Woodruff, MSU board say they didn't know details of Tucker allegations until Sunday
Top Michigan State University officials, including interim President Teresa Woodruff, revealed Monday that they were unaware of the specific allegations made against coach Mel Tucker for nearly 10 months until the details broke early Sunday in the media.
Woodruff and the university's board released a statement and made comments Monday acknowledging that she and the board were notified in December that a complaint had been made against the university's head football coach, but no specific details were given, including the identity of the accuser, as part of university protocols and best practices for Title IX and Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct-related cases.
"We didn't know the nature of the complaint itself," Woodruff told the Lansing State Journal on Monday.
For her part, the interim president acknowledged, however, that she became aware of the accuser's identity in late July following the completion of a preliminary report by a Title IX attorney, Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger of Ann Arbor, who had been hired by MSU to investigate the complaint.
The board, meanwhile, had been advised that "appropriate interim and personnel measures regarding Mel Tucker were put into place" during the investigation into the allegations.
"The board found out greater details surrounding the case via the media stories breaking on Sept. 10," the board said in its Monday night statement.
Woodruff and the board made the comments a day after a USA Today report exposed details of the investigation into claims against Tucker by Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault survivor and activist. Tracy accused him of inappropriate behavior, including performing a sex act while talking with her on the phone in April 2022. Tucker admitted to the act but said it was consensual, which Tracy denied.
A hearing on the matter will be held Oct. 5 and Oct. 6, and the case will be ongoing until a hearing decision is made and any potential appeals are completed, the interim president said in a letter to the campus community Monday. The hearing, which is closed to the public, functions as a form of bench trial, where witnesses can be called and questioned by both sides of the complaint.
Trustees are to receive final reports only after "the entire case resolution and all appeals processes are completed," according to the board.
The university suspended Tucker without pay on Sunday. He still is owed roughly $80 million from the 10-year coaching contract he signed in 2021. A clause allows the university to fire Tucker without paying him the rest of his contract if he “engages in any conduct which constitutes moral turpitude or which, in the university’s reasonable judgment, would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule” to the school.
Tucker broke his silence on Monday and pushed back against allegations accusing him of sexually harassing Tracy, calling them "completely false" and the university's upcoming hearing that may decide his fate a "sham."
Tracy responded to Tucker's statement by saying on social media Monday night: “This is just more of the same DARVO (Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender), deflection, victim blaming and lies that I’ve been dealing with now for months."