PLAYING DEFENSE

Suspended Michigan State Coach Claims Accuser Started Phone Sex

Mel Tucker says rape survivor Brenda Tracy behaved in a “provocative” manner.

A day after being suspended without pay as coach of the Michigan State University football team, Mel Tucker issued a statement pointing the finger at his sexual harassment accuser. Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor who works with sports programs, claims that Tucker began talking dirty and masturbating during a 2022 phone call, leaving her traumatized. In a statement on Monday, Tucker claims they had a long-distance “intimate” relationship and that she set the tone for the call in question: “She initiated the discussion that night, sent me a provocative picture of the two of us together, suggested what she may look like without clothes and never once during the 36 minutes did she object in any manner, much less hang up the phone.”