Michigan State Announces That Process Has Started To Fire Mel Tucker For Cause After Sexual Harassment Investigation

Michigan State has made the decision to start the process of terminating Mel Tucker for cause, after an investigation into sexual harassment claims.

The school previously suspended Tucker without pay, while the school completed its investigation into the allegations. Just eighteen days later, the school has announced it has started the process to fire him with cause.

"I, with the support of administration and board, have provided Mel Tucker with written notice of intent to terminate his contract for cause," AD Allen Haller announced. "This notification process is required as part of his existing contract. 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.

"This action does not conclude the ongoing Office for Civil Rights case; that rigorous process will continue."

Mel Tucker Contract Situation With Michigan State

In regards to Tucker’s contract, he was due to be paid $95 million over ten years, after signing an extension in 2021. When hired in East Lansing, Tucker’s contract was slated for $5.5 million per year, until that lucrative extension following his first season. 

There is a stipulation for where Tucker could be fired for cause “if the coach engaged in any conduct which constitutes moral turpitude or, which in the university’s reasonable judgment, would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule.”

Tucker would not receive any of his buyout if fired for cause, which is why the school is presenting him with an opportunity to plead his case. This is just a formality in the process to terminate Mel Tucker.

Mel Tucker head coach of the Michigan State Spartans looks on before a game against the Richmond Spiders at Spartan Stadium on September 09, 2023 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

Michigan State Investigated Sexual Harassment Claims From Brenda Tracy

Over the course of her relationship with Michigan State, Mel Tucker invited Brenda Tracy to campus three different times over an eight month period. 

But, during a phone call on April 28, 2022, this relationship changed. According to a report she filed with the Michigan State Title IX office in December, ‘Tucker made sexual comments about her and masturbated’ while the pair were on a phone call together. Over the course of the investigation, Mel Tucker ‘acknowledged masturbating on the call but said Tracy grossly mischaracterize the episode’, according to the report. Mel Tucker claims that it was consensual “phone sex.”

Mel Tucker gave a statement to the school during the investigation, saying he did not engage in any misconduct.

“Ms. Tracy’s distortion of our mutually consensual and intimate relationship into allegations of sexual exploitation has really affected me,” Tucker wrote in a March 22 letter to the investigator. “I am not proud of my judgment and I am having difficulty forgiving myself for getting into this situation, but I did not engage in misconduct by any definition.”

What Happens Now For Mel Tucker, Michigan State?

Both parties will now engage in the language of the contract most likely, with Michigan State following procedure with its letter to Mel Tucker. The school has found enough information to fire him for cause, not needing to wait until the October hearing on the allegations.

In Michigan State's letter to Tucker's attorneys, they stated part: "It is highly inappropriate and improper to engage in extra marital sexual conduct with a vendor, let alone an honorary captain of the football team, whose mission is to educate coaches and student athletes and specifically the university's football student athletes under your direction, on sexual misconduct."

The university also wrote: "Your admitted actions have decidedly brought public disrespect, contempt, and ridicule on the university. Given your admitted actions, the university may terminate the agreement under the early termination provision."

Here is the full letter, broken up into four parts for your reading.

Now, I would imagine Mel Tucker and his attorney's will fight this letter and the reasoning for being fired for cause. After the allegations by Brenda Tracy were made public, this was a ticking clock in-terms of Mel Tucker keeping his job.

We will continue to follow the story. OutKick has reached out to Mel Tucker's attorney's for a statement.