OT: Mel Tucker under investigation for sexual harassment

PSAL_Hoops

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but what they did is not that so what's the issue? 2 consenting adults (he said she said) had phone sex. That's very different that what you state here. Her job has no bearing on two adults having fun on the phone. Poor judgement with her yes but if she was into it then don't see an issue

I think there is more here,
It does if she says it does and the recorded conversation reflects resistance on her end. That’s the thing with workplace harrassment - it doesn’t take that much to trigger it. She was a hired consultant so there isn’t as defined of a line between the work place and personal time. They are blended. Tucker was extremely stupid for getting involved with her.
 

RU848789

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For a lot. It’s not a slam dunk ‘for cause’ firing according to what we know.
Disagree. The "for cause" is pretty clear to me and always was, as per my inital post the day this broke and I think he'll settle for a low number, realizing that. You should just take the L here and move on as you said this won't be a "for cause" firing and it is.
 

Shelby65

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Disagree. The "for cause" is pretty clear to me and always was, as per my inital post the day this broke and I think he'll settle for a low number, realizing that. You should just take the L here and move on as you said this won't be a "for cause" firing and it is.
i said it won’t fly, not that they wouldn’t try. paying anything less than $79M is a win for MSU.

I’m not a psychologist, but i dont think a long phone call can be non-consensual especially for a professional in the anti-harassment space. we will find out what the experts think.
 

RU848789

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Make what up ? He admitted doing what may have been consensual. She’s saying it triggered PTSD from her prior victimization, and she was incapable of hanging up.

Can both stories be true ? I don’t think this will be a ‘for cause’ firing and MSU will settle and pay most of the contract.

i said it won’t fly, not that they wouldn’t try. paying anything less than $79M is a win for MSU.

I’m not a psychologist, but i dont think a long phone call can be non-consensual especially for a professional in the anti-harassment space. we will find out what the experts think.

No, you said, "I don't think this will be a 'for cause" firing," and it was - he was just fired for cause. Period.
 

fsg2_rivals

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i said it won’t fly, not that they wouldn’t try. paying anything less than $79M is a win for MSU.

I’m not a psychologist, but i dont think a long phone call can be non-consensual especially for a professional in the anti-harassment space. we will find out what the experts think.

What difference does the length of the call make?

The weird **** could have been at the end.
 

MADHAT1

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Drag queens are the worst…some of the most vile “entertainers” around…many are funny and talented, but so many are deranged loons…met so many at feathers on River Edge…drunk…rude…vile…drugged up…nasty
So Mel is being compared to a drag queen.
That might help MSU in proving their for cause case
 

Section124

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Drag queens are the worst…some of the most vile “entertainers” around…many are funny and talented, but so many are deranged loons…met so many at feathers on River Edge…drunk…rude…vile…drugged up…nasty
Feathers is still there. I have lived in Bergen County over 30 years and never knew what kind of bar it was until I drove past on my way home from Brooklyn Pizza in Hackensack one night a few years ago. Very unassuming place when you drive by during the day.
 

PSAL_Hoops

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i said it won’t fly, not that they wouldn’t try. paying anything less than $79M is a win for MSU.

I’m not a psychologist, but i dont think a long phone call can be non-consensual especially for a professional in the anti-harassment space. we will find out what the experts think.

How can you say it won’t fly? Do you have access to Michigan State’s anti-harrassment policy. You are still confusing criminal / civil law logic with an entity’s rights under employment law. The bar for the latter is much much lower. The language in his contract is pretty clear and technically gives them flexibility to get rid of him for any inappropriate behavior (anything he does that embarrasses the university - this clearly qualifies). Dollars to donuts their internal policy also covers this in some way. It doesn’t matter if they had a romantic relationship and then she broke it off and told him to beat it. If he then pursued even once after she said to leave her alone, that’d do it since she recorded the evidence.

His only leg to stand on here is that Michigan State will want this out of the press. I agree with Plum. This will settle for something so that Sparty can move on. No other reason. It will not be a tremendous number though as Mel has no case unless he can prove she set him up deliberately (with Michigan State involved somehow).

And I’ll add - the negative press on this would not be worth the hassle for Michigan State to conspire on this just to get out of his contract. Nevermind the risk of getting caught. Major reach.
 
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Shelby65

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No, you said, "I don't think this will be a 'for cause" firing," and it was - he was just fired for cause. Period.
You’re misinterpreting. I meant ‘in the end’ they won’t escape a very big payout (the ‘for cause’ won’t fly).

Obviously after all this stink they can’t keep him. I said that too.
 

PSAL_Hoops

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You’re misinterpreting. I meant ‘in the end’ they won’t escape a very big payout (the ‘for cause’ won’t fly).

Obviously after all this stink they can’t keep him. I said that too.

I guess it depends how you define “big”. $1-$2 M would certainly be a lot of “severance” for most of us to collect, but relative to his contract size, that’s peanuts. It would be shocking if he collects anything north of 20% of his outstanding contract IMO.

Regardless - it has nothing to do with “for cause” standing up. To justify “for cause”, Michigan State just has to point to behaviors that meet the criteria laid out in the contract he agreed to which says if he engages in behavior that clearly embarrasses the university they can can him.

All this said - even with it being a slam dunk, Mel has various avenues he can pursue to keep this going and make this a drawn out headache for Michigan State. He’ll apply for unemployment benefits which Michigan State will obviously contest (they have to because he only qualifies if they agree he wasn’t fired for cause). That spins off a whole arbitration process in its own right (every state is different). Michigan State will want this thing buried so that’s where negotiations will come in.
 

yesrutgers01

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My guess would be they settle for some sum of money- maybe just under 10 mil and Tucker's camp tries to get some sort of language in there that may ease the accusation to allow him to find work elsewhere.
Though, not sure who would hire him regardless.
 

mdk02

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My guess would be they settle for some sum of money- maybe just under 10 mil and Tucker's camp tries to get some sort of language in there that may ease the accusation to allow him to find work elsewhere.
Though, not sure who would hire him regardless.

Definitely settle, but my guess is somewhat lower than $10 million. Have to figure the cost of litigation could be justified at the number. They'd throw in conciliatory language.
 
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Shelby65

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I guess it depends how you define “big”. $1-$2 M would certainly be a lot of “severance” for most of us to collect, but relative to his contract size, that’s peanuts. It would be shocking if he collects anything north of 20% of his outstanding contract IMO.

Regardless - it has nothing to do with “for cause” standing up. To justify “for cause”, Michigan State just has to point to behaviors that meet the criteria laid out in the contract he agreed to which says if he engages in behavior that clearly embarrasses the university they can can him.

All this said - even with it being a slam dunk, Mel has various avenues he can pursue to keep this going and make this a drawn out headache for Michigan State. He’ll apply for unemployment benefits which Michigan State will obviously contest (they have to because he only qualifies if they agree he wasn’t fired for cause). That spins off a whole arbitration process in its own right (every state is different). Michigan State will want this thing buried so that’s where negotiations will come in.
yes i understand your “define big” point. i’m not talking peanuts, i mean yes north of 20%. I’d even say north of 50% unless Tucker relents.

there are Title IX privacy laws protecting both the accuser and accusee. that’s why it was kept quiet for months. but then it blew up. I think MSU screwed this up and will pay bigly (ha ha).
 

PSAL_Hoops

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yes i understand your “define big” point. i’m not talking peanuts, i mean yes north of 20%. I’d even say north of 50% unless Tucker relents.

there are Title IX privacy laws protecting both the accuser and accusee. that’s why it was kept quiet for months. but then it blew up. I think MSU screwed this up and will pay bigly (ha ha).
I think if that was the case they would’ve paid him already and been done. Michigan State’s lawyers clearly believe their case is solid. Otherwise why drag it out?
 

ejgonz

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I'm naive on the transfer portal rules, and in particular in this situation. If they elected to transfer, they would sit the rest of this year and save this year as a year of eligibility, correct? And it does not matter that they also (in one case) have a free covid year?
They’re still students so I assume they would stay at MSU through this semester and enroll elsewhere in January. I would think add/drop period is over and you can’t enroll at this point in a school year.

The 30 day period is for eligibility purposes.
 

MADHAT1

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I really don’t think so. Him being there hasn’t made much difference so far.

I think Elko and Leipold are always possible. Elko was at ND for a year only and jumped to A&M for more money and opportunity. It’s plausible he’d do the same for MSU. It’s a good job despite the off the field stuff.
two names that I just seen ( probably mentioned but I never noticed) are
Bill O'Brien, seems to be mentioned in every opening and David Shaw.
copying and pasting what I read
>Bill O'Brien, New England Patriots offensive coordinator: If Michigan State wants to go with an established head coach, O'Brien should be a candidate. He took over at Penn State in 2012 after Joe Paterno's career ended in scandal and kept the program afloat for two seasons while it was under heavy sanctions before leaving for the NFL.
O'Brien also won his only meeting against Michigan while Nittany Lions head coach, a 43-40 four-overtime thriller in 2013, which could give him extra points among Spartans officials.
David Shaw, former Stanford head coach: As an insider told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Michigan State will heavily vet its next head coach. The former 12-year Cardinal head coach Shaw is a high-character leader the university needs as it moves past Tucker's scandal.
Shaw was named to the NCAA Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence in 2016, the only college football head coach named to the committee. Brenda Tracy, the sexual assault prevention advocate who filed the Title IX claim against Tucker that led to his dismissal, was also named to the committee. Tracy spoke to the Stanford football team while Shaw was head coach in 2017.
In January 2018, Tracy applauded Shaw after the American Football Coaches Association invited him to speak at its annual conference, backtracking its initial invitation to disgraced former Baylor head coach Art Briles.<

My source:
https://www.yardbarker.com/college_...der_after_firing_mel_tucker/s1_13132_39314151
 
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Knight Shift

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Are there odds on who would move over to that insane asylum?

I'm betting Leipold is a hard pass on Michigan State, unless that puts him closer to home? He does not seem like the kind of guy who would jump jobs for more money. He also has the full backing of Kansas U and has things rolling there.

Elko-guessing no on him too.
As I suspected. Read what you want into his answer.

 
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As I suspected. Read what you want into his answer.


I still think Elko and him are possible until they flat out say no like Klieman did.

He even said I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that to Rome. If the answer is a simple “No I’m staying no matter what” then anyone asking anything doesn’t matter and he wouldn’t have to hope to avoid those questions. He could just shut all of them down.
 

MADHAT1

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I still think Elko and him are possible until they flat out say no like Klieman did.

He even said I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that to Rome. If the answer is a simple “No I’m staying no matter what” then anyone asking anything doesn’t matter and he wouldn’t have to hope to avoid those questions. He could just shut all of them down.
Leipold probably isn't planning to leave Kansas for MSU but didn't want to lock that in because of the possibility MSU will give him a once in a lifetime offer if they settle the Tucker mess and come out of it favorably.
 

Knight Shift

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I still think Elko and him are possible until they flat out say no like Klieman did.

He even said I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that to Rome. If the answer is a simple “No I’m staying no matter what” then anyone asking anything doesn’t matter and he wouldn’t have to hope to avoid those questions. He could just shut all of them down.
I didn't realize Rome was still around. I thought he died or got fired or something. He used to have a pretty good show Rome is burning.
 
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Leipold probably isn't planning to leave Kansas for MSU but didn't want to lock that in because of the possibility MSU will give him a once in a lifetime offer if they settle the Tucker mess and come out of it favorably.
He coached at Nebraska and has been toiling at “substandard” (for lack of a better word) jobs throughout his career. If a chance to get back up to that stage of a kind of Nebraska presents itself, I wouldn’t assume he wouldnt take it. He’s older and it could be a highlight to his career.
 
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Saint Puppy

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It does if she says it does and the recorded conversation reflects resistance on her end. That’s the thing with workplace harrassment - it doesn’t take that much to trigger it. She was a hired consultant so there isn’t as defined of a line between the work place and personal time. They are blended. Tucker was extremely stupid for getting involved with her.
Harassment for better or worse is very much open to interpretation - if one of the parties is made to feel uncomfortable, you have a potential harassment case. Though it may be hard to prove at times, it doesn't take much to open a case....or in this case have the presumption of guilt/poor choices in Tucker's case sink him. We now have a he said/she said case with the only thing definite is that Tucker made some poor choices which A LOT of people do unfortunately without any repercussions concerning their job. Whether there was actual harassment on Tucker's end we may never know.
 

Saint Puppy

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yes i understand your “define big” point. i’m not talking peanuts, i mean yes north of 20%. I’d even say north of 50% unless Tucker relents.

there are Title IX privacy laws protecting both the accuser and accusee. that’s why it was kept quiet for months. but then it blew up. I think MSU screwed this up and will pay bigly (ha ha).
Tucker's people probably come in asking for 60%-70% - Mich. State counters at 10%. They meet somewhere at 20%-25%. I can't see only a couple of million out of this - he will end up with $15-$20 million.
 

Knight Shift

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Article is paywall but for the comments in the tweet.


Dickert is an unfortunate name for a coach to go to a school that just got rid of a coach for you know.

Fleck? Really? OK. Spartans rowed triremes.

 
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Colbert17!

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I know it’s beating a dead horse but I still can’t believe how dumb Tucker was in this. It’s basically the equivalent of proactively flushing millions and millions of dollars down the toilet. So stupid.
See my post #11 above