The US state of Michigan suspended soccer coach Mel Tucker without pay on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the allegations became public USA today report that he sexually assaulted activist and rape survivor Brenda Tracy during a phone call last year.
University President Teresa K. Woodruff and athletic director Alan Haller announced the suspension pending the results of an external investigation into the allegations.
The university hired a Title IX attorney to investigate Tracy’s complaint and the investigation was completed on July 25. A hearing is scheduled for the week of Oct. 5 to determine whether Tucker violated the school’s sexual harassment and exploitation policies.
When the investigative report was completed, Tucker was ordered to have no contact with Tracy and that Haller would increase his oversight of him and the program, Haller said at a news conference Sunday evening.
Haller said he did not immediately suspend Tucker in July because the entire investigative process was still ongoing.
Secondary coach Harlon Barnett will serve as the team’s interim coach and former coach Mark Dantonio has been named associate head coach while Tucker awaits his fate with the program.
“I called coach Dantonio this morning and his answer was, ‘Alan, whatever you need,’” Haller remembers.
Al Goldis via Associated Press
Tucker is a third-year, $95 million, 10-year contract and if he were fired for cause, the school would not have to pay him the balance of his contract.
The State of Michigan may fire Tucker for cause if he “engages in conduct that constitutes moral reprehensibility or would, in the sole discretion of the university, cause public disregard, contempt, or derision to be brought upon the university,” states in his contract. The school could also suspend Tucker without pay if he “materially violates his contract.”
Messages seeking comment were left Sunday by The Associated Press with Tucker, Tracy and Tucker’s attorney, Jennifer Belveal.
Tucker is the second Big Ten football coach in three months to find himself at the center of a scandal.
Northwestern fired longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald in July after a school investigation uncovered hazing in the football program. Fitzgerald was initially suspended for two weeks during the preseason, but Northwestern’s president later decided to fire him for cause after media reports revealed details of the hazing allegations.
Michigan State isn’t far removed from another sexual misconduct scandal involving former sports doctor Larry Nassar. He was convicted sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in 2018 after admitting to abusing some of the country’s top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment. He was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of women and girls.
“This morning’s news may sound like MSU of old,” Woodruff said. “It is not.”
Woodruff said today’s version of the school takes allegations seriously and investigates them thoroughly, while providing resources that didn’t exist in the past.
Tony Ding via Associated Press
Tracy became friends with Tucker about her advocacy, but that relationship took a turn for the worse in April 2022, according to USA Today, when Tucker masturbated during a phone conversation with her.
“The idea that someone could know me and say they understand my trauma, but then inflict that trauma on me again, is so repulsive to me that it’s hard for me to even come to terms with,” Tracy told the newspaper. “It’s as if he sought me out just to betray me.”
Tucker admitted to investigators last spring that he masturbated during the phone conversation with Tracy, but said they had consensual “phone sex.”
Tucker, 51, is married and has two children.
“MS. “Tracy’s distortion of our consensual and intimate relationship with allegations of sexual exploitation has really touched me,” Tucker wrote in a March 22 letter to the Title IX investigator. “I don’t pride myself on my judgment and it falls to me hard to forgive myself for getting myself into this situation, but by definition I did not commit any wrongdoing.”
The Spartans defeated Richmond on Saturday to improve to 2-0 in Tucker’s fourth season with the school. Tucker is one of the highest paid coaches in college football. He is 20-14 and played more than three seasons at Michigan State hired him after leading 5-7 in a year in Colorado.
Shortly after Dantonio retired in February 2020, then-athletic director Bill Beekman hired Tucker, who was a graduate assistant at Michigan State for Nick Saban.
The Spartans went 2-5 in Tucker’s first season, which was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and won 11 games in 2021, with Wake Forest transfer Kenneth Walker joining in a surprise season that saw Tucker get a raise. became a breakout star.
Michigan State was 5-7 in 2022, A season marked by accusations and suspensions for several players for their roles in a postgame altercation in the Michigan Stadium tunnel.
Tracy is known for her work with college teams to educate athletes about sexual violence. She has spoken to the Michigan State football team numerous times.
AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed to this report.
