wanted to walk in here to shock you, Coach. I knew you weren’t expecting to see me,” Stewart said on his way out the door.
“You just made my day, brother,” Tucker told Stewart. “You’re welcome here any time.”
After Stewart departed, Tucker made a little confession. The bruises of that 55-17 loss to Colorado 25 years ago have never completely faded, but also made him believe he could succeed when athletic director Rick George offered him a job.
“I’m looking out there, at the visitors’ sideline,” said Tucker, pointing out his office window at the field where he played for Wisconsin.
“Colorado, at that time, had a great football team. It was one of the best programs in America, hands down. And it had been that way for six or seven years. It was the gold standard for college football. There’s a rich tradition here. We have a national championship. Not a lot of schools can say that. We have a Heisman Trophy winner. Not a lot of schools can say that. Thorpe award winners … It goes on and on and on.”
But even more than CU football’s great tradition, know what has had an even deeper impact on Tucker?
The muscle memory of getting stomped by the Buffs in 1994.
“I try to forget about it,” said Tucker, laughing. “But muscle memories last a long time.”
