Michigan State University has formally fired football coach Mel Tucker just weeks after a rape survivor accused him of sexual harassment during a 2022 phone call.
The university issued a statement on Wednesday, explaining that Mr Tucker was fired “for his admitted and undisputed behaviors which have brought public disrespect, contempt and ridicule upon the university; and constitute a material breach of his agreement, and moral turpitude.”
Mr Tucker was suspended on 10 September after a bombshell USA Today report that detailed allegations from rape survivor Brenda Tracy. As an advocate for preventing gender-based violence, the pair formed a professional relationship, the outlet reported.
She filed a Title IX complaint against the football coach in December, claiming that he made sexual comments while masturbating on a phone call with her without her consent.
“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 the outlet. “It’s like he sought me out just to betray me.”
According to the school’s intent to terminate notice sent to the coach on 18 September, Mr Tucker confessed to masturbating during the call, but called the conversation “phone sex” and “a late-night intimate conversation.”
Mel Tucker head coach of the Michigan State Spartans looks on before a game against the Richmond Spiders at Spartan Stadium on September 09, 2023 in East Lansing, Michigan.— (Getty Images)
Mr Tucker is married with two sons.
After receiving the written notice, Mr Tucker said that he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the firing, CBS Sports reported. The former coach added, “A cursory reading of the facts and timeline should cause any fair-minded person to conclude that other motives are at play.”
FILE - Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault survivor and activist, waits on the Michigan Stadium field for the pregame coin toss, before an NCAA college football game between Michigan and Western Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 8, 2018.— (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Acting Head Football Coach Harlon Barnett was named the interim head coach, the university said.
Because Mr Tucker was fired for cause, the school does not have to pay him the rest of his massive contract; he was in his third year of a $95 million contract that spanned 10 years.
The Independent has contacted Ms Tracy in light of the firing. The investigation into her Title IX complaint is still ongoing.
