Jacoby, Kenny USA TODAY
UPDATE: This article has been amended to reflect the discovery that MSU suspended Coach Mel Tucker without pay just hours after USA TODAY’s investigation was published.
To combat the culture of sexual violence in sports, two years ago, a well-known rape survivor and one of the top college football coaches in the country joined forces.
Their collaboration ought to have been beneficial. Rather, it has spiraled into a controversy as the activist charges the coach of engaging in the exact kind of behavior that they both advocated against.
Mel Tucker, one of the top paid coaches in sports, is the accused. He is the head football coach at Michigan State University. Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor who has dedicated her life to educating athletes about sexual abuse, is accusing him.
They established a professional rapport over the course of eight months that was focused on her advocacy work. Three times, Tucker extended an invitation to Tracy to visit the campus: once for an honorary captaincy ceremony during the team’s spring football game, and twice for a speech to his players and staff.
Nevertheless, Tracy claims in a complaint she submitted with the university’s Title IX office in December that is still being looked into, their relationship was shattered during a phone call on April 28, 2022.
Tracy claimed that Tucker made lewd remarks about her and masturbated for several minutes while Tracy sat still. Her 25-year-old scars from being raped by four men—two football players from Oregon State University, one from a junior college, and one high school recruit—were reopened by his violation, she claimed.
She told USA TODAY, “It’s hard for me to even wrap my mind around the idea that someone could know me and say they understand my trauma but then re-inflict that trauma on me.” “It seems like he looked for me in order to deceive me.”
Tucker admitted to masturbating during the call in his remarks to the Title IX investigator, but he also claimed that Tracy greatly misrepresented the incident. He claimed that their “phone sex” was consenting.
In a letter to the investigator dated March 22, Tucker stated, “Ms. Tracy’s distortion of our mutually consensual and intimate relationship into allegations of sexual exploitation has really affected me.” “By no means did I engage in misconduct, but I am not proud of my judgment and I am finding it hard to forgive myself for getting into this situation.”
An outside Title IX lawyer was brought in by Michigan State to look into the issue. In July, she completed her inquiry. The Spartans’ bye week is set for October 5 and 6, when a formal hearing to decide whether Tucker broke the school’s code prohibiting sexual harassment and exploitation will take place.
Everyone has a lot on the line.
Tracy claims that Tucker is carrying out a threat to destroy her image and job by portraying her as a person who files false reports and juggles personal and professional relationships. She worries that he will erase her legacy.
If Michigan State dismisses Tucker for cause, which would be a remarkable fall from the upper echelons of college coaching, he may forfeit the approximately $80 million he is owed. Tucker signed one of the most lucrative contracts in college sports history two years ago.
reached on his cell phone by USA TODAY Tucker hung up on Saturday night when a reporter brought up the subject.
Tucker was placed on paid leave by the university pending the outcome of the Title IX inquiry, shortly after USA TODAY’s report was made public.
At a press conference on Sunday night, Interim President Teresa Woodruff stated, “This step, suspending Mel Tucker without pay, is… necessary and appropriate for today’s circumstances.” “We do not take these actions lightly.”
Most of the time, USA TODAY does not identify those who report sexual harassment. Tracy consented to being named and to have access to over 1,200 pages of case files.
Schools are required by Title IX, the federal law that forbids sex discrimination in education, to look into claims of sexual harassment that occurred during or in connection with a program or activity at the school. Because of several of the elements at play in this case, including the paucity of records and eyewitnesses, the passage of time, and the complexity of consent litigation, such claims are by nature difficult to decide.
To further cloud the picture, the organization entrusted with gathering evidence is arguably best recognized for having repeatedly failed to intervene against one of the most serial sexual abusers in American history.
The disgraced former U.S.A. Gymnastics coach and campus doctor Larry Nassar is accused of sexually abusing over 300 female athletes while posing as a doctor, but Michigan State officials ignored his accusations for almost 20 years. He has been given a minimum sentence of one hundred years in prison.
In the midst of their attempts to regain the trust of the East Lansing community, staff, alumni, and students, Michigan State’s leaders must now determine whether the star of their esteemed football program is guilty of harassing a highly influential national advocate against gender-based violence in a sexual manner.
Some believe that the university’s handling of the situation will make it obvious how committed it is to moving forward.
“This is more than just coach Tucker and Brenda Tracy,” Boston University professor Jennifer Gomez, who studies the impact of violence and interpersonal trauma, said. “A huge number of other people could be greatly harmed or greatly healed by what transpires here.”
