Getty Image / Michael Hickey
Disgraced former Michigan State coach Mel Tucker has had a rough last few weeks. And, somehow, he thinks that suing for wrongful termination is going to make it all better.
Of course, if I fumbled the bag on a 10-year $95 million, fully guaranteed contract like Mel Tucker did, I would be turning to desperate measures, too.
This all stems from an X-rated phone call between Tucker and Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault survivor who travels around doing speaking engagement on the subject of sexual assault prevention. According to Tracy, the call crossed the line into sexual harassment, and the evidence is pretty overwhelming.
Once the details were leaked late on week 2 Saturday, Michigan State suspended him without pay and eventually terminated Mel Tucker’s contract on Wednesday.
MSU’s termination letter to Mel Tucker. pic.twitter.com/cLIKVYrH87
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) September 27, 2023
And, today, he provided what could be construed as formal notice that he was going to sue Michigan State for his termination.
Mel Tucker's lawyers have sent an letter to Michigan State asking:
"in anticipation of litigation, the University, together with its representatives and agents, are hereby notified to preserve all electronic and hard-copy documents potentially relating to the litigation." pic.twitter.com/ubAY7MOvPv
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) September 28, 2023
Sure, Mel. I am not a lawyer, but this seems to be a fools’ errand.
Yes, there are definite reasons as to why Michigan State would have wanted to get out from under the Mel Tucker contract. Since their 11-wins season in 2021, they have not been good. The Spartans were 5-7 last year, and not expected to do much better than that this year. Recruiting had suffered, they lost more talent than they gained in the transfer portal, and it was pretty clear that they had signed him to a bad deal.
But, that’s not why he’s getting fired, or at least won’t prevent Michigan State from legally proving they fired him, in my opinion.
Michigan State is, more or less, firing him for conduct detrimental to the university. And, if this doesn’t qualify as conduct harmful to Michigan State, what would Mel Tucker have to do for it to be that?
This is a university that has only recently gone through the very-damaging Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. There’s no way they could afford to keep Mel Tucker around after this, even if he was doing a much better job in the win-loss column. He has to know that. Maybe he wants a settlement? That could be a good plan, for sure.