Update Saturday 9/30/23 12:43 Mtn
Waiting for the Nebraska game. The Fall colors are amazing. But I wouldn't want to travel through--doesn't google the distance--miles of wind and dust just to go there.
We had to wait a short while for the story of Mel Tucker to conclude. It went very fast for these things--we're going to fire you, I claim this and that as a defense, and you're fired anyway.
For those who are arguably not as old as I am nor as proficient a typist, this is the decade-and-still-going of empowerment. Who the hell is Brenda Tracy? She is someone who brought down Mel Tucker all by her lonesome. Hers is an unusual route to such heights but that is exactly the point: anyone can do it and for any reason. She may be the most successful rape victim protagonist in college football history, and what that means for her future is anyone's guess.
We may never have to deal with the question of who is in Mel Tucker's coaching tree. His resume of a year or two at college and pro levels, and with pedigreed names, is meaningless because if he survives in football it will be as starting over.
He leaves Michigan State with an overall win. They are rid of him quickly and at a reduced cost. Most of the noise about how the administration covered it up and it is the same old same old is just that.
MSU holds the high ground in what is left. This is what contracts are for. They are defending whoever or what authority did the smart for the short- and long term-thing.
All that is left is Tucker and his money-grubbing lawyers. They are all whores.
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https://www.theringer.com/features/2017/11/6/16599528/brenda-tracy-advocate-against-college-football-rape-culture
This is an enlightening crafting of Brenda Tracy's story. It is uplifting in that she seems to have found solutions to her problems and purpose in her life. These include her work, her therapy, her communicativeness, and her realizations about herself. These are of course work-arounds and the self esteem problems are still there.
There are people who just won't read it. For others maybe it will be a light skim--it is long and not always pleasant--and support for beliefs they have about just about anything conceivable.
For me and even more of us, it is a difficult read or listen and that is exactly Ms. Tracy's point. She also has learned it is a story that can get through noise and clutter because it is comes from a real person.
Something still bothers me--she told Mel Tucker she wanted a boyfriend to pay her? She is still consorting with the likes of Mel Tucker. I have concerns or questions. What is her motive? She put herself on that 36-minute call. All for an annual speaking gig?
For Mel Tucker it is clear his future at Michigan State University is over. He has already shown a tendency to fight and prolong and that will just make it worse.
The names Donnie Corley, Josh King and Demetric Vance resurfaced after a quick search. Auston Robertson was the worst of that (football) bunch. Mark Dantonio got out while he could, i.e., before he was formally implicated. Tom Izzo has had similar issues before or continuously. You can't even search the internet without more Michigan State student-athlete names coming up and getting in the way. There was Larry Nassar, whose legacy still lives and whose shadow will not go away. In February, 2023 there was a mass shooting (this is really something different).
Personally, I was surprised to see MSU as the 19th largest university in the country; I remember them as one of the biggest. They were the state school in a system--Western, Northern, Central, Wayne State etc.--any state except California would be envious of. Michigan State had a bit of an "ag school" reputation and history--one of the best--which was fine so as not to compete directly with U of M. They were the state school for an excellent education and rounded social life for the good to excellent college bound kids everywhere in the state. My high school, Grosse Pointe South, probably still sends 40 freshman there every year.
They know they have problems. It shows in their turnstile management and board. They are still trying. Izzo will retire eventually; they should never have hired a thug like Tucker.
Sports writers do not dictate these decisions nor do they control the millions of dollars involved. But the writing is on the wall. Almost always, when close-to-the-situation people start issuing suspensions, crossing t's and dotting i's--procedures surrounding a hearing--and bring back retired coaches, it foretells what will happen. "Fired" and "over" are not just rumors.
Logic suggests they have an out and they will use it.
Details, such as how much it will cost and how long it will take don't really matter. They will find the resources. Details around Tucker's excuses do not matter either. At least at first he didn't take it seriously and he lied. Whatever the reason(s), the circumstances are so disgusting he is simply no longer wanted around, let alone in a visible position of responsibility. The language is in his contract for a reason: he is an "embarrassment."
His family--probably affected--is none of my business. As far as I'm concerned, he is gone. It'll be slow but I don't want to watch. Some day he may pop-up as an assistant somewhere.
Back to our story and Brenda Tracy.
She could have and should have hung up the phone; she "froze," I get it. She should have never contacted him again. She should have acted in a professional, business-like manner--'this is someone I don't want to do business with.' She needed to decide if she wanted a social or intimate relationship; apparently she didn't. She needed to follow her own advice and set firm boundaries (or expectation(s).
There are a lot of Title IX speakers and consultants out there. There is a lot of competition. In 1998 she survived an awful rape experience; in 2016 (around the time of Donnie Corley et. al) she started her speaking business. I looked at her website; nothing special. There are no testimonials or evidence of success beyond sales. Seemingly all she does is give the same talk she has provided for years. Not on her site, but she probably sells "Set the Expectation" t-shirts as well. She has not expanded her business or skills. And, if you want to be professional and stay away from the likes of Tucker, rent an office, don't use your best friend as an assistant, and don't talk, chat, or text with clients personally.
And please, stop claiming you are still a victim.
Maybe someday I'll write some more about this. I could make a list. I wonder about the tens of thousands of football players and others who have sat through her speeches. How many have said she made a difference?
Seeking an administrative hearing with a bunch of lawyers is not something most people would do. She has repeatedly said in interviews that she is vulnerable. Her version went something like 'people treat me like sh*t because I feel like sh*t.' She frequently considered suicide in the past. There is something a off.
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But things have changed--actor Danny Masterson is going to prison for a long time because of rapes committed 20 years ago; Trump lost a "rape defamation" case. Is her message as relevant as it was 20 years ago? Is it unique?
In 1998 Tracy was a 24-year old mother of two dating a former Oregon State football player. She lived near the OSU campus and her sons were 5 and 4 at the time. She is attractive and as she has learned she was and is vulnerable. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time with rapists and very strong case.
Since then she became a nurse and earned a BA or BS and a MBA, and she has raised three children. She has traveled and has met and worked with many influential people. She is a moderate success. So why Mel Tucker?
Mel Tucker has been a disgrace and a ticking time bomb since his arrival. Luke Fickell turned them down and Tucker was the wrong hire. If you saw anyone as angry and aggressive in an alley you'd run. He is Juwan Howard without the humility.
$10,000 for a day of giving the same talk to different football teams isn't a bad gig. Given the turnover these days, it is guaranteed repeat business. But then Tucker made multiple employee-employer passes. He lied about where he was, a private plane, expense reports, all the while pressuring her to meet him privately. Then he yanked the speaking engagement, ghosted her, and used State staff to run interference. She says there was some kind of retribution threat. No surprise his marriage is broken. And he did what over the phone after midnight?
Tucker was the executive thug behind the Michigan tunnel assaults. This season already Tucker administered his own CTE protocol. After the win over Richmond he announced MSU won't adhere to the '24 hour rule' and will start preparing for Washington immediately.
Hours later, things changed dramatically.
Sports writers do not dictate policy, particularly at Michigan State--they hired him and were or are still behind him. Still, rumblings in major Detroit and Lansing publications are saying there is no way back from this. How can he even show his face?
It is hard to picture, especially without video or audio, this as criminal sexual harassment. I don't even see it as civil or intentional infliction of emotional harm. It is just insensitive and incredibly stupid professionally. It is... desperation. Over the phone? She may have lost one speaking engagement but others will follow. I think she can handle it.
They tried to buy her off and she said no.
A suspension, plus a loss at home to Washington next Saturday, will be humiliating--apparently the local writers can envision that. Also, they know Michigan State plays Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska in Big Ten crossover games this season. Factor in Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, MRI (Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana), and the Spartans are maybe 50-50 to finish with another losing season. The offseason--transfers--has not been kind to Tucker and crew this time around and most predictions have MSU finishing in the lower division.
They are saying this is a way to get out from under the a) the contract and b) the man. Michigan State has (another) interim president and that may be a lot to ask. Regents and voting will take time and create a spectacle. But a suspension, hearing, and then dismissal--dot the i's and cross the t's--is the quickest and best course
Of course he will negotiate and fight--pugilist until the end. He has shown before (e.g., his tunnel incident press conference) he will only get himself into more trouble. As a responsible D1 head coach Tucker is a fraud.
Yes, Ms. Tracy, things have changed. Some people won't. You are in the driver's seat on this one.
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"The idea that someone could know me and say they understand my trauma but then re-inflict that trauma on me is so disgusting to me, it's hard for me to even wrap my mind around it," Tracy told the USA Today. "It's like he sought me out just to betray me."
This is what led to the uproar and suspension and will probably lead to the end at Michigan State for Mel Tucker:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/09/10/michigan-state-football-coach-sexual-harassment-claim/70679703007/
ESPN with their FOIA requests couldn't do it. Kenny Jacoby did it when no one else could. The expose has been revised, updated, and improved.
Tucker was “absolutely shocked,” he would tell the university’s investigator. In subsequent correspondence, he and his attorney suggested Tracy’s motive: She held a vendetta against Spartans athletics because of its history of sexual misconduct scandals and falsely accused him for financial gain.
“To say that I have learned from this situation is an understatement,” Tucker wrote in a letter to the investigator on March 22. “I will never again allow myself to be duped by kindness.”
Language is a part of culture (anthropology) and personality (psychology). Ten months ago when MSU players kicked and swung helmets at Michigan players in the tunnel, I studied Mel Tucker's next-day press conference carefully. It was never published. He appeared in over his head. He was a gangsta in a large, educated, rule-based institution. The narrative just didn't hold up. Yes you want your team to be proud and aggressive, but you have to recognize all the other people and arguments against you. You cannot deflect, you must address and correct.
Here, in the above clip from USA Today, MSU problems and Tracy financial gain are bizarre, out of thin air arguments, as is his effort at victimization. They show someone who is not only willing to lie in an official proceeding, but someone who is out of touch or who doesn't even care. He is simply not in touch with this, or the other side of things. It is not going to work in the upcoming hearing either, so after that he'll be fired for cause.
"Tucker would tell her that he deletes his messages regularly because he receives so many." Same thing.
"Tracy said she did so in a panic after their last phone call, feeling she needed to cut all ties with him." Uh oh.
This incident with Tucker is reminiscent of the Hugh Freeze escort affair. It is as though he couldn't wait for the next business trip so he could get on with his personal business. It is probably not the first or only time.
At the hearing, planned for October, both sides will have the opportunity to present evidence and make arguments. Another outside Title IX attorney hired by the school will then decide whether the evidence shows that Tucker likely violated school rules.
Brenda Tracy is a very formidable opponent. Very few people have a network of such lawyers/friends. Probably no one else has the inside insight into the problem on college campuses that she does. She has been doing this for 25 years; many of the lawyers associated say the same thing (25 years) on their websites, but they don't visit campuses nationwide and text and socialize with the players and coaches.
Is this the only time things almost became "weird" for Ms. Tracy? It is possible she receives more texts than Mel Tucker.
It probably is not hard to find a Title IX complaint form online and submit it. (I have never done it.) If so, she has every right to do it. It appears to be a process most people would not go through--trying to prove a violation of school rules to another lawyer. At this point it is hard to argue that the complaint is not responsible for bringing down a $95 million college football coach.
I too am a complainer who understands the concept of institutional betrayal...
Here, someone in Mel Tucker's position has...
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