Inside The Huskies

Tucker Suspended, Won't Coach in Saturday's Michigan State-UW Game

The Spartans' football leader faces a sexual harassment investigation.
Dan Raley|
Tucker Suspended, Won't Coach in Saturday's Michigan State-UW Game
Tucker Suspended, Won't Coach in Saturday's Michigan State-UW Game

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Washington Huskies

The University of Washington football team plays at Michigan State on Saturday, but Spartans coach Mel Tucker won't be on the sideline to face them.

On Sunday, multiple news outlets reported the Big Ten school has suspended Tucker without pay while it conducts a sexual harassment investigation involving the coach amid suggestions his employment could be in serious jeopardy.

Tucker, 51, has coached at Michigan State for the past four seasons after leaving Colorado following the 2019 season, his only one spent in the Pac-12. He has twice went up against the Huskies, beating them 20-14 with the Buffaloes in 2019 and losing 39-29 with the Spartans a year ago.

On an interim basis, secondary coach Harlon Barnett will lead the Spartans football program, beginning with Saturday afternoon's home game against the UW in East Lansing, according to ESPN.

Since December, Michigan State has been investigating a complaint launched by Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault prevention advocate who met the coach while giving presentations to his Spartans football program in 2021 and 2022, according to USA Today. 

Tracy, 49, claims the married Spartans coach propositioned her for dates, sent gifts and acted inappropriately in other ways. In a letter to school investigators, Tucker said any interaction between them was consensual. Michigan State will hold a hearing in early October. 

Tracy was compelled to become an advocate after she was the victim in an alleged 1998 gang rape in Salem, Oregon. A pair of Oregon State football players were arrested after she went to authorities and filed a complaint, but they were released when she dropped the charges after prosecutors informed her a conviction would be difficult to obtain.

Then Oregon State coach Mike Riley briefly suspended the players, who would leave the school. Riley later had the woman come to the athletic facilities in Corvallis, meet with his team and he apologized to her.

Tracy turned to advocacy and became well known nationally, visiting several college athletic programs, including Michigan State.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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