Mel Tucker releases Statement in Response to Tracy Allegations

Oh yes, bring race and gender into it 

Of all the women to go after like that. My God. Take your L, mate. You earned it.

I mean why would anyone believe a guy who didn't even tell the truth initially in the investigation regarding where it  took place? Also Tucker wants me to believe that a former sexual assault victim would risk throwing away her entire life's purpose of advocacy to lie about him, yeah right.

I remember hearing stories (and being in a department where it happened too) about flirtation leading to bigger romantic "problems" once the cat got out of the bag. This is from some 35 years at a major company. 

From reading Mel's story today, it only CONFIRMED what I felt Sunday.

1. She may be a victim of listening to a guy jagging off w/o her consent. Fair enough and she'll get a settlement. Her company has done a lot of good. She charges 10K per speech (plus I'm sure her travel expenses are paid above and beyond). Some 100 clients = over $1MM. 

2. Mel and her clearly had some period of consensual relationship. Her deleting her texts can be reasoned to be covering her tracks. SET THE EXPECTATION real means drawing a line that can't be passed without consent. She was fine with the flirting and other things (gifts, etc.) - he crossed a line and got zinged.

3. Mel may have kept the full coaches' "bonus" because he feared he'd need the dough to buy her off. BOTH of them are going to lose in this deal - the weird twist would be what if they had settled privately - would Haller have done anything?

4. He will get a reasonable settlement (10 to 20 million dollars). Zona even paid Richrod some 6 MM to walk away after the sex scandal came out with him. I believe some donor(s) already forked over the cash so it's not like MSU will need to dip into other accounts to pay him to leave.

5. Mel's agent is the smarter man/woman around! He/she probably got a lot of signing bonus upfront from him in 2021. 

6. Her firm's business is likely to be drying up. She also crossed a line with a client that cannot be tolerated. She also used poor judgment, even though Mel broke past the line. There are others like her that will fill the void. 

I remember during training about sexual harassment - the question came up "what about consensual relationships when someone is in a leadership position?" - the attorney answered "go with common sense - if you are the person with the most to lose (job, divorce, etc.), then you need to set RIGID boundaries and never let things get out of hand" Well, Tuck let his hand get out of hand!

I'm just glad it was a voice call and not a Zoom. 

#TuckToobin

Tucker is in discussions to host a podcast with Jeffery Toobin. “all hands on with Toob and Tuck”. Clorox Wipes is sponsor. 

This shit is so gross, so weird and completely on brand. 
 

send this pile of shit school and pile of shit “coach” to community college ranks. 
 

this just proves that all sparties  always got Michigan on their minds, even when …🤢
 

Sicko freaks 

Maybe Becuse the texts were not evidence of harassment?

While I do a fair amount of e discovery in my practice, I leave the nitty gritty to the experts. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten the “I didn’t keep it or deleted it” line and when we image the device or account, we get everything, including what they say was deleted. Have to imagine the texts are recoverable somehow unless they were never backed up to the cloud.

The Harbaugh accusation is incredibly gratuitous, but it also shows how muddled his thinking is.  That line is just vague enough to slam Harbaugh, but hearsay through the voice of someone he's simultaneously accusing of lying.  It's as though he's taking a short break from defending his behavior to slime another coach, but doing so with comic ineffectiveness.

The best part, though, has to be "I can only conclude that there is an ulterior motive designed to terminate my contract based on some other factor such as a desire to avoid any Nasser taint, or my race or gender."  Really?  That's the only thing he can conclude?  

Had he just stopped with ulterior motive designed to terminate his contract," he might have captured a believer or two.  After all, he has grossly underperformed expectations (at MSU, that is).  We might believe that MSU, or a more enlightened hypothetical MSU, would want to get out of a bad contract with a middling football coach.  If we were really optimistic, we might believe MSU wanted to get out of a contract with a coach that created the environment we saw in the tunnel last year.  Those things don't happen by accident, and a better program would have dealt with them much more severely.  But regardless, we could get on board with the simple proposition that MSU wants out of his contract.

But he keeps going, fascinatingly comparing his situation to "Nassar taint."  Does a false accusation of sexual harassment constitute "Nassar taint"? I wouldn't think so, so what is he arguing here?  And if that's not strange enough, the other rationales that he "can only conclude" involve his "race or gender."  Putting aside his race -- something openly touted by MSU, and also putting aside the fact that MSU knew about both his race and gender when he was hired -- he is suggesting that MSU might want to break his contract because he is male.  Yes, a football coach, a person in a profession in which all of his peers are male, is suggesting that his maleness might be the reason MSU wants to break his contract.

The whole jerking off thing, obviously you're getting fired for that buddy. They probably were more than friends, but that's not an excuse especially with the power dynamics. 

I really don't think MSU cares though and I believe Mel when he says they're doing this to get out of his contract. They treat Izzo like he walks on water over there, but this incident was a bridge too far for them? It was so bad they're willing to let Mark Dantonio come back in some form. I might be wrong MSU, but he doesn't have a great track record with these things either. 

So Tucker’s defense is that he had an extramarital affair with the sexual violence prevention consultant he hired and masturbated on the phone with her?

That’s his defense.

"I can only conclude that there is an ulterior motive designed to terminate my contract based on some other factor such as a desire to avoid any Nasser taint, or my race or gender," Tucker wrote.

I'm sure that MSU is looking to terminate the contract because they are biased against having a male football coach.

Both Mel Tucker and Brenda Tracy should have been fired by now.  By all means believe her, then fire her.  Tucker should never coach again.

Lots of stuff in that rebuttal that looks like a lawyer may have suggested adding. Seems less heart-felt than it does damage control.

MSU always finds new ways of beating themselves!

Well if it’s any consolation for Tuck, he’s got support from our ol’ friend Zach Smith:
 

https://twitter.com/coachzachsmith/status/1701405377630228989?s=46

Any comment from Matt Ishbia or the other booster that backed up the contract?

Does he have CTE? Between mentioning Harbaugh out of nowhere and that wild lie he told Michigan State about his accuser being investigated by ESPN, this guy seems unwell.

In two weeks the four game grace period for the transfer portal is up. It’s going to be interesting to see how many players stay or leave. I expect a few will leave, but probably not en masse.

I have no idea how the players can focus on games with this going on. A supreme challenge for MSU’s coaching staff.

This is the sound of someone who fumbled the $95M bag

I believe Tuck.

Does make you wonder if he was set up so MSU could get rid of him without the massive buyout.

I wonder if the AD had learned that he did this at Colorado too, with other women?

This is only going to get messier.  Three parties going scorched earth, and race and gender implications.  Looks like a lot of Sparty twitter is now taking Mel's side. 

Anyone know why the mention of Harbaugh in his statement?