Michigan State suspends Mel Tucker without pay amid sexual harassment allegations

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Michigan State suspended football coach Mel Tucker Sunday amid an investigation after he was accused of sexually harassing a rape survivor last year.

Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller made the announcement following conflicting reports Tucker was going to be fired and/or suspended. He added that Tucker was suspended without pay.

Tucker has been the head coach of the Spartans since 2020 and signed a 10-year, $95 million contract extension in November 2021.

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)

Michigan State secondary coach Harlon Barnett will serve as the interim head coach. Former coach Mark Dantonio is returning as an associate head coach. 

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