In response to a sexual abuse scandal, Michigan State fired head football coach Mel Tucker last season, and Tucker’s civil privileges, breach of contract, and slander lawsuit against his former employer are now at the center of Tucker’s case.
Next Wednesday, Michigan State and users of its management and board of trustees motioned to ignore the petition, which asserts Tucker suffered “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damage. Two days later, U. S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney said he read the accused ‘ activity and, without expressing a perspective on the motion’s virtues, the Michigan-based determine gave Tucker the “opportunity to solution” alleged deficiencies by filing an amended problem.
Tucker filed a lawsuit in July, alleging that Tucker and the university and its rulers were acting unfairly against him “on the foundation of his race.” According to the 52-year-old, the defendants “ruined the career of one of the most popular and prosperous Black head coaches in university football.” After a college merchant, federal sexual abuse victims rights advocate Brenda Tracy, accused him of improper conduct, Michigan State fired him. Tucker allegedly masturbated during a telephone call with Tracy in 2022, insisting that he was having a sexual relationship.

Through Rita M. Glavin and various counsel, Tucker maintains Michigan State’s officials conspired to control and interfere with a” supposedly separate” research into his alleged wrongdoing. He claims that they were motivated to “weaponize” analytical procedures and induce him to be fired. The school was relieved of paying Tucker about$ 80 million of the$ 95 million contract he signed in 2021 because of the” for cause” designation. Tucker became the highest-paid dark coach in college basketball record after earning the Big Ten Coach of the Year award in 2021.
The contract contained a clause that said the school may terminate the offer for reason if Tucker engaged in “any conduct” which constituted “moral turpitude” or which, in Michigan State’s “reasonable judgment”, had “tend to deliver disrespect, contempt, or ridicule upon the University”. The school determined Tucker’s conduct triggered this clause.
However, as Tucker sees it, Michigan State manufactured” transparently pretextual grounds” as a ruse to save$ 80 million by creating what he described as an “entirely mutual, private event between two adults living at opposite ends of the country.” He also asserts that when their programs faced “far more serious allegations,” the school treated their” white counterparts” ( in particular, former head football coaches Mark Dantonio and current head men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo ) much more favorably. Tucker makes reference to sexual assault allegations made against Spartans football players while Dantonio was the coach and alleged recruiting violations, but the school supported Dantonio and continued to work with him after he retired in 2020. Izzo’s program also faced allegations of sexual and violent incidents, but Izzo was retained.

According to Jones Day and Zausmer and other Jones Day and Zausmer attorneys, the lawsuit by Michigan State fails to state plausible allegations. Due to the fact that Tucker’s employment contract established the process he was owed, the school maintains that Tucker’s due process claims are unfounded. In support of the claim that” the availability of a state breach-of-contract remedy defeats the due-process claim,” Michigan State uses precedent from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Michigan State also contends that the fundamental legal doctrine that supports Tucker’s conspiracy theory is applied. The school emphasizes that Tucker’s complaint “offers nothing more than conclusory allegations,” while conspiracy claims require pleading with specificity.
The school is also dismissive of Tucker’s contention that he is the victim of race discrimination. Michigan State argues that Tucker being black “does not by itself” establish an inference of discrimination, “especially” when” the most obvious explanation” for his firing was not race but rather “his own admitted misconduct”. Tucker’s complaint also mentions that the school fired him” for financial reasons” rather than” for racial reasons.”
Further, Michigan State asserts that Tucker is omitted from making a plausible breach claim because the termination clause specifically gave the school the authority to decide in its own “reasonable judgment” whether Tucker engaged in misconduct. The school says the provision “does not allow a court to second-guess that determination”.
Michigan State adds that even if its determination were reviewable, it was easily justified. Tucker, the school contends, engaged in “misconduct towards a sex-abuse survivor and trainer who had been retained to provide sexual-misconduct training to the football team that he coached”. Tucker also “admitted” ( as the school puts it ) that he made comments regarding Tracy’s “appearance” and partook in extramarital “flirtation”. Further, the scandal brought “public disrespect, contempt, and ridicule upon the University”.
The Western District of Michigan case may be pending for some time before returning to the U.S. District Court. It is yet to be seen whether Tucker’s coaching career will resume. He previously served as the University of Colorado’s head coach for one season and the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears. Prior to the scandal, he was regarded as a rising star in the coaching ranks. The Spartans, who are now coached by Jonathan Smith, are 4-4 (2-3 in the Big Ten ) thus far in the 2024 season. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the team on Saturday.