Update:
Since publication, Michigan State has moved forward with a decision to suspend Mel Tucker. You can find more details on the announcement below, along with the recap of the press conference details as well.
-MSU has suspended Mel Tucker and named Harlon Barnett acting head coach
-MSU's Alan Haller, Teresa Woodruff give update on Mel Tucker investigation
Original Column:
As CEO of Michigan State’s football program, Mel Tucker has sat in the living rooms of Michigan State football recruits and told their family members he was going to help them grow and become honorable men if they committed to attend school in East Lansing. Not only would he help them pursue their dreams of playing football in the NFL, but he would surround them with good people who would help them navigate the complexities of college life and all that it entails.
Regardless of if he is found to be in violation of school rules regarding sexual harassment next month at his university hearing, Tucker no longer has the moral ground to sit in a recruit’s living room and make that promise to any of them, ever again. Even if he is found innocent of breaking university rules by sexually harassing a vendor of the university, the fact of the matter is that Tucker exhibited very, very poor judgment in what he has already admitted doing. The details he has confessed to are gross, immoral, and unethical – and he has already brought shame upon the university.
Michigan State had an obligation to protect the identity of the accuser in this case and has done so. Experts involved in the culture around reporting incidents of this nature agree that individuals need to have a safe environment in which to make their complaints in a confidential manner. The university has correctly made sure that that is the case here. But now that the accuser has publicly identified herself and put her name behind her accusations – and shared the graphic details – the university must take the next necessary step and suspend Mel Tucker as the football coach at Michigan State.
With the way the investigative arm of the Office of Institutional Equity works, Director of Athletics Alan Haller would not have known the full details of the investigation. Haller would have known enough about the complaint to put in place the interim disciplinary measures that would be required in a situation like this, but would not have been privy to all of the details. Now that the accuser, Brenda Tracy, has voluntarily shared the details of the complaint she filed against Tucker (and his responses), Haller now has access to the parts of the documents that she shared with USA Today and that were included in the article.
The reported details are enough to warrant a suspension, immediately.
Tucker simply can’t be trusted to lead the young men he has been put in charge of, based on what he has already admitted in his responses during the university investigation.
Tucker is in a position of authority at a university that has struggled with these issues for a long damn time, and he failed miserably, even after he made a public commitment to set the expectation of how these situations should be handled.
The sexual harassment issue is heightened around here … as it should be.
There is now a higher standard here when it comes to sexual misconduct … as it should be.
Mel Tucker has failed in his role in this regard and with that comes consequences for his actions. Tucker has his right to due process and – whether the suspension turns into a firing for cause or a negotiated settlement to move Tucker out – one thing is clear, Tucker cannot coach this Spartan team this week, and most likely never again.
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