MSU fires Tucker for bringing ‘ridicule’ to program
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Michigan State University has fired football coach Mel Tucker for cause Wednesday, formally completing a process that was initiated last week.
Tucker is under university investigation for a sexual misconduct complaint brought by Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault awareness speaker.
In a statement, the university said it had terminated Tucker’s contract “for his admitted and undisputed behaviors which have brought public disrespect, contempt and ridicule upon the university; and constitute a material breach of his agreement, and moral turpitude.”
Michigan State suspended Tucker without pay Sept. 10, and athletic director Alan Haller informed Tucker in a letter Sept. 18 that the university intended to fire him for cause. The school opened up an investigation into Tracy’s complaint back in December 2022, and there remains an upcoming university hearing on the matter.
The formal firing loomed as the final step in the university separating from Tucker, who has nearly $79 million remaining on his contract. By firing him for cause, Michigan State is attempting to not pay Tucker any of the remaining money.
Haller claimed in the letter that the school had “amassed a body of undisputed evidence of misconduct that warrants termination for cause.”
Tucker and his attorneys pushed back in pointed language against the firing for cause in a statement last week and in a letter from his attorneys Monday that called the proposed termination “unjustified for several reasons.” In a statement Sept. 19, Tucker said MSU “does not care about my rights, the truth, or its future liability for policing its employees’ private lives.”
Haller said in Wednesday’s termination notice that Tucker’s responses provided “a litany of excuses.”
“Simply put, Mr. Tucker’s response does not provide any information that refutes or undermines the multiple grounds for termination for cause set forth in the notice,” Haller said in a statement Wednesday. “Instead, his 25-page response, which includes a 12-page letter from his attorney and a 13-page ‘expert report,’ provides a litany of excuses for his inappropriate behavior while expressly admitting to the problematic conduct outlined in the notice.”
Tucker’s responses included the formal response from his attorneys within the seven-day window that MSU had noted in the Sept. 18 letter that it was contractually required to give him. The 25-page formal response argued point by point, at times, with MSU.
Those responses have set the stage for a potential legal battle over the remaining $79 million on his contract.
“I look forward to one day obtaining discovery against MSU, including the Trustees and the Athletic Department, to see what they really knew and said about this matter, as well as their motives in handling the entire investigative process,” Tucker said in his statement Sept. 19.
In her complaint, Tracy claims Tucker masturbated without her consent during a phone call in April 2022. Tucker denies that encounter wasn’t consensual and added that the investigator acknowledged a “personal relationship” between them.
“The conversations Tucker had with Ms. Tracy regarding her appearance, flirtation, and phone sex, occurred exclusively in their private lives, unrelated to either Tucker’s work or her work, and were entirely consensual,” said the letter from Tucker’s lawyers Monday.
Despite the firing, a hearing to decide whether Tucker violated university policy will still take place in early October. Tucker’s lawyers have pushed back on the university’s investigation, calling it “terribly flawed, unfair, biased, and devoid of due process.”
They also criticized the school’s ability to keep confidentiality after a story by USA Today in early September detailed the allegations against Tucker. Tracy and her lawyer said they were compelled to share the information after they received word her name had leaked out. The school has hired a law firm, Jones Day, to look into the alleged leak.
Tucker’s career at Michigan State officially concludes with a 20-14 record, which includes an 11-2 campaign in 2021 that ended with a Peach Bowl victory. The Spartans reached as high as No. 5 in the nation that year, and MSU brass rewarded Tucker with a 10-year, $95 million contract that made him among the highest-paid coaches in the sport.
Harlon Barnett has been the acting head coach since Tucker’s suspension and will be elevated to interim head coach, subject to board approval, in October. Michigan State has lost its first two games under Barnett by a combined score of 72-16.
The Spartans play at Iowa on Saturday night.
ESPN’s Dan Murphy contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
The San Diego Padres have acquired second baseman Luis Arraez in a trade with the Miami Marlins for reliever Woo-Suk Go and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella, the teams announced Saturday.
The Padres also received nearly $7.9 million in cash considerations, leaving them responsible only for the major league minimum salary for Arraez.
The transaction represents the first significant move for the Marlins since Peter Bendix took over as the team’s president of baseball operations in November after Kim Ng departed. It marks the beginning of the Marlins’ teardown of an underachieving roster that has produced the third-worst record in the majors at 9-25 with a minus-61 run differential after reaching the postseason in 2023.
On the other side, it’s another aggressive deal for A.J. Preller, the leader of the Padres’ front office since 2014. Arraez, one of the sport’s best contact hitters, will give the Padres a needed left-handed-hitting weapon after Juan Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in December. San Diego is 17-18 with a plus-6 run differential.
“It’s really amazing — that guy is a baller,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said about Arraez after the Padres’ win Friday night. “He’s probably the closest to Tony Gwynn right now, so looking forward to seeing him in our lineup. … The guy’s a pure hitter, and I can’t wait for him to help us.”
Miami is paying San Diego $7,898,602 of the $8,491,398 remaining for the final 149 days of Arraez’s $10.6 million salary. That left his cost to the Padres at $592,796 — exactly a prorated share of the $740,000 minimum.
Arraez, 27, was the Marlins’ best player, an All-Star and batting champion each of the past two seasons. This season, he is batting .299 with a .719 OPS in 33 games, all started at second base. He also has extensive experience at first base.
“When a guy like that is taken out of the lineup or potentially traded, you feel it, because he’s such a good kid and one of the leaders in that clubhouse,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “so there’s definitely a shock value.”
Arraez is expected to start games as the Padres’ designated hitter, but the club plans to cycle through the DH spot. Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado could also get at-bats there. Bogaerts has been the club’s starting second baseman.
Go spent seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization before signing a two-year deal with a mutual option worth $4.5 million guaranteed during the offseason. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in 10 games for Double-A San Antonio, posting a 4.38 ERA across 12⅓ innings after failing to make the Padres’ bullpen out of spring training.
Head was the Padres’ first-round pick (25th overall) last year out of high school. The 19-year-old center fielder is batting .237 with a .683 OPS and three stolen bases in 21 games in low-Class A.
Martorella is batting .294 with an .820 OPS in 23 games in San Antonio. The Padres selected the 23-year-old first baseman in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Marsee, a 22-year-old outfielder, has spent the season in San Antonio batting .185 with two home runs. He was a sixth-round pick in 2022 out of Central Michigan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole threw off a mound Saturday morning for the first time since being shut down in mid-March, checking off another box in his road back from an elbow injury.
Cole took the mound in the Yankees’ bullpen at 10:40 a.m., hours before New York took on the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. He said he threw 15 pitches, 13 for strikes and all fastballs. He said the pitches averaged 89 mph.
“It was exciting,” Cole said. “This was a good day for me. I was fired up.”
Cole, 33, started the season on the 60-day injured list after being diagnosed with nerve irritation and edema in his pitching elbow following one spring training outing. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner is eligible to come off the injured list May 27, but the Yankees have declined to share a timetable for Cole’s return.
On a scale from 1 to 10 — 10 being game ready — Cole reported he is “somewhere between 1 and 5.” He said how his body responds over the next 48 hours will decide when he throws off a mound again.
Cole’s injury was a significant blow to a club with championship-or-bust aspirations, but the Yankees’ starting rotation has been one of the best in the majors and a primary reason for the team’s 21-13 start. The rotation’s 3.43 ERA through Friday ranked ninth in the majors. Its 183⅔ innings pitched ranked fourth.
Luis Gil, Cole’s rotation replacement, logged the best start of his young career Wednesday, holding the explosive Baltimore Orioles scoreless on two hits over a career-high 6⅓ innings. Gil, 25, has recorded a 3.19 ERA in 31 innings across six starts despite leading the American League with 20 walks.
Earlier this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said neither the team’s nor the rotation’s success will impact Cole’s timeline. Asked whether the overall success has made his absence more “palatable,” Cole was unsure.
“I don’t really have anything unpalatable to compare it to,” Cole said. “You know what I’m saying? So I’m just kind of like, just like everybody else, just glad we’re playing well.”
Also on Saturday, the Yankees reinstated infielder Jon Berti from the 10-day injured list and designated former first-round pick Taylor Trammell for assignment.
Berti, 34, has been out of the Yankees’ lineup since April 10 with a left groin strain. The Yankees had selected Trammell off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18, and he collected 1 hit, 1 walk and 2 runs in five games with New York.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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