Former Coach Says MSU Heads Fired Him To Save Their Jobs

Law360 (August 1, 2024, 4:52 PM EDT) — Former Michigan State University football coach Mel Tucker has filed a suit against the school’s top administrators alleging they fired him over baseless sexual harassment allegations to protect their own jobs after the Larry Nassar debacle.

In his lawsuit filed Wednesday in Michigan federal court, Tucker accused the university officials of breaching his contract and acting with “actual malice and in willful disregard” of his due process rights.

Money and race were the other motivating factors in his September 2023 firing over a personal relationship he had with Brenda Tracy, a prominent rape survivor and activist and the founder of a nonprofit organization, according to his lawsuit. The university wanted to evade its $80 million financial obligation to Tucker, he alleged.

“The defendants ultimately terminated plaintiff’s contract on transparently pretextual grounds without first providing plaintiff a hearing to confront the false accusation against him, as required under university rules and as a matter of law, in gross violation of plaintiff’s right to due process,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit named the university; former interim President Teresa K. Woodruff; MSU vice president and athletic director Alan Haller; the school’s general counsel, Brian Quinn; and board trustee members.

The defendants, the lawsuit alleged, weaponized their own investigative procedures “to advance their own interests in preserving their positions and reputations while engaging in a course of bad faith conduct designed to decimate the career and reputation of the plaintiff.” They were still reeling from the harsh criticism the school received for its handling of the Nassar scandal, the suit alleged, and were in fear of losing their jobs if another scandal erupted.

Nassar was the former team doctor for USA Gymnastics and a sports doctor at the school. He was convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of gymnasts and is serving a sentence of up to 175 years. The school was accused of ignoring and dismissing complaints about Nassar going back to the 1990s and it agreed in 2018 to pay his victims $500 million to settle multiple civil claims.

Tucker, who is Black, said his white counterpart faced more serious allegations but did not face similar actions.

Shortly after the Nassar case settled in 2018, a story was published alleging 16 football players had been accused of sexual assault or violence against women during the tenure of then head football coach Mark Dantonio. He was allowed to resign and to keep the $4.3 million bonus he received only a few weeks earlier to continue as head football coach, Tucker noted in his lawsuit.

The university hired Tucker as his replacement, offering him a contract valued at $5.5 million annually for six years, and in 2021 signed him to a 10-year, $95 million guaranteed contract, according to the lawsuit.

Tucker, who is married, said he began a relationship with Tracy after the university hired her in July 2021 to host a training session about sexual misconduct prevention for the men’s football team. His lawsuit alleged she accused him of sexual harassment after their relationship ended and that her true motivation was access to Tucker’s money as “she was in dire financial straits.”

Evidence including text messages between Tucker and Tracy “demonstrates that Tracy was acutely focused on plaintiff’s lucrative November 2021 contract extension and hoped to convince plaintiff to personally fund her business,” the complaint alleged.

Tracy contacted Quinn in November 2022, saying she was going to pursue a sexual harassment claim against Tucker with the school’s Office of Institutional Equity. She was seeking a financial settlement “without having to go to a hearing and inquired whether MSU would make a quick payment to settle the claim,” the complaint said.

The OIE is a department of MSU’s Office for Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance. However, Tucker argued the university did not have jurisdiction to investigate the claims because the relationship, and alleged related sexual harassment, happened outside the university and with someone not affiliated with MSU.

The university ignored Tucker’s protests that the investigation was improper and failed to collect crucial evidence, according to the complaint.

“The individual defendants violated plaintiff’s due process rights both pre-termination and post-termination,” the lawsuit said. “The individual defendants did not afford plaintiff meaningful notice and opportunity to be heard prior to adverse personnel actions, or post-termination.”

Tucker’s attorney, Rita Glavin of Glavin PLLC, told Law360 Thursday that MSU did not care about truth, facts, fairness, due process or the law when it came to her client.

“The damage MSU deliberately inflicted on Mel Tucker — a well-respected and successful football coach at both the college and professional level — was simply devastating,” Glavin said. “MSU’s conduct was not only shameful, it was illegal. Mel looks forward to vindication.”

The university declined to comment.

Tucker is represented by Rita Glavin, Lee Gayer and Leo Korman of Glavin PLLC.

Counsel information for the defendants was not available.

The case is Tucker v. Michigan State University et al., case number 1:24-cv-00795, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

By Elaine Briseno. Editing by Robert Rudinger.

https://www.law360.com/articles/1864543/former-coach-says-msu-heads-fired-him-to-save-their-jobs