Tag: Mel Tucker

Former Spartan QB talks about lackluster relationship with Mel Tucker

Former Spartan QB spoke on the lack of relationship he had with Mel Tucker

Former Michigan State football quarterback Katin Houser was once thought to be the future of the Spartan football program. The 4-star quarterback from California brought a lot of hype to the MSU program.

Unfortunately, things did not work out, and Houser has since moved on to East Carolina.

In a recent interview, Houser spoke about his relationship, or lack thereof,  with former MSU head coach Mel Tucker:

“I came from Michigan State where I had a head coach that I committed in his office, shook his hand, and I don’t think that I have been to his office since. Maybe a post season interview, but never had a personal relationship with him.”

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Mel Tucker sues Michigan State University for wrongful termination

Mel Tucker sues Michigan State University for wrongful termination

The ugly saga of Michigan State football and Mel Tucker continues. Kenny Jacoby of USA TODAY reported this week that on Wednesday, Mel Tucker filed a lawsuit alleging the university and its leadership wrongfully terminated him, and defamed him, during the now infamous sexual harassment scandal last fall.

“By improperly weaponizing the University’s investigative procedures against Plaintiff,” the suit claims, “the Defendants have caused, and continue to cause, Plaintiff to experience severe emotional harm and suffering, and have caused hundreds of millions in damages.”

The lawsuit seeks financial compensation.

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Michigan State football 2024 commitment tracker

UPDATED: Tracking all of Michigan State’s 2024 commits

Mel Tucker is out. Jonathan Smith is in. This all happened during a critical time of the 2024 recruiting cycle and now Michigan State football needs to solidify that class.

Some players will fall out, new names will join, and it will continue to be a mad dash and scramble as MSU tries to fight to bring a strong recruiting class into the first year of the Jonathan Smith era.

Buckle up as we track every recruit confirmed in the 2024 class below.

USA TODAY: Mel Tucker’s appeal against sexual harassment case denied, concluding Michigan State investigation

USA TODAY: Mel Tucker’s appeal against sexual harassment case denied, concluding Michigan State investigation

The saga of Mel Tucker and Michigan State is officially coming to an end. On Thursday, Kenny Jordan of USA TODAY reported that the appeal Mel Tucker had filed against his sexual harassment case has been denied, thus concluding MSU’s investigation into the matter.

The only other domino left to drop will be to see if MSU decides to levy any sanctions against Mel Tucker, such as banning him from attending any Michigan State sporting events in the future.

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2023-2024 College Football Coaching Carousel

Texas A&M hires Duke’s Mike Elko as the coaching carousel continues to spin.

The end of the college football season is here and the coaching carousel is once again getting fired up. This season saw two early head coaching changes within the Big Ten to get an early jump on things, but more coaching changes are popping up as we close in on the end of another regular season around the nation.

We’ll keep track of all of the head coaching changes in our updated coaching carousel tracker to see what head coaches are out and who is replacing them. This will be updated daily as needed with the latest head coaching changes as jobs open up and are filled. As is so often the case in college football, one coaching vacancy being filled will lead to another opening popping up as a result.

As of Thursday, Dec. 8 there are 2 head coaching vacancies in college football, including 1 power conference job to fill. A total of 19 head coaching changes have been made this year.

Below is the updated chart for this year’s edition of the head coaching carousel in college football. After that is a bit more detail on each job opening, listed in alphabetical order.

USA TODAY: Mel Tucker found responsible for violating sexual harassment policy by Michigan State investigation

Mel Tucker has been found responsible for violating MSU’s sexual harassment policy:

In a 73-page report issued on Wednesday afternoon, a Michigan State University officer involved in the investigation of Brenda Tracy’s allegations of sexual harassment, determined that former MSU football head coach Mel Tucker was in fact responsible for violating the school’s sexual harassment policy.

The report stated:

“In sum, considering all available evidence, the Resolution Officer finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that Respondent subjected Claimant to unwelcome conduct based on sex when he FaceTime video called Claimant without a shirt on; when he attempted to meet up with Claimant alone following the Spring Game; and when he non-consensually masturbated and used graphic, sexual language on a phone call with Claimant.”

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Former Michigan State football HC Mel Tucker tells MSU he plans to file lawsuit

Mel Tucker tells MSU he plans to file lawsuit

Michigan State football fired head coach Mel Tucker for cause on Wednesday following a bombshell USA TODAY report that was released on Sept. 9 outlined a sexual harassment complaint made about Tucker from sexual assault survivor and advocate Brenda Tracy.

Now, Mel Tucker has officially informed the University that he intends to file a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Tucker was still owed $79-million on his contract.

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Report: Michigan State could hand Washington State a gut-punch with coaching hire

It looks like Washington State’s coach Jake Dickert is a leading candidate for the Michigan State job. What a gut-punch that would be for the Cougs.

The Washington State Cougars have been reeling the past couple of months, so can we all just decide to lay off for a bit?

First, the Cougars were left without a seat at the table in the world of conference realignment, standing alongside the Oregon State Beavers without a clear path forward.

Now, according to a report from The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, there’s a decent chance their coach, Jake Dickert, is going to get hired away by the Michigan State Spartans.

According to Feldman (subscription required), Dickert has emerged as a leading candidate to fill the head coaching vacancy in East Lansing.

“The 40-year-old Dickert has done an impressive job providing desperately needed stability in a program that has been rocked by every issue imaginable the past five years,” Feldman wrote.

The Cougars have been one of the best stories of the 2023 season, going 4-0 with wins over No. 19 Wisconsin and No. 14 Oregon State. Dickert is 14-9 as a head coach at Washington State.

That’s likely good enough to land him with the Spartans if Dickert wants to go. Michigan State is looking for a new head coach after Mel Tucker was fired for cause this past week. The news comes amid MSU’s investigation into sexual harassment allegations against the coach.

If Dickert can justify jumping ship and following Washington, Oregon, USC, and UCLA to the Big Ten after being left behind earlier this summer, nobody would blame him. Part of the coaching world is moving up after success and gaining for power and notoriety. That’s exactly what Dickert deserves to do after proving himself at Washington State.

If it does happen, though, it will be a tough one to swallow for the Cougars. Left without a conference, left without a coach, and left without a clear future.

Not a spot that any fan wants to be in.

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Report: Wisconsin defensive coordinator a candidate for Michigan State’s head coach opening

Wisconsin’s DC was listed as a possible candidate at MSU…

Michigan State officially fired head coach Mel Tucker earlier this week. The program went 20-14 under his watch, and just 7-7 after a fantastic 2021 season led to a record 10-year, $95 million contract extension.

The Spartans now move forward to find their next head coach. Just last season both Wisconsin and Nebraska were able to successfully land big names in the coaching world in Luke Fickell and Matt Rhule respectively. The question now is where Michigan State stands as a program, and whether the top candidates across the country consider it an attractive opening.

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy did report an initial list of candidates for the job. Included in that list is Wisconsin first-year DC Mike Tressel.

Tressel played his college football at Cornell before his coaching journey brought him to East Lansing from 2007-2014 as its linebackers coach, 2015-17 as co-defensive coordinator and 2020 as safeties coach. The Wisconsin DC then left to join Luke Fickell at Cincinnati in 2021. He isn’t far removed from being a highly successful coordinator at Michigan State.

Tressell replaced star DC Jim Leonhard at Wisconsin and is still working to install his system. The jury is still out on whether his defense can be great this season. But regardless, he isn’t the hot name in the coaching world that Michigan State fans will want.

Michigan State football head coaching candidates as reported by Brett McMurphy of Action Network

According to Brett McMurphy, six names are being considered for the MSU head coaching job:

Michigan State football fired head coach Mel Tucker this week after an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint was made public through a report by USA TODAY. Now, the MSU fandom and media turn their attention to what’s next, and many, including us, have started to speculate on who might be the next head coach for the Spartans.

In a report that came out on Thursday, Brett McMurphy of the Action Network listed six names that his sources told him are candidates for the job.

While I think this list is going to be in flux and change over time, you can see his initial list below along with what makes them a candidate at this time: