USA TODAY article on Tucker delaying and how they got the scoop
USA TODAY article about Tucker delaying the case. The second half clears up how USA Today got the story and why it was published when it was. We don't have to guess anymore.
Brenda Tracy informed a USA TODAY reporter about the case in May 2023. Tracy had known the reporter since 2017 from his previous coverage of sexual misconduct in sports and disclosed details of the case confidentially.
In late June, Tracy agreed to give USA TODAY exclusive access to the case file to write a story, on the condition that the news organization wait until the case ended to publish it. Letting the process run its course was important to her, she said. But given the case's high-profile nature and the school’s history of mishandling sexual misconduct cases, she said she wanted a back-up plan in case details became public sooner.
In early September, USA TODAY Network reporters in Michigan heard Tracy’s name and specific details about the case mentioned in connection with the rumors. They shared the information to USA TODAY without identifying their sources, and USA TODAY relayed the information to Tracy.
Believing someone at Michigan State had leaked her name, Tracy gave USA TODAY consent to publish the story on Sept. 10.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:03 PM ^
Brenda Tracy is well-informed of how this stuff plays out and handled it with finesse.
Mel should probably go slink into a cave for the rest of eternity.
Whoever linked her name definitely wasn't thinking about her at all. I heard Valenti (I know) saying there were rumors around MSU that Mel wasn't very involved/committed to the program in the way a coach should be.
Somebody wanted him gone.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:23 PM ^
If you're Mel Tucker why would you be committed to the program? You're money is fully guaranteed. There's no incentive for success and you're locked in for 10 years.
Just do the bare minimum and keep cashing big ass checks
September 14th, 2023 at 9:32 PM ^
In hindsight, a Big Ten championship last year might have given him some more leeway on getting to sexually harass school vendors. It would at least make him more hirable for another school somewhere.
September 15th, 2023 at 4:58 AM ^
This may be true, but these coaches are such competitors I'd be surprised if this was truly his attitude.
It does hurt me to defend him...
September 15th, 2023 at 5:00 AM ^
it’s not. nobody, least not a football coach, does this.
September 15th, 2023 at 7:41 AM ^
I don’t know who was more committed to their program - Scott Frost or Mel. Neither seemed to be very effective role models..
September 15th, 2023 at 9:40 AM ^
Brian said it on WTKA yesterday in jest, but would you rather make $80M coaching MSU for the next several years, or $20M taking a buyout and going away and not working? I don't have the football coach mindset, but personally the second option seems pretty good.
September 15th, 2023 at 4:20 PM ^
You also have to factor in taxes, more than like a divorce settlement, probably a lawsuit settlement with Brenda Tracy, attorney fees, along with the fact that more than likely no one will ever hire you again. Looking at all of that, option B is still a lot of money but not Scrooge McDuck rich.
September 15th, 2023 at 11:01 AM ^
He's not committed to the program, but it's very likely he's some sort of narcissist and always casts himself as a hero or victim, never the one in the wrong.
September 15th, 2023 at 1:44 PM ^
He took a job to mold these players into football players and hopefully better men and that is why he should be committed. He signed a contract saying he would do his best. Unless MSU did something to make him not committed and then once he wasn't he should have worked a buyout and let someone else coach. I hate MSU but it doesn't t matter if it is MSU, CMU or whatever school you should always be committed to the players and give them you all.
September 15th, 2023 at 7:31 PM ^
Well he couldn't even do the bare minimum to cash those checks lmao.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:03 PM ^
No doubt Mel saw that coming.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:31 PM ^
Phrasing!
September 15th, 2023 at 3:11 PM ^
If only he could have kept the seeing to himself!
September 14th, 2023 at 9:15 PM ^
So Tucker barely acknowledged the investigation, and, knowing that he was likely to be suspended, wanted to earn as much as possible before the hearing. For a guy who steals his assistants’ bonuses, that tracks.
And Ms. Tracy, knowing full well that MSU was likely to fuck her over, prepared for this whole clusterfuck.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:27 PM ^
Mel keeps looking worse with every twist in the story. What a charlatan.
And he pulled the wool over Sparty’s eyes to the tune of 90 mil thanks to the luck of pulling Kenneth Walker from the portal and the fact that the folks running MSU are utter chumps.
#horseshitcoach. #arrogantasshole. #onbrandsparty.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
I will never blame somebody for getting paid as much as humanly possible…but my god he ruined the best thing anyone ever had.
If you’re going to be fabulously wealthy for the rest of your life, you’d think that NOT fucking it up would be Priority 1 at all times
September 14th, 2023 at 9:47 PM ^
Tug had no respect for sparty after he conned them out of 95M. Spent half his time in Vegas.
September 15th, 2023 at 9:09 AM ^
I lived in Lansing for years. Believe me when I say that I would 100% get out as often as possible just to maintain my sanity. Not blaming Tucker for this either.
September 15th, 2023 at 8:54 AM ^
September 14th, 2023 at 9:29 PM ^
The funny thing is that MSU leaked the story to a publication that already had the story.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Could only happen to the idiots running the show up there. Cue the Benny Hill theme.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:35 PM ^
Funny? I don’t believe in coincidences. Something stinks. It’s USA Today.
Isn’t it ironic that the same news outlet who got the story from Ms. Tracy also happen to be the same one who found out about the rumors? Heck of a coincidence. Something tells me they went “looking” for a leak and they found it. Because they knew they could take that leak back to Miss Tracy and convince her to give them permission to release the story.
Unless and until they could publish it, the story isn’t worth anything to them. And they were concerned the story might get out elsewhere first (they might get scooped by ESPN), they knew they had to convince her to release the story. Shady reporters.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:41 PM ^
User name checks out.
Interesting theory about the network of Gannett reporters trying to smoke out a leak inside MSU. I mean, heck, maybe it never happened and they lied about that to Tracy.
But Gannett owns, like, all the papers in Michigan? It's not unlikely that if someone from MSU wanted to leak a story that it would be to a Gannett reporter.
September 14th, 2023 at 11:14 PM ^
There was no "leak." Essentially, USA Today/Gannett leaked it to themselves.
September 14th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^
That is one possibility. But that is not what is being reported. The USA Today story says Michigan reporters heard other sources talking about Tracy and details of the case (a.k.a., the leak). So your assertion is that USA Today, or Gannett Michigan reporters, are liars and frauds.
September 15th, 2023 at 6:47 AM ^
That was my sense. It seemed like Dan Murphy from ESPN was close to publishing something. That makes the midnight release time make more sense.
September 15th, 2023 at 10:31 AM ^
"Something tells me they went “looking” for a leak and they found it."
You write this in a way to imply some sort of sinister conduct, however, finding confirming and/or contradictory sources is good journalism. Accumulating multiple sources and then coming back to an off the record source to see if they now want to be on the record is just good journalism. Using all these elements to get the story to a publishable state as soon as practicable is just good journalism.
September 15th, 2023 at 3:13 PM ^
Except that I think Tracy would claim her cooperation with USA Today was contingent on them protecting her identity until after it became public through “legitimate” means.
September 15th, 2023 at 9:41 AM ^
....And then got caught unprepared for a press conference when the media released details that MSU denied knowing.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:45 PM ^
oh, that's mel. navy uni's tonite are top shelf, memphis making the lions look good. cade seems to still really not like sparty, and that's good considering they play soon.
September 15th, 2023 at 7:09 AM ^
Why do you talk like a bot?
September 15th, 2023 at 7:35 AM ^
It's like reading one of my Mom's Facebook posts
September 15th, 2023 at 9:20 AM ^
He's a coach. He can't lower himself to communicate normally with mortals.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:47 PM ^
We never had to guess.
The story still doesn’t clear up the central question concerning the source of the leak.
September 14th, 2023 at 9:52 PM ^
Well, we had to guess if we wanted to understand what happened. The statements from Tracy and her lawyer on Tuesday were really confusing, even though they said their statements were for clarity and adding context.
As for the leak, since the "local" reporters wouldn't reveal their sources, the leak was clearly done as an anonymous source, so the story isn't going to say. That's for MSU to figure out with its internal investigation. Don't hold your breath.
September 14th, 2023 at 10:13 PM ^
Guessing doesn’t create understanding. It creates confusion.
September 14th, 2023 at 10:27 PM ^
Okay. It doesn't create understanding, but it can create a plausible, coherent narrative in the absence of one.
September 15th, 2023 at 4:52 AM ^
And that narrative it creates could be a false one. That’s how you end up with victim blaming and/or unjustly ruined reputations.
September 14th, 2023 at 10:01 PM ^
It is plausible that Tracy leaked it and she doesn’t know she leaked it.
September 14th, 2023 at 10:11 PM ^
Like a Tyler Durden situation?
September 14th, 2023 at 10:01 PM ^
It is plausible that Tracy leaked it and she doesn’t know she leaked it.
September 15th, 2023 at 12:03 AM ^
No way did she leak it twice.
September 15th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
Maybe I have a sick sense of humor....But this really made me laugh.
September 14th, 2023 at 10:02 PM ^
My takeaways from that article:
1. MSU knew this meeting was supposed to happen before the season, but didn't say anything about that on Sunday, or since.
2. If they would have held to their 90-day timeline to investigate this, Tucker could've been cleared or fired around Spring Practice. If this is on Tucker delaying, I don't see how his obstruction was not a fireable offense.
Either way, Sparty could have been through with this months ago.
September 14th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
It's really bizarre to me that they wouldn't have made sure that it got wrapped up before the season. I think they honestly just closed their eyes and hoped for the best. I think they didn't get involved not because of any internal MSU policies but because they were just incredibly indecisive and preferred to get backed into a corner and figure it out then rather than be proactive in anyway.
September 15th, 2023 at 6:46 AM ^
I think this is 100% what happened. That university is really run by some complete asshats. Mel won’t be only one to lose their job in this. Looking forward to the next hire from the Krusty the Clown show
September 15th, 2023 at 10:20 AM ^
It doesn't help when your Board of Trustees are run by non-alums of the school. I just feel like stuff like this moves you to action more if you graduated from the place.