Mel Tucker formally responds to Michigan State's notice of intent to fire him for cause

Michigan State coach Mel Tucker and his lawyers have issued a response to the university’s notice of intent to fire him for cause, The Athletic‘s Nicole Auberbach reported. The coach’s lawyers claim that the school adopted allegations against Tucker “without meaningful review of the facts” and does not have cause to fire him.

Tucker is accused by noted anti-sexual violence advocate and rape survivor Brenda Tracy of making several sexual comments while masturbating during a phone call on April 28, 2022. He is currently suspended without pay.

Michigan State announced last week that it intends to fire Tucker for cause by Sept. 26 unless reasons are presented why it shouldn’t. His lawyers attempted to offer several of those reasons in the 25-page response to the school. They also asserted that the phone sex that occurred was consensual, which Tucker himself has said.

“(Tucker) did not engage in unprofessional or unethical behavior or ‘moral turpitude’ by any stretch of the imagination,” the letter reads. “In fact, as discussed below, under Michigan law, assault and battery does not even constitute ‘moral turpitude,’ and the flimsy foundation of the university’s finding — a private relationship involving mutual flirting and one instance of consensual phone sex — falls far short of the mark.”

Mel Tucker and his lawyers have formally responded to Michigan State's notice of intent to fire him for cause. (These are all parts of the process outlined in his contract, btw.)

Here's the summary from the first two pages of the document: pic.twitter.com/ia6G3gb7fB

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) September 25, 2023

The letter goes on to call MSU’s investigation into the matter “terribly flawed, unfair, biased and devoid of due process.” It also notes that the school failed to protect the identity of Tracy, whose named was allegedly leaked to a reporter by a university employee.

Mel Tucker’s lawyers continued, stating that Michigan State does not have the authority to investigate the relationship between him and Tracy. Addressed to athletic director Alan Haller, it seems to call him out at one point.

“The university’s initiation and maintenance of an investigation into a personal relationship between Tucker and a one-time vendor — despite no jurisdiction to do so — is the true genesis of the university’s action,” the letter states. “Tucker fully cooperated and told the truth in that investigation, without reservation. If the university is ’embarrassed’ about Tucker’s truthful disclosure of personal details, it flows from the impropriety of the investigation itself.

“If the university investigated your private life or that of any other employee, it would certainly find something ’embarrassing’ to presumably justify your or their termination.”

The letter claims that Michigan State’s decision is “motivated by other reasons.” The school would avoid paying Tucker the remaining $79 million he is owed according to his contract if the attempt to fire him for cause is successful.

“The university’s proposed termination of the Agreement, without even waiting for the results of the investigation to determine whether Tucker even violated any policy, based upon information he provided seven months ago, and days after Tucker asked for FMLA leave for a serious health condition, further demonstrates that there is no ’cause’ for termination,” the letter says. “Rather, the decision is pretextual and motivated by other reasons.”

Tucker released a statement last week calling the decision to fire him for cause a “miscarriage of justice.” Now with the additional response from his lawyers, this looks like the start of a lengthy legal battle between the coach and Michigan State.