Mel Tucker on Monday released a statement through his attorney responding to allegations brought forth by sexual assault activist Brenda Tracy.
USA Today published a bombshell story on Saturday night in which Tracy accused the Michigan State head coach of sexually harassing her, and on Sunday Michigan State suspended Tucker without pay pending the resolution of a Title IX investigation. Tucker and MSU are scheduled for a hearing on Oct. 5-6, according to the USA Today story.
Tucker and Tracy developed a professional relationship through Tracy's non-profit group Set the Expectation, which attempts to train college football players and coaches to prevent sexual assaults on campus. Tracy is a sexual assault survivor herself.
Over time, the professional relationship became a personal one, which Tucker says then became romantic. Tracy says she did not share those feelings.
The turning point in the relationship, per the USA Today story, was an April 2022 incident in which Tucker masturbated with Tracy on the phone.
"Yes, I did have a late-night intimate conversation with Ms. Tracy in April 2022," Tucker says in his statement. "Again, as even Ms. Tracy's statements to the investigator confirm, this conversation had nothing to do with the University and was outside the scope of Title IX or any University policy.... While I am saddened by Ms. Tracy's disclosure of the sensitive nature of this call, let me be perfectly clear -- it was entirely mutual, private event between two adults living on opposite ends of the country. She initiated the discussion that night, sent me a provocative picture of the two of us together, suggested what she may look like without close, and never once during the 36 minutes did she object in any manner, much less hang up the phone."
Tracy's re-counting of the call went as follows, per USA Today:
Tracy said she thought to herself, "Oh my god, this is happening, and I can’t stop it." In the moment, she said, it didn’t occur to her to hang up. Eventually she said something along the lines of, “If you do this, I don’t ever want to hear about it, we are only friends, that’s it.”
When he finished, Tracy said, Tucker told her, “Thank you, good night, sweetheart.” She responded, “Yeah,” and he hung up.
Then she sat at her desk for a while, staring at her phone and crying.
Tracy later filed a complaint with MSU's Title IX office last December, and the investigation remained unknown to the public until the USA Today report Saturday night.
Here is Tucker's statement in full.
Michigan State, off to a 2-0 start, will be led by interim head coach Harlon Barnett during Tucker's suspension. The Spartans host No. 8 Washington on Saturday, then open Big Ten play by hosting Maryland and visiting No. 25 Iowa before the investigation's expected resolution.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.