FOIA lawsuit: Judge likely to give Mel Tucker’s contract details to Freep in 4 to 6 weeks
Both sides were in court yesterday. On top of Tucker’s $95 million guaranteed, MSU is burning tax dollars to pay one of the most expensive law firms in the state to fight the release of this? What in the world are they hiding?
Funny line on court record by Freep’s lawyer:
Free Press lawyer Herschel Fink argues the public has a right to know whether MSU gave the donors anything in return for their donations.
- "The head coach (Tucker) has kind of disappointed folks in his initial games. Who has the right to maybe change the coach? " Fink said in court.
https://www.axios.com/local/detroit/2022/10/26/msu-fights-shield-donor-gifts-tucker-contract
October 26th, 2022 at 6:34 PM ^
The Raimis went to MSU… Army of Darkness and Evil Dead are great.
October 27th, 2022 at 9:05 AM ^
Don't stop there: Darkman, Spidermans 1-3 (Spidermen?), and Dr. Strange itMoM were all great! Since he never played a down of Spartan football, I'm willing to claim Sam and Ted for all people in the great state of Michigan.
October 27th, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
Spiderman 3 was great? The one with Venom and emo Spiderman? GTFO.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:23 PM ^
Tuck's contract comin
October 26th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
Legally Guaranteed Transparency from Taxpayer Funded Public Institutions Comin'
October 26th, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
Any time a public university loses a FOIA request battle, the cost should come out of the top administrator's salaries. The level of resources these clowns spend on fighting transparency is ridiculous.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:35 PM ^
I doubt there’s even anything juicy in there that we don’t already know. They’re fighting FOIA on the principle that public universities shouldn’t have to disclose the details of their expenditures to the tax base.
It’s a level of corruption that transcends petty greed and self-preservation into the abyss of ideological entitlement.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
You've hit upon my dilemma. On one hand, I want to believe that MSU has decided to fight this because they are trying to hide something about Tucker's contract.* On the other hand, I know that university administrators often fight public disclosures and scrutiny on principle alone. Michigan's administration has notoriously opposed or dragged its feet when responding to public records requests.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
Title of post should be, "Tuck's Contract Details Coming"
October 27th, 2022 at 4:33 AM ^
Contract of Tuck comin’
October 26th, 2022 at 3:30 PM ^
I hope this is a fully guaranteed contract like Jimbo's. Giving that man $90mil in guaranteed money might be the greatest off the field "Sparty No" in history.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:32 PM ^
We already know the details:
They bought a lemon.
Paid a lot for a little.
Lil bro's desperation for relevance had them burn $95mm with a decade guarantee on a career .500 coach whose greatest accomplishment is beating big bro twice (once in a covid year)
Mel getting Saban $ is the ultimate lil bro move. His greatest football coaching career accomplishment is finishing 3rd in a CFB division.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:40 PM ^
What you described are the broad strokes. The details are hiding in "They" and "Paid". Someone will be paying $95m to Tucker. The question is who. Michigan State has intimated and implied that someone like Matt Ishbia picked up the tab for Tucker's contract. The Detroit Free Press wanted to see receipts.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:06 PM ^
I contend they knew it would get out eventually but it costs power drunk MSU trustees nothing to burn taxpayer cash on white shoe lawyers to fight it for as long as possible. The motive? To deflect from reckless spending while the university is in dire financial shape and they thought they could fake it till they made it. As in, they thought coach Tucker would again have 10 or 11 wins this season and nobody would care when it was finally revealed that the university is on the hook for $65 to 75 million of the $95 million.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:12 PM ^
Would the donors even be mentioned in his contract though? When lacrosse alums donated to fund the varsity team's scholarships and coaching staff, we signed an agreement with the university that we only needed to follow through on our funding commitment if they went varsity. But I doubt the coaching staff's contracts had any language as to where the money came from because it's the university who is on the hook, not the donor. Separately the university would need to secure the funding before offering the contract.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:29 PM ^
They probably wouldn't be. Which is why the Free Press' lawsuit seeks to compel MSU to release the donor agreements and related documents detailing how donors are (or are not) financing Tucker's salary.
October 26th, 2022 at 6:15 PM ^
You bring up an interesting point. Was whatever the two billionaire boosters offered towards the $95M cash upfront, just an annual pledge each of the 10 years, or a legally binding commitment? Not only may it have only been $20 to 30 million of the $95 million, what if they can simply walk away from the decade-long pledge due to changing fortunes and economic conditions? Donors don’t fulfill pledged gifts all the time. In other words, MSU would be holding the entire bag.
October 26th, 2022 at 7:56 PM ^
That’s why if MSU has any intelligence, they made a legally binding agreement with the donors providing the cash for Tucker’s contract. If they didn’t build in any legal guarantees to the outside funding, then they absolutely screwed themselves over big time and the idiots that did so absolutely should be fired.
October 26th, 2022 at 9:09 PM ^
Who is “MSU”? In five years the president and trustees will probably all be gone. You think they give a shit?
October 26th, 2022 at 9:14 PM ^
The FOIA is for the donations too. Word on the street is there's tons of stipulations and the donors bought tons of privileges for himself and his family.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:33 PM ^
I think they've surpassed the 3-4 fixes on the same problem, or 6 total repairs on this used car... Time to file for lemon law !
October 26th, 2022 at 3:36 PM ^
I heard it was 3-9 weeks
We still doing that?
October 26th, 2022 at 3:40 PM ^
Always amusing.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:41 PM ^
It's something like 42-27 days. Wait, wrong team.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:38 PM ^
Seems obvious it should be public - he's the highest paid state employee. Don't get why MSU would think they could hide it, or sign him to a contract they'd be embarrassed to have be public.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:44 PM ^
This all day. Who advised them that they could hide this?
October 26th, 2022 at 8:34 PM ^
IF there is anything they wish to hide (= not just being obstinate … just like M is with FOIA requests) the explanation that seems most plausible is it based on Title IX rules interpretations.
What I have seen that makes sense to me - (may or may not be correct) - was that any direct contributions for expenditures may be subject to some checks and balances between M and W programs. If MSU is getting a $95MM gift to pay Tucker’s salary that could require some “like” payments to other programs.
I do believe there are some “work-arounds” for infrastructure and/ or if extra $$ is paid via endowments (which is why so many UM jobs are at least partially endowed I suspect.). I would further guess that the amount of $$ required to endow a $9.5MM per year salary is over even what a few billionaires would like to donate so there is a chance they do not want this to become public — particularly with a (still active?) title IX lawsuit against MSU for cutting the W swim and dive programs.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:39 PM ^
It could be a precedent setting they’re fighting. It may not be this contract but anytime you can control what’s released lowers your liability and gives more freedom to how you conduct business. It’s most likely more of a principal matter. Businesses fight these things all the time that’s why a lot of wrongful terminations are closed up before discovery etc. State is just trying to limit its exposure most likely or that’s what a quality institution would do. Then again it is Michigan State we’re talking about.
Optics however look bad.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
The optics are terrible. MSU isn't a typical business it's a PUBLIC university, and the PUBLIC has the right to know. It's not a choice, and nobody should need high-priced attorneys to fight for public information. Harbaugh's contract was publicly available in less than a week.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:52 PM ^
I don’t disagree however it was an opportunity to share why a business or institution may engage in such procedure.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:42 PM ^
Then at least save your corporate ass-kissing for a thread that actually has something the fuck to do with business.
Everyone already knows why crooked institutions fight transparency. The conversation is taking place on a higher level than your comprehension.
October 26th, 2022 at 6:48 PM ^
Why does this make me think of the big lewbowski?
”You’re out of your element Donnie!”
”Walter, I love you, but sooner or later, you’re going to have to face the fact you’re a goddamn moron.”
October 26th, 2022 at 9:51 PM ^
"You're not wrong, Walter. You're just an asshole."
October 26th, 2022 at 4:29 PM ^
What corporations do to protect what they consider confidential or proprietary has no bearing on what state institutions can assert as exempt from production or "not public records." You do not get to "set precedent" when it comes to FOIA, you are subject to the statute and established precedent.
What liability does MSU have if Tucker's contract comes out? How would it affect how they operate? Every coach at a public school knows their contract (and many of their emails, etc.) are subject to disclosure.
This is pure PR stonewalling because they let Jimmy Sexton extort them for a huge coach-friendly contract. It is the dumbest tactic against FOIA requests by public bodies. It ends with a fat legal bill and a ruling against you mandating the information be released, which attracts more publicity about the underlying thing you didn't want to get out. The only benefits you can get with stonewalling what is clearly subject to production are if the requester is small peanuts enough, they won't sue you, or you can stall so that the underlying information becomes moot/less newsworthy when it comes out. Neither was ever going to happen here.
Source: I have litigated both on behalf of private corporations and represented public bodies in FOIA lawsuits.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:45 PM ^
Worth noting MSU men’s and women’s varsity swim programs were abruptly cancelled following the 2020-21 season. Brass claimed it was due to university-wide financial challenges. Swim families sued the university and I believe it’s still playing out in court. The claim you cancelled two swim programs because you’re broke doesn’t exactly pass muster if you found a bundle of loot for a football coach’s record-breaking guaranteed contract. Solution: Whisper two billionaires picked up the $95 million tab and never show anyone proof?
October 26th, 2022 at 4:56 PM ^
I’m assuming their hand is being controlled by a more influential entity and they’re doing it to save face with that “person.” If you’ve litigated these cases you’ll understand. Sometimes egos of people drive them to make unwise and costly decisions.
This is most likely one of them.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:18 PM ^
Maybe Ishbia is behind this, but he'd have to be pretty foolish to think the contract would never come out.
I do understand their misguided thinking, my point was more just how misguided it is and how much it can backfire.
October 26th, 2022 at 3:41 PM ^
More wasting of public funds - and for what purpose?
October 26th, 2022 at 4:04 PM ^
I mean, it could just be my own perception of these things, but the details of coaching contracts seem like - at least generally - they would be so mundane that most schools wouldn't particularly care if you knew them, at least within reason. Why MSU should fight this to the hilt is beyond me, as a result of that view admittedly. If anything, it causes me to wonder if the terms are so woefully lopsided that it would confirm that worst suspicions we had about this, that it was a weird desperation heave.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:45 PM ^
Based on their past conduct, I think MSU finds accountability so odious as to fight it on all fronts, regardless of cost.
It’s probably the audacity of a FOIA they’re fighting here, not the consequences. This is a giant legal “how dare you” from the ivory tower.
October 26th, 2022 at 7:09 PM ^
I don't see it as a principles thing. Socializing details of a 95 million contract for a high visibility employee (who might not be so good at his job) is the kind of situation that establishes principles more than following principles.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:10 PM ^
Gonna be real interesting week up in EL if this Saturday's game goes according to expectations and Michigan rolls past MSU. Up to now, any negative discussion about Tuck's contract has been mitigated by Sparty by pointing at his 2-0 record against us. But it we win big on Saturday they'll drop to 3-5 with very loseable games upcoming @ Illini and @ PSU and he's no longer undefeated against Michigan. Not sure 5-7 and missing the bowl game is what Spartan nation signed up for when they game Mel 95 large to take control.
<Insert "cant wait" animated gif.>
October 26th, 2022 at 4:15 PM ^
5 wins might be generous. And 4 wins would match John L. Smith’s worst season.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:16 PM ^
Wow, is a million one large now? Back in my day, a thousand was one large. Inflation, man...
October 26th, 2022 at 4:28 PM ^
MSU is at heart an agricultural school, and I hear they're growing and selling nature's medicinal herb out of the back doors of the ag campus greenhouses to pay for Mel's contract. WOTS is that Burning Couch Sativa, Tiny Tom's Rage Relaxer, and Draymond's Nut Punch are their most popular strains.
October 26th, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
Amazing post Don.
"TT's Rage Relaxer" saliva. Perfection.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:27 PM ^
Oh what a tangled web we weave...
October 26th, 2022 at 4:28 PM ^
It feels like this should be a very open and shut case that the contract for a high profile public employee should be ya know public. Definitely sketchy that MSU has been hiding this so viciously