‘MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE’

Michigan State’s Soon-to-Be Ex-Football Coach: ‘Other Motives’ at Play

Mel Tucker alleged that the university is “punishing me” after the alleged victim of his sexual misconduct “leaked” confidential information to the press.

Football coach Mel Tucker responded on Tuesday to the news that Michigan State University plans to fire him for cause in the wake of allegations he sexually harassed a prominent anti-sexual harassment activist, saying he was “disappointed—but not surprised” by the decision. Tucker, 51, suggested that “other motives are at play” in the timing of his firing, charging that MSU “knew about the information on which it supposedly relies to end my contract since at least March 2023.” Calling the situation a “miscarriage of justice,” Tucker went on to allege that he was being fired because his alleged victim, Brenda Tracy, went public. (Despite a report on an investigation into his alleged misconduct being finished by July, Tucker’s suspension only came after USA Today published a story about it earlier this month.) Only after Tracy “leaked the confidential investigation report to the press, did MSU suddenly decide this same information warrants termination,” Tucker said, adding that the school was “punishing me for Ms. Tracy’s leak.”