Both ESPN and USA today put out stories this evening on Mel Tucker.
Way more regarding this at the USA Today link.
Be warned that some of the details in the USA today piece may be difficult for some to read.
Espn:
Two years ago, one of the nation’s star college football coaches and a prominent rape survivor teamed up to fight the culture of sexual violence in sports.
Their partnership should have been a force for good. Instead, it has devolved into scandal, with the activist accusing the coach of the same misconduct that both of them preached against.
The accused is Mel Tucker, the head football coach at Michigan State University and one of the highest paid coaches in all of sports. Accusing him is Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor who has made educating athletes about sexual violence her life’s work.
Over eight months, they developed a professional relationship centered on her advocacy work. Tucker invited Tracy to campus three times – twice to speak to his players and staff and once to be recognized as an honorary captain at the team's spring football game.
But their relationship was upended during a phone call on April 28, 2022, Tracy says in a complaint she filed with the university’s Title IX office in December that remains under investigation.
According to her complaint, Tracy sat frozen for several minutes while Tucker made sexual comments about her and masturbated. His violation, she said, reopened 25-year-old wounds from her rape by four men – three Oregon State University football players and a high school recruit.
“The idea that someone could know me and say they understand my trauma but then re-inflict that trauma on me is so disgusting to me, it’s hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” she told USA TODAY. “It’s like he sought me out just to betray me.”
In his statements to the Title IX investigator, Tucker acknowledged masturbating on the call but said Tracy grossly mischaracterized the episode. According to him, they had consensual “phone sex.”
“Ms. Tracy’s distortion of our mutually consensual and intimate relationship into allegations of sexual exploitation has really affected me,” Tucker wrote in a March 22 letter to the investigator. “I am not proud of my judgment and I am having difficulty forgiving myself for getting into this situation, but I did not engage in misconduct by any definition.
Tracy says Tucker is following through on a threat to ruin her career and reputation by painting her as a woman who mixes professional and personal relationships and files false reports. She fears he will undo her legacy.
Tucker, who signed one of the most lucrative contracts in college sports history two years ago, could lose out on the roughly $80 million he is owed if Michigan State fires him for cause, which would be a stunning fall from the elite ranks of college coaches.
Reached by USA TODAY on his cellphone Saturday night, Tucker hung up after a reporter mentioned the case. The university declined to comment, citing the need for confidentiality during investigations.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/09/10/michigan-state-football-coach-sexual-harassment-claim/70679703007/Adding to the uncertainty, the institution tasked with sorting out the facts is perhaps best known for missing repeated opportunities to stop one of the most prolific sexual abusers in American history.
For nearly two decades, Michigan State leaders failed to act on complaints against Larry Nassar, the disgraced former U.S.A. Gymnastics and campus physician accused of sexually assaulting more than 300 female athletes under the guise of medical treatments. He has been sentenced to a minimum of 100 years in prison.
Amid its efforts to rebuild trust among students, employees, alumni and the East Lansing community, Michigan State's leaders must now decide whether the face of its prestigious football program is guilty of sexually harassing one of the country’s most influential advocates against gender-based violence.
Way more regarding this at the USA Today link.
Be warned that some of the details in the USA today piece may be difficult for some to read.
Espn:
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38366070/michigan-st-tucker-subject-sexual-harassment-investigationMichigan State football coach Mel Tucker is the subject of an ongoing university sexual harassment investigation, multiple sources with knowledge of the pending case confirmed to ESPN.
The sources did not confirm the complainant's identity or details about the allegations Saturday night. Sources said the investigation started months ago and remains open.
ESPN filed a public records request with Michigan State on July 30, seeking documents related to any complaints alleging that Tucker violated the university's relationship violence and sexual misconduct policy.
The school's interim president refused the request, citing a passage in state law that exempts information that "would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy."
"Under FOIA's privacy exemption, information is exempt if (1) it is personal in nature, and (2) disclosure would reveal little to nothing about the inner workings of the government. Information is personal in nature when it is intimate, embarrassing, private, or confidential," Michigan State wrote in its denial.
ESPN believes the denial is a violation of state open records law and has engaged a Michigan-based law firm to pursue potential litigation.