How did Brenda Tracy and Mel Tucker meet? Exploring the duo's alleged relationship timeline amid ongoing sexual harassment allegations
With the suspension of Mel Tucker by the Michigan State athletic authorities, pending a Title IX hearing in October, many people must be wondering how the coach got involved in such a situation in the first place. Tucker has been accused of unwarranted sexual advances against an MSU athletics consultant.
Tucker's accuser is Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor turned activist. Tracy was the victim of a gang rape by a group of Oregon State football players back in the 1990s. Ever since then, she has turned to advocacy, teaching student-athletes about sexual education.
Tucker and Tracy met back in August 2021 during a visit of the advocacy worker to MSU, according to U.S.A. Today. They were introduced by a mutual acquaintance.
During the visit, she gave an inspiring speech to a packed auditorium of Spartan student-athletes about the need to banish sexual violence from the world of sports and her own gut-wrenching experiences. Michigan State paid her 10,000 dollars for the talk.
From there, she and Mel developed a working relationship with the coach inviting her over to campus several times and naming her an honorary captain of the football team.
What is the Mel Tucker scandal about?
The activist claims that on April 28, 2022, the coach made unwarranted sexual advances toward her during a phone call. According to the complaint she later filed, Tracy stood frozen for several minutes as the coach allegedly masturbated on the other side of the line.
She told U.S.A. Today,
“The idea that someone could know me and say they understand my trauma but then re-inflict that trauma on me is so disgusting to me, it’s hard for me to even wrap my mind around it. It’s like he sought me out just to betray me.”
Mel later wrote to an investigator that Tracy presented a distorted version of their consensual relationship:
“Ms Tracy’s distortion of our mutually consensual and intimate relationship into allegations of sexual exploitation has refected me,” Tucker wrote in a March 22 letter to the investigator, “I am not proud of my judgment and I am having difficulty forgiving myself for getting into this situation, but I did not engage in misconduct by any definition."
Although both the accuser and the accused admit they made contact outside of their work environment, on one hand, Mel claims that Tracy wanted him to be her "sugar daddy" and admits to having given her an assortment of gifts and contributions to her non-profit.
On the other hand, however, Tracy claims that she tried to set boundaries for the MSU coach and limit their interactions to their work environment.