Heartbreaking news: The Michigan State’s head coach is suspended after it proved that he had an affair with his key player’s wife

Heartbreaking news: The Michigan State’s head coach is suspended after it proved that he had an affair with his key player’s wife

UPDATE: This article has been amended to reflect the discovery that MSU suspended Coach Mel Tucker without pay just hours after USA TODAY’s investigation was published.

To combat the culture of sexual violence in sports, two years ago, a well-known rape survivor and one of the top college football coaches in the country joined forces.

Their collaboration ought to have been beneficial. Rather, it has spiraled into a controversy as the activist charges the coach of engaging in the exact kind of behavior that they both advocated against.

Mel Tucker, one of the top paid coaches in sports, is the accused. He is the head football coach at Michigan State University. Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor who has dedicated her life to educating athletes about sexual abuse, is accusing him.

They established a professional rapport over the course of eight months that was focused on her advocacy work. Three times, Tucker extended an invitation to Tracy to visit the campus: once for an honorary captaincy ceremony during the team’s spring football game, and twice for a speech to his players and staff.

Nevertheless, Tracy claims in a complaint she submitted with the university’s Title IX office in December that is still being looked into, their relationship was shattered during a phone call on April 28, 2022.

Tracy claimed that Tucker made lewd remarks about her and masturbated for several minutes while Tracy sat still. Her 25-year-old scars from being raped by four men—two football players from Oregon State University, one from a junior college, and one high school recruit—were reopened by his violation, she claimed.