Sources: MSU AD eyed Tucker split in preseason
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Dan Murphy, ESPN Staff Writer
Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller said he wanted to separate former coach Mel Tucker from the football team months before the 2023 season began, but the school’s administration prevented him from doing so, according to multiple sources familiar with comments Haller made about the matter to the university’s board of trustees in September.
Haller fired Tucker for cause on Sept. 27, citing in part Tucker’s admission that he had a sexual encounter with a woman hired to speak to the team. The woman, prominent sexual assault awareness speaker Brenda Tracy, claimed the coach harassed her and masturbated without her consent during a phone call. Tucker told university investigators that he and Tracy had an intimate, consensual relationship.
In an initial termination letter sent Sept. 18, Haller told Tucker his admissions that he flirted and had a sexual encounter with a school vendor were grounds for termination regardless of consent. The sources told ESPN that Haller was aware of Tucker’s admissions months before taking any disciplinary actions against him and pushed to take action sooner.
Tucker remained in charge of the Spartans’ football program for the first nine months of the school’s investigation, collecting millions of dollars in salary and opening up the school to the potential of additional legal liability if he committed any other violations of the school’s sexual misconduct policy during that time.
Haller did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Through a university spokeswoman, Michigan State interim president Teresa Woodruff declined to answer whether she or anyone else in her administration discouraged Haller from acting sooner. The spokeswoman also declined to provide clarity about when Woodruff learned about Tucker’s admission of his conduct with Tracy.
In previous public comments, Woodruff said she learned about a complaint against Tucker in December 2022, and in July learned the complaint had been filed by Tracy. The spokeswoman, Emily Guerrant, has said Woodruff and others were not aware of the full scope of the investigation until details were made public in a USA Today story on Sept. 10.
In response to specific questions about when Woodruff learned the information the school eventually used to fire Tucker, Guerrant provided a general statement that said, in part:
“Best practices in investigations call for privacy in order to not influence outcomes. Privacy is also key to creating a culture around reporting incidents — we must create a safe environment for all individuals to come forward without a fear of institutional retaliation or dissemination of information regarding highly personal matters.”
Guerrant said the university could no longer maintain privacy after detailed reports about Tracy’s claim were published in the story by USA Today on Sept. 10, and “determined then that personnel actions were warranted.”
Haller initially suspended Tucker without pay the same day that news of the ongoing investigation was made public in media reports. Haller said during a news conference announcing the suspension that “new developments” led to their decision but did not provide any specifics.
“It’s an ongoing process, and we update those interim measures as we receive information,” he said when asked what had changed to prompt the suspension.
Woodruff wrote a letter to the Michigan State community on Sept. 11 to explain Tucker’s suspension. She concluded a section of her letter about the investigative process by writing: “As there have been new developments before the hearing, including details of acknowledged behavior, Athletic Director Haller suspended Mel Tucker without pay.”
In the weeks following the Sept. 10 news conference, Guerrant, the university spokeswoman, did not answer specific and repeated questions about when Haller and Woodruff learned about Tucker’s admission. Guerrant declined to answer those questions again this week on behalf of Woodruff.
Michigan State’s past three university presidents have departed amid controversies about how the school handled sexual misconduct claims involving other high-profile school employees. Survivors of assault, subject matter experts and other advocates have criticized how the school’s leadership has handled claims in the past decade, including a pattern of lacking transparency.
During her brief comments on Sept. 10, Woodruff repeatedly referenced the “MSU of today” while defending the way the school handled the complaint against Tucker.
“This morning’s news might sound like the MSU of old. It is not,” Woodruff said. “It is not the MSU of old because we maintain the confidence of the claimant and respondent while respecting and valuing the claimant and respondent’s right to share their story. And it’s not [the MSU of old] because of the further action we take today.”
Both Tucker and Tracy have since expressed disappointment and concern with how the school has handled the case. Tucker called the school’s investigation “a sham.” A hearing officer determined in October that Tucker had violated the school’s sexual misconduct policy. His attorney has alerted Michigan State that Tucker may sue the school for wrongful termination, but he has not yet filed a lawsuit.
Tracy, through her attorney, has said she was compelled to share her story in September only because she learned someone from Michigan State had shared some details about her complaint with a reporter. The university has since hired the Jones Day law firm to investigate whether any university official leaked information about the confidential case.
While it is considered by some sexual assault awareness experts best practice to withhold information about an ongoing investigation from an employee’s manager, several experts told ESPN that many universities have mechanisms in place to take warranted personnel action without waiting for an investigation to conclude.
The Michigan State relationship violence and sexual misconduct policy posted on the university’s website does not include any specific language that dictates how or when information should be shared with an employee’s manager during a case.
Along with its search for a new football coach, the university also is in the process of searching for a new president. Woodruff has said publicly she isn’t interested in the position permanently.
SEWELL, N.J. — A few days after brothers John and Matthew Gaudreau died when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, family friends were visiting parents Guy and Jane at their home during a rainstorm. Looking outside after the skies cleared, they saw a double rainbow that brought them some momentary peace.
Since then, Jane Gaudreau had not gotten any signs she attributed to her sons, so she sat in their room Friday and asked them for some divine intervention to clear out bad weather in time for an event to honor their legacies. After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, a rainbow appeared Saturday morning about an hour before the sun came out for the inaugural Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day.
“I was so relieved,” Jane said. “I was like, ‘Well, there’s my sign.'”
Thousands attended the event at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. Roughly 1,100 people took part in a walk or run in person, along with more than 1,300 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.
“I think it speaks to them as a family, how close they were and how everybody loved being around them,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, one of a handful of NHL players who were close to the Gaudreaus and made a point to be there. “You just see the support from this community and from other players as well that are here and traveled in. It just says a lot about Johnny, Matty, their legacy and this family as a whole, how much support they have because they’re such amazing people.”
Along with honoring the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” and his younger brother who family and friends called Matty, the goal of the event was to raise money for an accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School where Jane and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.
It became their mother’s project after their deaths.
“Jane works every day with children with disabilities, and she knew how important it was for the playground to be built,” said family friend Deb Vasutoro, who came up with the idea for a 5K. “The playground has been a project for, I think, four or five years, and there just never was enough funding. When the boys passed and Jane needed a purpose, she thought, ‘Let’s build the playground.’ It was the perfect marriage of doing something good to honor the boys and seeing children laugh and smile.”
The Rev. Allain Caparas from Gloucester Catholic High School, which the brothers attended and played hockey for while growing up in Carneys Point, said raising funds for the playground is an extension of the impact they had on the community.
“They’re continuing to make a difference in the lives of so many others,” Caparas said. “Johnny and Matthew lived their lives with purpose, and now we’re celebrating that.”
Social media filled with mentions from folks in Columbus and Calgary, the NHL cities in which John Gaudreau played, and as far away as Ireland and Sweden. Paul O’Connor, who has been tight with the Gaudreau family from son Dalton being childhood best friends with Matthew, couldn’t empty out his inbox because he kept getting notifications about signups and donations.
“It just keeps growing,” O’Connor said. “And people that couldn’t be here, they’re doing a virtual [5K]. If they can’t do either, they’re just throwing money at the cause.”
Tears welled up in the eyes of Guy and Jane as they talked about the event. His speech to the crowd was brief and poignant at the same time.
“I’d like to thank everybody for coming,” Guy said after running the 5K. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot for us to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”
The sea of people first in the rain and then the sunshine included folks in gear from all across hockey. Tkachuk wore a “Johnny Hockey” hoodie with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on the back.
He handed sticks, collected from various vigils in late August and early September, to race winners along with fellow players Erik Gudbranson, Zach Aston-Reese, Tony DeAngelo and Buddy Robinson.
“Our family wouldn’t have missed this,” Gudbranson said after flying in Friday night following a trip to Walt Disney World. “Hockey’s a very tight community. It’s still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”
The aim is to hold the event annually moving forward, potentially in Calgary and Columbus.
“We thought this was such a good thing to honor the boys we want to keep it up,” Jane said. “I just think each year it’ll just get better and better.”
Florida Panthers forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell will be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night in Edmonton, coach Paul Maurice said Saturday.
Both players were injured in Wednesday’s series-clinching Game 5 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Panthers forward A.J. Greer‘s status for the series opener against the Oilers remains uncertain. He missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and was on the ice for only 4:22 in Game 5 due to a lower-body injury.
All three players did not participate in Saturday’s practice, the first team skate since the defending champions booked their spot in the Final rematch.
“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They will be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”
Luostarinen, 26, recorded 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games this postseason.
Lundell, 23, tallied 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games in the regular season and 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 playoff games.
Greer, 28, posted 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff contests.
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