MSU moves to fire Mel Tucker amid harassment scandal
East Lansing — Michigan State University has told Mel Tucker it intends to fire him as head football coach for cause as soon as Sept. 26, the latest development in what is a swift and stunning fall from grace for a man who signed a 10-year, $95 million contract extension less than two years ago.
Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller made the announcement Monday afternoon, releasing a statement as well as the five-page letter he sent to Tucker's representatives linking the decision to sexual misconduct alleged by gang rape survivor and activist Brenda Tracy and saying that MSU "has amassed a body of undisputed evidence of misconduct that warrants termination for cause."
“I, with the support of administration and board, have provided Mel Tucker with written notice of intent to terminate his contract for cause. This notification process is required as part of his existing contract," Haller said in a university statement. "The notice provides Tucker with seven calendar days to respond and present reasons to me and the interim president as to why he should not be terminated for cause."
The university initially suspended Tucker, 51, without pay Sept. 10, pending the results of a Title IX investigation and Office for Civil Rights case over allegations of sexual misconduct. Being fired for cause, if upheld, could cost Tucker more than $80 million.
A resolution hearing on those allegations is still set to be heard the week of Oct. 5, when Tracy and Tucker will be able to question each other through their attorneys, but MSU leadership decided to cut ties with Tucker before that, signaling that even a positive outcome for Tucker in the hearing wasn't going to save his job. A clause in Tucker's contract extension said it could be voided if any of his actions were to cause embarrassment to the university.
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In the letter to Tucker, Haller outlined "undisputed" facts that led to the decision and "provide multiple grounds for termination," in reference to the accusations by Tracy, who filed a formal complaint against Tucker last year; the complaint became public earlier this month, outlining alleged unwanted sexual advances and nonconsensual masturbation while on the phone together.
"Your actions materially breached the agreement, have amounted to 'conduct which constitutes moral turpitude,' and additionally brought 'public disrespect, contempt, or ridicule upon the university,'" Haller wrote.
Tucker has admitted to flirting with Tracy — who was hired by the university to share her story with student-athletes, and later befriended Tucker — commenting on her looks and body and performing the sex act during a phone call with her, which the coach described as "a late-night intimate conversation," Haller wrote.
"The unprofessional and unethical behavior is particularly egregious given that the vendor at issue was contracted by the university for the sole purpose of educating student-athletes on, and preventing instances of, inappropriate sexual misconduct. Your admitted conduct — engaging in sexual extramarital behavior with a university vendor ... rises to the level of a material breach of your contractual duty to the university to conduct yourself in a professional and ethical manner 'at all times.'"
A message sent to Tucker's attorney wasn't returned Monday afternoon. Tracy's lawyer, Lansing-based Karen Truszkowski, declined Monday to comment on the latest developments. Michigan State officials said there would be no additional comment Monday beyond Haller's prepared statements. Interim president Teresa K. Woodruff did not make any public comments Monday.
What led up to Monday
Earlier this month, USA Today published detailed allegations by Tracy, who had been previously hired to speak to Tucker's players and other athletes on campus. Tracy, named an honorary captain for MSU's 2022 spring game, filed a formal complaint in December, and in March, the university launched an outside inquiry. The investigation was completed in July, with the hearing set for October.
Tucker was allowed to continue coaching but was told he couldn't have any contact with Tracy, and Haller said he put in place increased oversight over Tucker. But when USA Today published its Sept. 10 report, which included detailed information from the Title IX report as well as phone records provided to the media outlet by Tracy, Haller made the decision later that day to suspend Tucker. Woodruff and MSU trustees have said university leadership chose not to learn the details of the report, out of fairness for both parties, and only learned them from USA Today.
Tracy said she went public with USA Today in order to take control of her own story after learning her identity had been leaked to another, unknown media outlet. The university has since announced it was launching an investigation into the source of the leak.
A day after being suspended, Tucker called Tracy's allegations "completely false," saying their relationship was consensual. He suggested the investigation into the matter carries an "ulterior motive designed to terminate my contract based on some other factor such as a desire to avoid any (Larry) Nasser (sic) taint, or my race or gender." He called the upcoming hearing "a sham." Tucker, in the lengthy statement, said Tracy had sent him friendly texts after the phone call, including wishing him a happy Father's Day.
Tucker is married, though he has acknowledged there has been marital strain.
Before his suspension, Tucker coached the first two games of the season, wins over Central Michigan and Richmond. Harlon Barnett is the interim coach, and former head coach Mark Dantonio was named an associate coach and was on the sidelines for Michigan State's 41-7 loss to No. 8 Washington on Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
In Tucker's 3+ seasons
Tucker was named head coach at Michigan State in February 2020, days after Dantonio, the winningest coach in program history, surprisingly announced his retirement. Tucker originally turned down an initial offer from then-athletic director Bill Beekman, even telling donors at Colorado he was staying in Boulder.
Michigan State, after being turned down by then-Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell (who's now at Wisconsin), went back to Tucker and offered him a six-year, $33 million deal, and he accepted. Haller, a former MSU football player, was heavily involved in courting Tucker, despite not becoming athletic director until September 2021.
Tucker's first weeks on the job quickly became complicated by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatened to shut down college football for the entire season. Eventually, the Big Ten played a shortened schedule, and the Spartans were 2-5, but one of the wins was against rival and then-No. 13 Michigan, 27-24, in Ann Arbor; after the game, Tucker posted a photo to social media of him on the bus home with the Paul Bunyan Trophy.
The next season, 2021, was much better on a whole, thanks to the arrival of a running back from the transfer portal, Kenneth Walker III, from Wake Forest. In his Michigan State debut, Walker rushed for four touchdowns in a 38-21 win over Northwestern. Against then-No. 6 Michigan, Walker rushed for five touchdowns in a 37-33 win at Spartan Stadium, after which Tucker was photographed lighting a victory cigar. For the season, Walker rushed for 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns as the Spartans finished 11-2, including a 31-21 win over Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl.
On Nov. 24, 2021, just days after Michigan State lost to then-No. 4 Ohio State, 56-7, Michigan State signed Tucker to a historic 10-year, $95 million contract extension, that was to run through January 2032. The blockbuster deal came together amid rumblings that LSU was starting to target Tucker (it eventually hired Brian Kelly). The new contract, leaked days before the loss to Ohio State, put Tucker's compensation in line with coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban and Clemson's Dabo Swinney, coaches with multiple national championships on their resume. Tucker was in his third year as a college head coach, and had just secured his first winning season.
"Spartan fans around the country are enjoying the success of this year's football program, and we look forward to many more successful seasons, competing at the highest levels under Coach Tucker," Samuel L. Stanley, then-Michigan State's president, said at the time.
The $95 million extension was funded, in part, by Michigan State mega-donors Mat Ishbia ($14 million) and Steve St. Andre ($10 million), with payments made in annual installments. St. Andre's payments are due every May 1 through 2026, and Ishbia's are due every Dec. 31 through 2030. Ishbia has declined comment on the Tucker situation.
Michigan State finished the 2021 season ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, with Tucker popularizing phrases such as "Tuck Comin'" and "keep choppin'." He referred to Spartan Stadium as "The Woodshed."
Michigan State opened the 2022 season ranked No. 15, started 2-0 and was ranked No. 11 when it traveled to Washington and lost, 39-28.
The Spartans never again were ranked in Tucker's tenure. That was the first of four straight losses for Michigan State, which stopped the skid with a 34-28 overtime win over Wisconsin at Spartan Stadium, before losing the following week at rival Michigan, 29-7, in a game that forever will be remembered for what happened afterward. In the Michigan Stadium tunnel, several Michigan State players were caught on camera pushing, shoving and hitting Michigan players. One Michigan State player struck a Michigan player with a helmet.
Eight Michigan State players were suspended for the rest of the 2022 season, and seven were criminally charged by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office.
While Michigan went on to play in the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season in 2022, Michigan State finished the season 5-7.
When he took over at Michigan State, Tucker said everything was in place for the football program to be successful. Before this season, he said in an interview with the Lansing State Journal the university wasn't keeping pace with Name, Image and Likeness offerings for players. Last offseason, Michigan State lost star receiver Keon Coleman to the transfer portal, he joined Florida State and scored three touchdowns in an opening win over then-No. 5 LSU.
In three-plus seasons at Michigan State, Tucker, the 25th head coach in program history, had a record of 20-14. In four-plus seasons overall as a head coach, he is 25-21. Photographs of Tucker that had been in hanging in the football building began being taken off the walls last week.
Tucker, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, played defensive back at the University of Wisconsin and got his coaching start under Saban as a graduate assistant at Michigan State in 1997-98. He also was on Saban's staff at LSU in 2000 as defensive-backs coach, and at Alabama in 2015 as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach.
Tucker also has coached at Georgia, Ohio State and Miami (Ohio) in college, and with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns in the NFL.
Tucker's tenure is the shortest for a Michigan State football coach since Bobby Williams, who coached 32 games from 2000-02, after Saban left for LSU. Williams was fired days after losing at Michigan, 49-3. After the game, Williams was asked if he had lost control of his team, and he responded that he didn't know.
Williams and Tucker are the only Black head football coaches in Michigan State history.
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