Michigan State fires Mel Tucker amid sexual harassment allegations

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Michigan State fired head football coach Mel Tucker Sunday, hours after he was accused of sexually harassing a rape survivor in 2022.

The Action Network first reported Tucker’s dismissal. OutKick later confirmed the news. 

The Spartans’ will reportedly make secondary coach Harlon Barnett their interim head coach while former head coach Mark Dantonio is expected to assist in some way.

The allegations against Tucker surfaced earlier in the day in a USA Today report. According to ESPN, he was under investigation over the allegations.

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Michigan State coach Mel Tucker walks the sideline during the second half of a game against Richmond Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault-prevention advocate who was gang raped by four college football players in 1998, filed the complaint against Tucker and alleged the coach had asked whether she would date him if he weren’t already married and masturbated without her consent during a phone call, according to USA Today.

Tracy talked to the Michigan State football team in August 2021 and April 2022 about preventing sexual violence and misconduct and was named an honorary captain for the team’s spring football game that April. She said afterward that Tucker had called her multiple times after the visit and even brought up meeting him alone, according to USA Today.

Tracy said she filed a complaint with the university’s Title IX office in December after a phone call in which Tucker allegedly made sexual comments and masturbated, according to the report. Tucker reportedly provided a conflicting