Michigan State Football Coach Mel Tucker Accused of Sexual Harassment: Report

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker has been accused of sexually harassing anti-rape activist Brenda Tracy, according to a report early Sunday by USA Today.

Tracy, a rape survivor and activist against sexual violence, says in a Title IX complaint she filed with Michigan State last December that Tucker made sexual comments and masturbated while she "sat frozen for several minutes" during a phone call on April 28, 2022, per the USA Today report.

Tracy reportedly visited Michigan State several times, beginning in 2021, and was an honorary captain at a Michigan State football game. After the game, Tucker called her four times, asked her to meet him alone and "even suggested slipping into her hotel through a back door so no one would see him," according to the USA Today report.

In an interview with USA Today, Tracy says Tucker's conduct reminded her of an incident 25 years ago in which she was raped by four men, including Oregon State University football players.

"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."

Tracy provided six witnesses to the investigator appointed by Michigan State, including three of Tucker's assistants plus her assistant, therapist and attorney, per USA Today. Tracy reportedly rejected a settlement offer from Tucker and his attorney when they tried to halt the investigation.

In statements to the Title IX investigator, Tucker acknowledged that the April 28 phone call occurred but said he and Tracy had consensual “phone sex.”

"Ms. Tracy's distortion of our mutually consensual and intimate relationship into allegations of sexual exploitation has really affected me," Tucker wrote in a letter to the investigator, obtained by USA Today. "I am not proud of my judgment and I am having difficulty forgiving myself for getting into this situation, but I did not engage in misconduct by any definition." 

Tracy reportedly spoke with Tucker by phone at least 27 times, according to USA Today. Once, Tucker called Tracy via FaceTime when he was in bed, shirtless. Speaking of his unhappy marriage, he said he was “more or less single," per the USA Today report. During a Nov. 9, 2021 call, she said he asked her, “If I wasn’t a football coach and if I wasn’t married, would you date me?”

Tracy told USA Today she responded that she wouldn't because they worked together.

To look into the complaint, the university hired an outside Title IX attorney. She completed her inquiry in July and a formal hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5-6 during Michigan State's bye week, according to USA Today.

Michigan State is off to a 2-0 start this year under Tucker, 51, who has led the Spartans since 2020. In 2021, after they went 11-2, he signed a 10-year, $95 million contract with the school, one of the largest contracts in college sports. A clause in his contract allows MSU to fire him for cause "if the coach is engaged in any conduct which constitutes moral turpitude," according to CBS.

Tracy has spoken to thousands of players on college campuses nationwide about combating sexual misconduct, per her website.

In 2018, former Michigan State physician and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to a minimum of 100 years in prison for sexually assaulting hundreds of female athletes.