Monday saw the Michigan State Spartans announce their intention to fire head football coach Mel Tucker. They had previously suspended Tucker around an investigation into sexual harassment claims made against him by Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault survivor who now works on educating teams and players about sexual assault (and had done so at Michigan State). Tucker came out with a fiery statement on this Tuesday, saying “Ms. Tracy manufactured false allegations against me. MSU ignored its own policies in pursuing a biased investigation into them,” and more. And Tracy has now offered her own statement:
Here’s that full statement:
“This is just more of the same DARVO, deflection, victim blaming and lies that I’ve been dealing with now for months. Coach Tucker has been delaying and trying to stop the investigative process since the beginning. He can’t afford to go to a hearing that determines credibility of the participating parties. I believe this statement is his way of getting out of participating in the hearing. October 5th and 6th I will be present for the hearing and make myself available for cross examination by his attorney Jennifer Belveal. I invite him to do the same.”
As per Tucker’s particular claims accusing Tracy of a role in leaking this to the press, she already disputed that and said she didn’t appreciate the leak:
It’s clear that Tucker will not be returning as Michigan State’s coach. But there is still a lot to be determined here, including if Michigan State will actually be able to fire Tucker without paying out the rest of his 10-year, $95 million contract and if he’ll file his own lawsuit in response. We’ll see how that plays out. But it’s certainly notable to have both Tucker and Tracy speaking out in such strong terms.
[T-Bob Hebert on Twitter]