Trotter: Mel Tucker should be fired for insensitivity, stupidity

Editor’s Note: This story is included in The Athletic’s Best of 2023. “I, with the support of administration and board, have provided Mel Tucker with written notice of intent to terminate his contract for cause,” MSU athletic director Alan Haller said in a statement. Let me count the ways: — Tucker has admitted to making sexual comments and masturbating during an April 2022 phone call with Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor whom he brought on campus twice to address his players, coaches and staff about sexual violence, then another time to be an honorary captain at the Spartans’ spring game. This says it all, really: pic.twitter.com/GgA7jIV7RM — Nicole Auerbach September 18, 2023 — He engaged in said behavior despite knowing his predecessor, Mark Dantonio, retired after a yearlong Detroit Free Press investigation discovered four cases of sexual assault involving seven MSU football players. The suspension was pending the results of the Title IX investigation, which has a resolution hearing set for the week of Oct. 5, but university officials ultimately decided the behavior was sufficient grounds to proceed with termination because Tucker’s contract includes a provision that allows the school to be void the agreement if he engages in activities that could embarrass the university.