Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker is currently suspended without pay pending an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, but at least one insider feels that his time in East Lansing will soon come to an end.
In an interview with the “Big Ten Country” podcast on Wednesday afternoon, Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal bluntly assessed Tucker’s future with the Spartans.
“He'll never coach again at Michigan State,” he said. “Either way, the hearing will basically decide how tricky this gets financially to some degree, I think.”
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Couch pointed to the ethical clauses in the contract that could potentially allow Michigan State to fire Tucker without paying him the remaining salary.
“There's all sorts of stuff there that just for the behavior he's admitted and then some things that don't really line up in his statements, that he's probably in trouble,” he said.
According to Tucker’s contract, he can be fired “if he engages in any conduct which constitutes moral turpitude or which, in the university’s sole judgment, would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule upon the university.”
Tucker was suspended without pay on Sunday after the publication of a story in USA Today about his alleged sexual harassment of activist Brenda Tracy during a phone call in 2022.
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A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5-6, according to officials, to determine whether Tucker violated the university’s policy on sexual harassment and exploitation.
Tucker has denied the allegations.