EAST LANSING, MICH. — Michigan State announced on Monday morning that football coach Mel Tucker has been fired as the result of the university's investigation into claims that he sexually harassed a prominent sexual assault awareness speaker after she was hired to address the Spartan team.
Athletic director Alan Haller initially announced Tucker's interim suspension Sunday night, less than 24 hours after news of the claims against the fourth-year head coach was made public in reports from ESPN and USA Today. Interim university President Teresa Woodruff appeared alongside Haller at a news conference and said she fully supported Haller's decision.
Brenda Tracy, who operates a nonprofit company that raises awareness about sexual misconduct, especially among college athletes, told university investigators that Tucker had sent her gifts, asked if she would date him if he wasn't married and masturbated while on the phone with her without her consent, according to details reported by USA Today on Sunday.
While Tucker told investigators he took part in the behavior, he maintained that it was consensual.
In statement issued Monday through his attorney Jennifer Belveal, Tucker adamantly denied the claims that he had sexually harassed Tracy, a sexual assault awareness speaker, and called an upcoming hearing about the claims "a sham".
The school was first made aware of the accusations that Tucker violated the school's sexual misconduct policy in late December, which was shortly after Tracy filed the claims.
Michigan State hired a third-party investigator to decide whether or not Tucker had violated the school's sexual misconduct policy. The finished report came on July 25, and it was recommended that the school hold a hearing to decide if Tucker violated any policy. That hearing is scheduled for the first week of October.
At the time of the investigation, university officials were unaware of any details in the complaint, which was described as being apart of Michigan State's policy for handling sexual misconduct cases.
The university's policy requires that an employee's superior be made aware of any ongoing complains about them, but prevent that supervisor from knowing any of the details of the complaint until the case has been closed. This is done to protect the integrity of the investigation.
The university said they had put in place some interim measures for the duration of the investigation -- which included a no-contact order for Tucker and increased oversight of the program. Haller said he decided not to suspend Tucker in July after the investigator had completed their report because he wanted to allow the full process to come to a conclusion.
However, when information was published on Sunday morning about about Tucker's admission that he did have a sexual encounter on the phone with Tracy, Haller said the decided to suspend Tucker because of the new information that had been revealed.
Longtime Michigan State assistant Harlon Barnett will serve as interim head coach while Tucker serves his suspension. Former Spartan head coach Mark Dantonio, who retired in February 2020, will be returning to the team to serve as an associate head coach starting this week.
While the school has not finalized Dantonio's role, there is speculation that he'll be wearing a headset and actively coaching from either the sideline or the press box.
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