Opinion contributors
Ever since USA TODAY broke the news last month about Michigan State University’s investigation into Mel Tucker’s alleged sexual misconduct, the former football coach has been playing defense.
Statements from Tucker or his legal team have vehemently denied allegations he sexually harassed Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and activist the coach had hired to speak to his team about sexual violence. The alleged harassment – an April 2022 phone call with Tracy during which Tucker masturbated and is accused of making sexual comments without her consent – was not harassment at all, according to Tucker.
While he has admitted to masturbating during the call, Tucker claims it was consensual phone sex.
No matter what happened in that phone call, Tucker’s public behavior since then has gone well beyond just denying sexually harassing Tracy.
In his first public statement addressing MSU’s investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct, Tucker went on the attack. He accused Tracy of fabricating the harassment to “revive her career” and “destroy” his life, and called the allegations “character assassination.”
Other swipes at Tracy are sprinkled throughout the rest of the statement: Tucker implied she provoked him into having phone sex (and blames her for neither objecting nor hanging up the phone), claimed she spread rumors about his marriage, and propped up the idea that Tracy was motivated by greed.
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