OT: Tucker's response to "Intent to Terminate" - ESPN article - link provided
An article on ESPN's web site describes Mel Tucker's response to the "Intent to Terminate" notice he received.
Among other things - he describes how MSU reacted differently to requests from him and Ms. Tracy. "Tucker's claim of a double-standard comes from how the school handled leaks in the case. He says that on Aug. 25, well before the story went public, he "demanded an investigation into leaks.""
Here's the link to the entire article: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38439040/mel-tucker-says-other-motives-play-michigan-state-decision
September 19th, 2023 at 1:51 PM ^
I mean it's a Tuesday and we play Rutgers coming up and this is the biggest sports story right now and involves a rival. Why wouldn't people discuss it?
September 20th, 2023 at 1:14 AM ^
You call this "discussing it"?
This is obsessing over it, based upon my level of interest in the topic.
Clearly many of you feel differently 🤷♂️
September 19th, 2023 at 2:59 PM ^
Even Tracy admitted that she leaked her name "anonymously?"
Tracy went to the press and informed a select group of people about the story. That in and of itself is a leak.
Tucker is correct depending on how you interpret the events and I am not going to pretend that telling reporters isn’t a leak because you asked them to keep it anonymous.
September 19th, 2023 at 3:30 PM ^
It's logically impossible for Ms. Tracy to "leak" her own name, and Tucker's response is spurious. This is an event that allegedly happened to Ms. Tracy. She is not an employee of MSU. She has no ethical, legal or contractual limit on her ability to truthfully state what happened. She can tell whomever, whatever, she would like, short of libel or slander.
Tucker, employees of MSU, and particularly investigators, on the other hand, do have ethical and contractual and/or legal limitations on their ability to publish information regarding the investigation. Ms. Tracy can't "leak" information that is hers to share or not share as she decides. They, however, can.
Sorry if others have made this point--I didn't read all 136 comments as of this moment.
September 19th, 2023 at 4:19 PM ^
The vast majority of people interpret a “leak” as someone telling a publisher something that is private, secret and yet to go public. Publishing Information that others can’t or do not want to share.
She participated in a leak.
September 19th, 2023 at 4:50 PM ^
Mel said she improperly disclosed. However you define “leak,” it’s clear that it’s impossible for her to have improperly disclosed what she is free to discuss. Mel is suggesting impropriety in her doing what is her right. It’s slimy and too cute by half.
September 21st, 2023 at 9:48 AM ^
I am going to ask an attorney friend of mine whose firm deals specifically with Title IX investigations. I understand what you are saying, but she filed the complaint as a vendor to the University. My inclination is that if you are filing as a vendor and using the university's process, you should at least have to be bound by some of the same rules and expectations as a university employee.
September 19th, 2023 at 4:31 PM ^
Don't apologize for reiterating all this. It cannot be stated enough.
I was personally chided by Oriental Andrew for my misuse of the word "leak" which made me feel bad, because I was only attempting to use it in the sense that other people seemed to be using it. In other words, I was merely keeping up with the traffic, officer. But speeding is speeding.
September 19th, 2023 at 4:47 PM ^
She can certainly make a public accusation against Tucker if she wants to do so (assuming she has not made an agreement to not do so as part of the investigation I guess?)
I don’t think that necessarily means she would have been authorized to provide all of the documentation associated with the MSU investigation she had access to. I genuinely don’t know the answer to that, am curious who does.
September 19th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
Tuck requested a medical leave? Any guesses on his injury/illness?
September 19th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
My guess is it lasted more than four hours.
September 19th, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
Any guesses on his injury/illness?
Came down with a severe case of horseshit.
September 19th, 2023 at 11:54 AM ^
My guess would be Carpal tunnel syndrome
September 19th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^
or tennis elbow
September 19th, 2023 at 3:57 PM ^
Sprained his wrist.
September 19th, 2023 at 2:10 PM ^
Still blaming the tunnel, I see
September 19th, 2023 at 12:23 PM ^
Hurt feelings with a side of rug burn.
September 19th, 2023 at 1:14 PM ^
Perhaps I'm wrong but this serious reeks of a "you can't fire me, I quit" type response.
The article says "MSU sent its notice of intent to terminate just days after I emailed [Michigan State athletic director] Alan Haller requesting a medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act for a serious health condition". That implies he requested his leave after he was suspended without pay, otherwise why tie the timing to the termination letter rather than the suspension. So is this an thin attempt to try to delay his termination by claiming he has a medical issue.
September 19th, 2023 at 1:48 PM ^
It's the last card he had available. Knew he was going to get canned, so trying to use FMLA to buy him some time. Worst case, now he has at least a little more ammo when he sues the university (you fired me after you knew I was going through a medical emergency). Still not looking good for him, but playing any card he can.
September 19th, 2023 at 2:15 PM ^
He came down with a severe case of Urbanmeyeritis.
September 19th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
One might say that Tucker is (ahem) tossing off some wild claims in response to the notice of intent to terminate.
September 19th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
He'll sue.
There will be a settlement for an undisclosed amount.
This is as close to a guarantee as I can possibly make.
September 19th, 2023 at 11:53 AM ^
That ‘undisclosed amount’ is going to be a lot more than people assume, i would bet
September 19th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
I think you're right. Why don't universities stand up for themselves more in these cases? The standard argument in favor of settling and moving on is that going to court drags out the whole sordid affair (!) and, in the long run, the bad publicity does more damage than the cost of a high settlement.
I understand that argument but sometimes, perhaps including this case, the university would seem to have a really good chance of winning in court and paying him little or nothing. Isn't saving $20-40+M worth some bad press along the way? I mean, at least in this case, Tucker is clearly the bad actor and while the university hired him and gave him that crazy contract, it's not their fault that he got involved with Ms. Tracy and acted like a total rube.
September 19th, 2023 at 12:33 PM ^
I think they might be afraid that the discovery phase reveals details that are unflattering, but that is only speculation.
September 19th, 2023 at 1:14 PM ^
I'm not taking any position here on what actually happened, just eagerly anticipating the fight or at least posturing these folks will have before settlement. Seems like one thinly veiled threat is to request discovery into how MSU responded when other senior staff were found to have extramarital relationships, as Tucker's attorney characterizes it. Even though any discovery into that, if allowed, would presumably remain confidential, it seems like a decent threat. I'm betting Tucker gets a substantial settlement, whether or not we ever learn the amount.
September 19th, 2023 at 1:54 PM ^
I agree with you on the likelihood of a settlement for Tucker. People in this situation typically go after mistakes or problems in the process and use the threat of legal entanglements for a buy out. And it's very difficult to commit no process sins in a situation like this.
September 19th, 2023 at 7:47 PM ^
Another red herring. He's not being fired for having an extramarital relationship though I suppose I can't blame his attorney for trying to create that impression.
September 19th, 2023 at 7:58 PM ^
I agree that's probably not their sole or even main argument. But in their notice of intent to fire him, they did at least twice go out of their way to say he engaged in these behaviors "while married." So they must have thought it was relevant.
September 19th, 2023 at 1:45 PM ^
Risk aversion can be a race to the bottom. Then again, so can risk-seeking behavior. So there's that.
September 19th, 2023 at 12:21 PM ^
No worries - a simple FOIA request will tell us the amount.
September 19th, 2023 at 1:25 PM ^
So, Mel's getting fired for being a creep, but he's getting a pass for encouraging a culture that would encourage / enable postgame physical assault on opposing players?
If I were crafting the complaint for MSU, I'd have to mention that also. (Honestly, he should have been fired last year). Even if he can somehow claim that he didn't deserve to get fired for his conduct with Brenda Tracy, the entire body of his tenure has been an embarrassment to the university and he should still be out.
(And I say this as someone who, like all of us, was really looking forward to Michigan going 7-1 over the next 8 years of that insane contract :)
September 19th, 2023 at 2:39 PM ^
You know, I would have agreed with this until one nugget in the ESPN article: Tucker submitted a request for a FMLA leave before MSU provided the notice to terminate. That’s an interesting twist and changes some of this equation.
September 19th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^
The timing of that sure looks like a cynical and disingenuous attempt to circumvent having to face the music on this.
September 19th, 2023 at 12:02 PM ^
Oh Mel. You're doing a fine job of DARVO and throwing up enough shit to confuse a bunch of confused people.
It's going to be very difficult to correct every wrong comment that's going to be made ITT. I have two main things that interest me at this point:
1) Someone is free to correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that Tracy has every legal right to go to the press at any time she wants with whatever documents she wants. It is not possible for her to improperly leak anything. She can leak whatever she wants whenever she wants, unlike Mel (pun always intended).
2) Mel insisted on investigating the leaks on August 25 before most of the world even knew about this? Please Mel, do go on. I want to know how you even identified there was a leak at this point. But it would have been pretty weird for MSU to publicly launch an investigation into the leak when the story wasn't even in the press yet.
September 19th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
Except that there is no proof that she leaked her name. She denies leaking it.
The question is why is Tucker insisting that she did leak her name?
September 19th, 2023 at 12:34 PM ^
Tugger is attempting to portray Tracy as a blackmailing gold digger in the court of public opinion.
1) This is meaningless in actual court
2) Dude sexually harassed a sexual assault advocate - Tugger should probably accept the L on the whole public opinion angle. At best, he’d get the support of Weinstein or Cosby on non consensual team cream.
September 19th, 2023 at 12:49 PM ^
I do find it interesting that this is playing out a bit differently than when other famous people are outed as sex pests. Like you said, Tucker is trying to get this to play out in the court of public opinion when the usual play is to allow your supporters to bring up one of two or three events from the last 20 years to try to paint the victim as a liar. I suspect the big reason he doesn't have many supporters is because MSU fans have largely understood that this is a shitty thing to support with the added benefit of getting out of that awful contract. That said, it probably helps that he put his foot in his mouth immediately so the only people on his side are the Zach Smiths of the world.
September 19th, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
The blackmailing gold digger part doesn't make sense either. Unless she's sought money from Tucker/MSU and I'm unaware of it.
September 19th, 2023 at 4:28 PM ^
There was at least some insinuation from the Mel Tucker's camp that Tracy's side had reached out for a possible "financial solution" before pressing this case. (this is the stuff that scumbags like Zach Smith and Clay Travis have focused on over social media..)
If any aspect of this were true you would have thought Mel or his attorneys would have tried to get evidence of coercion before the complaint was even filed. At minimum they would have shared all their proof thru the media by this point if it existed..
September 19th, 2023 at 12:44 PM ^
Irrelevant to the point I'm making here. Just for argument's sake, let's pretend what happened was that at the end of July, Tracy ran to USA Today and immediately went on the record with an interview and the report. I'm saying that's perfectly within her rights to do that. Mel is calling it "improper."
September 19th, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
Tucker wanted MSU to investigate who leaked it because media were FOIAing information pertaining to investigations related to him. MSU refused to investigate until Tracy insisted. Tucker is just saying Tracy confirmed her name to the press.
September 19th, 2023 at 2:06 PM ^
Yeah, I'm replying to myself.
I want to know how you even identified there was a leak at this point.
Shame on me, Mel did explain this in his statement. It's because of the FOIA requests MSU had been receiving in the summer about the complaint filed against him. As we know from a USA Today story, the Office of Civil Rights had informed Tracy--and they presumed Tucker also--of FOIA requests from the media at that time.
So yes, Mel, people in the news heard rumors and then tried to FOIA MSU. But Mel, just because someone in the media heard a rumor that they're following up on doesn't mean someone broke confidentiality. Did your wife know about this by then, for example? There's a potential ground zero for a leak. Or of course Tracy, who is surely free to talk to other people (including the media but let's put that aside).
Now, Mel, I'm not discounting your belief, here. It is entirely possible that someone from MSU was trying to leak this to ESPN and others. But a FOIA request is not enough to get MSU to launch an investigation on smoking out a rat.
September 21st, 2023 at 4:35 PM ^
So, my friend told me that it is much more complicated with employees than it is with students and releasing the information will come down to each universities specific policies. He added that the investigator who conducted the investigation is probably the best in the business and no lower than top 3.
MSU did not go lightly on the investigation.
September 21st, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
1) Someone is free to correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that Tracy has every legal right to go to the press at any time she wants with whatever documents she wants. It is not possible for her to improperly leak anything. She can leak whatever she wants whenever she wants, unlike Mel (pun always intended).
I have a friend who is an attorney at a firm which handles Title IX investigations, so I am going to see if he will answer that type of question. This is the part where I would tend to disagree.
I agree that Brenda Tracy can tell her story to anyone. What she did though was turn over the Michigan State University investigation, although she and her attorney received a copy, I am not so sure that ownership of the report still doesn't reside with MSU. She filed the complaint as a vendor to the University and is seeking redress through a university process. Just guessing here but I would assume that she would be under the same obligations as a university employee.
September 19th, 2023 at 12:03 PM ^
It seems that Mel has an attoney that's pretty skilled in obtaining settlement money.
"Looking forward to obtaining discovery vs MSU, Trustees and athletic department" is specific language intended to fire a shot across the bow.
Does MSU want to run the risk that some poorly worded emails get made public?
Public opinion of Mel probably can't get much worse, and he's aware of that. He has nothing to lose in dragging this out as long as possible and taking every opportunity to sling mud at msu and the trustees.
He won't be getting Charlie Weis money on his way out the door, but he'll not be needing a part time job anytime soon.
September 19th, 2023 at 12:34 PM ^
"That’s totally inappropriate! It’s lewd, lascivious, salacious, outrageous". Jackie Chiles is on it
September 19th, 2023 at 1:20 PM ^
"Who told you to put the balm on?"