Michigan State football to fire former Dogs DC

Mel Tucker, whose three-year tenure as Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator ended after the 2018 season, will be fired as head football coach at Michigan State University. Tucker had been suspended without pay amid allegations of sexual harassment.

From the Associated Press…

Michigan State informed suspended football coach Mel Tucker on Monday that he will be fired without compensation for misconduct involving activist and rape survivor Brenda Tracy in a sordid case that dates back more than a year.

“The notice provides Tucker with seven calendar days to respond and present reasons to me and the interim president as to why he should not be terminated for cause,” athletic director Alan Haller said in a statement released by the school.

If Tucker does not present “sufficient reasons to dispute” multiple contract violations, the school will fire him Sept. 26, three days after the program’s Big Ten opener in what was hoped to be a bounce-back year for the Spartans.

Tucker is in the third year of a $95 million, 10-year contract and if he is fired for cause, the school would not have to pay him what’s remaining on his deal. Tucker, his agent and his attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Haller said the decision does not affect the ongoing investigation into Tracy’s allegations of sexual harassment, which is being handled by the school’s office for civil rights.

Tracy said Tucker sexually harassed her during a phone call in April 2022. Several months later, Tracy filed a complaint with the school’s Title IX office and the investigation was completed in July. A hearing is scheduled for the week of Oct. 5 to determine if Tucker violated the school’s sexual harassment and exploitation policy and a ruling could take up to 60 days.

Tracy’s allegations were made public by USA Today earlier this month. The 51-year-old Tucker, who said he is estranged from his wife and has two children, said the allegations against him are “completely false.” Tucker insisted that the intimate phone call he had with Tracy was consensual and outside the scope of both Title IX and school policy.

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