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Mel Tucker investigation: Details emerge about sexual misconduct allegations against Michigan State coach
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Mel Tucker is the subject of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Michigan State University. Late Saturday evening, new details emerged regarding the extent of the allegations facing the MSU football coach.
According to a report from USA Today’s Kenny Jacoby, MSU’s Title IX office received a complaint in December of 2022 from Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and sexual assault prevention educator, alleging that Tucker made sexual comments about her and masturbated during a phone call with her without her consent in April of 2022.
Tucker acknowledged masturbating on the call in a statement to investigators in March of 2023 but claimed Tracy distorted the phone call and said the two had consensual “phone sex.”
“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,” Tracy told USA Today. “It’s like he sought me out just to betray me.”
USA Today reports that MSU hired an outside Title IX attorney to investigate the complaint, and that investigation was concluded in July. A formal hearing to determine whether Tucker violated the school’s policy banning sexual harassment and exploitation is scheduled for Oct. 5 and 6 — during the Spartans’ bye week.
As outlined in the USA Today report, Tucker and Tracy developed a professional relationship around her advocacy work over the previous year. Tucker invited Tracy to MSU’s campus to speak to his players and staff on two separate occasions and invited Tracy to serve as an honorary captain ahead of the team’s spring game on April 16, 2022.
According to the report, Tucker told the investigator he and Tracy had developed a romantic relationship. Tracy told the investigator that Tucker’s romantic interest in her was one-sided.
Tracy said she made it clear to Tucker in a December 2021 phone call that they would not have a romantic relationship and, according to the report, he agreed. Then, Tracy said Tucker repeatedly asked her to meet him alone after the 2022 spring game and suggested entering her hotel through a back door so he would not be seen. Tracy told him no.
During his interview with the investigator in March of 2023, Tucker reportedly claimed that ESPN investigative reporter Paula Lavigne was investigating the veracity of Tracy’s gang-rape by four men — two of them Oregon State football players — 25 years ago and said that made him question how Tracy “goes about her business.”
Lavigne denied the claim entirely in a statement to USA Today, saying Tracy nor her organization has been the target of any investigative reporting and that she was “perplexed that Mel Tucker would respond to a complaint of sexual harassment by involving me or ESPN.”
You can read the full report from Jacoby for USA Today here.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.