Brenda Tracy on why she went public with Mel Tucker allegations
Brenda Tracy, via her lawyer Karen Truszkowski, explains why she went public with her story. Someone else leaked it to the press:
An outside party disclosed Brenda Tracy's identity to local media, which led to the USA Today story.
Brenda Tracy had no intention of publicly disclosing her identity. She was and continues to be committed to complying with and concluding the MSU internal investigative process. She respected the process and chose not to go to the media to preserve the integrity of the process.
After the investigation process was completed, we would have determined what, if any further steps to take. Instead, her identity was disclosed without her knowledge or consent, warranting express actions to protect her. Her choice to allow this process to proceed privately was taken away.
Let me be patently clear: Brenda Tracy had no intention of disclosing anything publicly until someone else violated her right to confidentiality.
Karen Truszkowski
Attorney for Brenda Tracy
September 12th, 2023 at 11:14 PM ^
No, not really. It sounds like that's what you want me to sound like I'm trying to say. I'm saying they both seem like bad people and i don't believe either of their narratives and it seems like they were romantically involved.
September 13th, 2023 at 12:10 AM ^
I still don't get where the suggestion she's a "bad person" is coming from. Because she ... spoke to Tucker often, late at night? Is that it? Seriously, is that it?
I assume not. I assume it's that plus something like, "... and she didn't immediately hang up when she learned he was masturbating." But ... in that case you're dismissing her statement that she was shocked and frozen.
Which is fine. Maybe it's a lie. But ... that's kind of circular, isn't it? You're saying she seems like a bad person because you don't believe her because she's a bad person.
I don't know. I wasn't there. But let's assume for a minute she's telling the truth about what she did, and why. If so ... in what way is she a bad person?
I don't much care about "victim blaming" in this context. I haven't seen anybody suggest he was right to do what he did, and it's fine with me if some people suggest her story doesn't quite add up either. (It does for me, but I'm a trusting soul). It's not only ok for you to have an opinion about her behavior -- I'm happy to hear it. To me, that's what a Message Board is for, not just to have us all agree with each other over and over.
I just don't get the basis for your assertion that she seems like a "bad person." Everything I've heard makes her sound like a pretty damned brave, courageous, smart, and interesting person. And the mere fact that she had frequent phone calls with the head football coach at MSU doesn't contradict that, to me.
September 13th, 2023 at 3:07 AM ^
I'd like to ask you. . . why, as a self-proclaimed "trusting soul", you've chosen to, in a he-said vs. she-said scenario, aim all your trust at Tracy and none of it at Tucker's story? You said "I don't know. I wasn't there". That's my point. You don't know, but you want to play "lets assume she's telling the truth". Why do we have to assume anyone is telling the truth? Let me be clear. I'm not defending either person's actions. Mel Tucker is in the wrong. I also think Tracy was in the wrong. If you wanna argue over whether it was 60/40 or 40/60 or something then I guess you could do that. Many things can be true at the same time. It's my opinion that a man who represents a university and is getting paid 90 million dollars do to it, and is a married man, shouldn't pursue a relationship with another woman and masturbate on a phone call with anyone other than his wife. He's caused embarrassment and should be fired. Call me old fashioned, but I also think it's not great to accept gifts and have over 27 phone calls mostly late at night with a married man with kids to discuss intimate topics (which they both confirmed happened). That's all just a "mere fact" to you? You're confident they were just innocent standard phone calls until he got this wild itch to pull his junk out and masturbate one night? He's apparently just a psychopath who gets off by traumatizing rape survivors over the phone? It definitely wasn't because they were flirty and getting romantic. Shouldn't she be held to an even higher moral standard given the topics she speaks on involve setting a good example for kids and being a good moral person. Also, I do find it hard to believe anyone would sit and listen in horror to someone masturbate on the phone even though it was repulsive to them and not hang up. It's weird that she admitted to not hanging up. You have to get into the weeds on power dynamics and trauma, etc to explain that away, but then it's all non-expert speculation and he said vs. she said again. Tucker handed the gun to MSU to shoot him with and they will gladly do it. The sad thing is that they both probably come out much worse off from making this all public. She probably is brave and a respectable person much of the time. People are complex.
September 13th, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
You wouldn't listen to the perspective on an expert on trauma and recovery because they would universally completely disagree with you. The most basic trauma response there is, "fight / flight / freeze" is so obviously on display in her frozen response. It's maybe the simplest thing we can understand about PTSD. And yet to you it's just her being a "bad person?" Honestly just sounds like you have a terrible and skewed perspective on relationships if you think it's so outrageous to have a 30 minute phone call with a co-worker once every two weeks for 11 months while working together. If your view on relationships can't handle that, I don't think anyone should listen to your opinion on this matter.
September 13th, 2023 at 3:44 PM ^
"Call me old fashioned, but I also think it's not great to accept gifts and have over 27 phone calls mostly late at night with a married man with kids to discuss intimate topics"
I take it you've never worked in business development at a mission-driven organization, but numerous and lengthy communications, personal/casual conversations, all-around relationship building, etc. is normal --if not requisite-- behavior in that context.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
Nothing has been cleared up for me. Am I supposed to now understand what happened?
Both ESPN and USA Today had this story and were able to drop versions of it at the same time. ESPN had made a FOIA request (denied) about complaints against Tucker in July. So they knew it was there, but they didn't have any information about Brenda Tracy.
USA Today talked directly to Brenda Tracy, and must have had contact a while ago. How did that connection get made? I don't think USA Today was going to publish her name unless she said it was okay, per usual policies on reporting on victims of sexual harassment or assault.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
I tend to agree here. But I will caveat that with the possibility that she spoke to USA Today only because she was outed and they were going to do the story anyway. That is a possibility - and would be the only way she could make sure her side was accurately portrayed.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^
It's also worth nothing that according to the statement in the OP, the leak was to "local media" who then leaked to USA Today. So she can talk to the reporter who contacted her, or she can risk having it appear anyway in the State Journal (or, worse, the State News).
Given the shit that's been coming from the Tucker camp so far (ESPN's investigating whether the OSU assault even happened! Her attorney tried to blackmail me! Harbaugh mumble mumble if you know what I mean!) I think she might have made the right choice.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:27 PM ^
USA Today had the better story and was probably pretty close to publishing. ESPN published their less well reported to be "first" because journalists are basically Youtube commenters from 2008. Then USA Today followed up by publishing theirs. I would imagine they got Tracy's name from somebody. Usually not the victim unless they are looking for justice they're not getting. MSU's process seemed to actually be working fairly well, albeit slowly.
Then they contact Tracy and at that point once the press has your name, you want to control the story as much as possible or the accused will slander you, so you give over evidence you have and talk about it because your name is going to come out anyway once the press has it.
That's what makes sense to me. Who specifically gave USA Today Tracy's name is probably whoever their source at MSU is, and that was a pretty shitty thing to do.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:48 PM ^
so you give over evidence you have and talk about it because your name is going to come out anyway once the press has it.
That may be how she viewed it and what she believed, and it would therefore explain her decision.
But if I recall correctly, their entire story essentially came from the documents that she handed over. Without her, they had nothing, which is what ESPN had, nothing.
I didn’t ever see the original ESPN story, only saw what they updated after USA Today dropped. But the updated ESPN story had to reference the USA Today report every other sentence.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:05 PM ^
Got to be someone on the subgroup of MSU's Board of Trustees that had been informed of this who leaked it, and for various motivations...getting out of Tucker's contract being just one of them. This has got to be one of the most disfunctional groups of alleged adults that I have ever witnessed.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:18 PM ^
That sounds bad?
September 12th, 2023 at 3:22 PM ^
As I've seen headlines and titles today I am glad I decided to pretty much ignore it and let things sort themselves out.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:24 PM ^
I think both Tracy and Tugger are telling partial truths. There was an RCMB poster who commented when this story first broke that Tucker is like the guy at the restaurant who thinks the waitress is really into him because she smiles and laughs at all his jokes.
I don't know if Tracy has a lot of long term customers. I have heard about her being hired to talk and do workshops with some teams, but they don't seem to contine long-term. If she can develop on-going connections with a few coaches it would make her life a lot easier than having to constantly find new clients. It wouldn't be the first time some dude misread attention a woman gives him as some sort of sexual come-on.
Of course that doesn't absolve Tugger's temerity for whipping out his dick and beating off while he's on the phone with her.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:29 PM ^
I hope you have not thought through the implications of this idea. Simply being a woman with interpersonal skills doesn't make anything Tucker said truthful, it just makes him an asshole who can't think of women as anything other than sex objects.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:46 PM ^
This strikes me as the most plausible explanation for all the phone calls. Tracy was looking for repeat business—someone who would bring her in every year for $10k a pop—and was hopeful that Tucker could be one of those repeat clients.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:10 PM ^
Does it ever occur to anyone that maybe the purpose of Tracy's nonprofit is precisely what she says it is, and so finding new clients and getting the message to more people is the point of it all?
September 12th, 2023 at 8:03 PM ^
Tracy herself tweeted in 2018 or 19 that Harbaugh committed to having her work with his teams every year. She was very excited about it per her tweets. I would imagine she is interested in repeat business.
September 13th, 2023 at 12:11 AM ^
What's the "partial truth" Tracy is telling? I don't understand from your post. (Not being snarky -- I just don't see it).
September 13th, 2023 at 9:17 AM ^
Other than the things that Tracy and Tucker agreed on:
- they had multiple phone calls
- Tucker whipped out his penis
I don't know what else Mel said that was truthful. There have been so many demonstrates lies, half-truths and weird Tucker moments from the investigation and from statements afterwards that it would be reasonable to find him (at the minimum) unreliable.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:28 PM ^
i feel like this situation is just getting worse and worse for all involved
September 12th, 2023 at 3:28 PM ^
I think it's likely that someone in the MSU admin saw this as an opportunity to get out of Mel's contract, so they leaked it. The whole thing is a mess.
September 13th, 2023 at 8:28 AM ^
Why would anyone at MSU leak anything.
Tucker is turning around the program, they are 2-0 and obvious National Championship contenders.
/s
September 12th, 2023 at 3:45 PM ^
why does anyone give a shit about Jason Whitlock's vomit?
September 12th, 2023 at 10:26 PM ^
He actually used to be a pretty darn good writer about 20 or so years ago. Thought he fell off completely. Now he’s with, The Blaze? I stand to always be amazed
September 12th, 2023 at 5:26 PM ^
"Whitlock podcast": 2 words that should never be spoken.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:55 PM ^
Judging by her statements vs. Mel Tucker's, her legal representation is much better than his.
September 12th, 2023 at 4:22 PM ^
she's def implementing the "find out" part of the phrase
September 12th, 2023 at 4:23 PM ^
At this point we've all opined on this subject at length, myself included, but I think I can succinctly summarize my position in five words:
Zach Smith supports Mel Tucker.
September 12th, 2023 at 4:56 PM ^
One side wants to be perfectly clear and the other patently clear. It sounds like their competing for the Nixon Award.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:01 PM ^
General rule of thumb with reporting / sources / leaks is to look at how the context of the story is presented and determine who stands to benefit most from that specific presentation of facts.
An NFL player signs a massive contract --> An agent who wants the maximum value of contract out there and an NFL insider who will give them the credit in order to get a future scoop
A coach who is going to be suspended internally, but the group doing the suspension claims that they "rejected the deal" --> a jaded person on the committee who wants to make it look like they are in control of the process who has a lackey at sports media company who loves to do their bidding
A bombshell story about a coach doing very uncouth things to a vulnerable contractor --> someone who saw the report and has a very specific reason to put this out there (firing with cause)
Doesn't take a lot to extrapolate where this came from. This isn't from someone at MSU that is part of the investigation or from either side of this case. In fact, because it was sent to the USA Today to a reporter who specializes in these stories, and not ESPN or another sports specific site, that it likely was from someone on the MSU BOT. Can't leak it ESPN because of the notes in the case around Paula Levigne and that would compromise the investigation.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:20 PM ^
A wise old divorce attorney once told me, There are three sides to every story, his side, her side and the truth."
Tucker is claiming the receipt of a "provocative" picture from Tracy during their "intimate" conversation.
I apply quotes not as an implication of doubt on my part, simply because I am quoting Tucker's statement.
If Mel indeed has a provocative picture of he and Tracy in his possession, then what?
Hoping for her sake, he doesn't, but if he does, I'm thinking he's getting paid, by everybody.
I did like the part about him having a hard time forgiving himself.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:27 PM ^
No. Oftentimes there's just the truth and falsehood.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:35 PM ^
I guess then it comes down to ones own individual prejudices then. Particularly since none of us were there. And that is the helluvit.
He claims evidence toward his defense. If he indeed has it, releasing it would be hurtful to her case and humiliating to her person.
What's he gonna do here ... if indeed he has it.
September 12th, 2023 at 6:02 PM ^
Right now I'm having trouble imagining anything more hurtful to her person than casting doubt on the OSU gang rape that's "at the heart of her public persona," to quote Jacoby.
And he's already gone there. He's not holding anything back to protect her.
She has numerous witnesses who speak to investigators; he can't produce any. He tells stories with names who can be contacted for corroboration and they say "I don't know what the hell he's talking about." He tells the lead investigator he was in East Lansing the day of the phone call; she's holding a copy of his travel report. He says he canceled Tracy's July visit because the team's mental coach was rolling out a new program that day; records show the mental coach wasn't around for a whole two-week period around the day in question but had met with the team every week a couple of months earlier.
In a courtroom or a hearing room, he's dead meat. The only thing he's got going for him is public opinion, where a fair number of people don't care about petty details like corroborating evidence.
September 12th, 2023 at 6:25 PM ^
This is a fantastic summary. People act like Tracy filed a report yesterday and nobody knows anything yet. This stuff all happened a while back, and if Mel had even half the evidence he claims, I can't imagine this would have gone anywhere.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:34 PM ^
You’re forgetting the part where consent can be removed. I would suggest the text exchanges beginning to end will tell the tale. I have a feeling 9 months into this, these things are already known and it still doesn’t excuse his behavior.
This looks bad for everyone involved at msu over the last 9 months. It is total egg on the face of the university by Tucker, and there is no way he can remain the head coach there. He chose to do this with a S assault survivor that speaks publicly about it for a living. I cannot see one ounce of this as a thing anyone in the athletic department should consider pursuing a relationship with her. Forget anything else, just on this part, you never date where you work, that is just dumb because it doesn’t go away if it ends bad.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:35 PM ^
There's no dispute over whether she sent him a picture during the phone call. "Provocative" is in the eye of the beholder. From the USA Today story:
Tracy denies all of that. The call started off normal, she said. But when she sent Tucker a photo of them together from the spring game, she said he responded by commenting on her buttocks and calling himself an “ass man.”
She remembered Tucker’s voice getting deeper and weirder as he continued talking about her buttocks
In any case, I'll put this out there in the public domain: If I ever send any of you a picture you think is provocative, it does not constitute permission to masturbate to my voice. Ask first.
September 12th, 2023 at 6:18 PM ^
Hadn't seen the USA Today piece.
Still, we're all forced into following our individual prejudices here, as none of us were there.
I have no problem disclosing here that I don't believe anybody involved in this cluster doodle on any part of it excepting those parts where everybody is in agreement on the evenings events, there is just way too much money at stake at every level, particularly at the institutional level.
I'm sort of like Clouseau here, as I also am not actively disbelieving anybody involved at any level, although I am absolutely pulling against both Tucker and Sparty only because I don't like em.
But any opinion being offered anywhere on this excrement show is more a revelation of one's rooting interest than anything else.
September 12th, 2023 at 6:26 PM ^
Yes. Even if there was a mutual physical attraction, that doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants without her consent. The only way masturbating in that circumstance is ok is if she explicitly said she would be into it. It really doesn't matter if they had crushes on each other or told each other their deepest secrets or whatever. You can't just whip it out because some girl laughed at your joke.
September 12th, 2023 at 6:35 PM ^
Agreed, his claim is that he ... and here is where it gets dicey for Mel ... thought/assumed/decided that he had it.
She says he didn't.
I'm going with assumed being the correct verb for Tucker.
Assume ... Ass out of U and me.
And again we don't know, and are only hoping one way or the other.
September 12th, 2023 at 10:55 PM ^
Learn to detect sophistry.
His statement is a great example of sophistry, because his stated case is so lacking in nuance that it is not only detectable but readily demonstrable that he's lying. It is a brute attack -- going straight for the lowest blow imaginable while neglecting any pretense of logic or internal validity -- and is thus transparently bullshit (to use the parlance of our times) -- a pathetic use of innuendo to obfuscate the issue because the objective facts of the matter all condemn him.
Let me put it to you this way: if two people disagree and one of them is obviously lying, and the liar gets you to doubt the other, then he's effectively won you over. He doesn't need to convince you -- only persuade, confuse, or distract you -- to take you for the proverbial ride.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:19 AM ^
Cool, but sounds like a lot of opinion and qualitative words characterizing his statement. Lacks nuance. Demonstrable that he's lying. Low blow. No logic. Facts condemn him. It's bullshit, etc. And yet, nary a single specific fact or nuance to let the loyal readers of this fine blog know what you're talking about.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
Naturally, I'm assuming the readers have been keeping up with the stories and links shared here.
Some examples:
- Demonstrable lie #1 regarding being at home when he made the call instead of on a business trip. This is documented, ergo demonstrable.
- Demonstrable lie #2 regarding the alleged ESPN investigation into Tracy's back story which he fabricated entirely.
- The primary material fact is something he admitted to.
- Low blow being his insinuation that Tracy's experience of being gang raped could be inauthentic.
September 13th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
Another example:
- Lie #3 regarding an alleged schedule conflict to justify cancelling her 2022 paid visit to campus. Investigators revealed his claimed schedule conflict did not match up. In other words, it looks like he retaliated against her.
September 12th, 2023 at 6:52 PM ^
What proof is there that there was a leak?
September 13th, 2023 at 9:06 AM ^
Basically the USA today article. No one outside of Brenda Tracy and East Lansing knew this was going on. Someone from either party leaked this story.
September 12th, 2023 at 7:31 PM ^
If that’s true then I assume the leak came from inside the Sparty house by those who want to get out from Mel’s horrid contract.
September 12th, 2023 at 8:30 PM ^
Isn't that what Tucker was alluding to in his statement that MSU was trying to get out of his contract?