College Football

Michigan State suspends Mel Tucker amid investigation; Mark Dantonio returns as associate HC

Updated Sep. 10, 2023 6:43 p.m. ET

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Michigan State has suspended head football coach Mel Tucker without pay amid an ongoing sexual harassment investigation, athletic director Alan Haller said Sunday. Secondary coach Harlon Barnett is taking over as acting head coach, and longtime Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio will return to the program as an associate head coach to help Barnett, Haller said.

Allegations became public in a USA Today report Saturday night that Tucker sexually harassed activist and rape survivor Brenda Tracy during a phone call last year, after bringing Tracy in to speak to his team.

Michigan State President Teresa K. Woodruff and athletic director Alan Haller announced the suspension pending the results of an investigation into the allegations.

The school hired an outside Title IX attorney to investigate Tracy’s complaint and the investigation concluded in July, according to the USA Today report. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5-6 to determine if Tucker violated the school’s sexual harassment and exploitation policy, the newspaper reported.

Michigan State may fire Tucker for cause if he "engages in any conduct which constitutes moral turpitude or which, in the University’s sole judgement, would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule upon the university," according to his contract. The school also was able to suspend Tucker, without pay, if he "materially breaches" his contract.

Tracy became friends with Tucker over her advocacy work, but that relationship took a turn in April 2022 when Tucker masturbated during a phone call with her, according to USA Today.

"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 the newspaper. "It’s like he sought me out just to betray me."

Tucker acknowledged to investigators last spring that he masturbated during the phone call with Tracy, but he said they had consensual "phone sex."

The 51-year-old Tucker is married and has two children.

"Ms. Tracy’s distortion of our mutually consensual and intimate relationship into allegations of sexual exploitation has really affected me," Tucker wrote in a March 22 letter to the Title IX investigator. "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."

The Spartans beat Richmond on Saturday to improve to 2-0 in Tucker’s fourth season with the school. Tucker is one of college football’s highest paid coaches. He is 20-14 in three-plus seasons at Michigan State, which hired him after he went 5-7 in one year at Colorado.

Shortly after Dantonio retired in February 2020, then-athletic director Bill Beekman hired Tucker, who was a graduate assistant at Michigan State for Nick Saban.

The Spartans were 2-5 in Tucker’s first season, which was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and won 11 games in 2021, with Wake Forest transfer Kenneth Walker becoming a breakout star in the bounceback season.

Michigan State was 5-7 in 2022, a season marred by charges and suspensions for several players for their roles in a postgame fracas in the Michigan Stadium tunnel.

Tracy is known for her work with college teams, educating athletes about sexual violence. She has spoken to Michigan State’s football team multiple times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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