Sunday was a long, historic, devastating day for those affiliated with Michigan State football. When ESPN’s Dan Murphy tweeted his story about Mel Tucker being the subject of a sexual harassment investigation at 12:16 AM, it was the first of many shocking events that would come to pass for those who follow Spartan Athletics.
I had heard rumor that ESPN was going to be publishing something about Mel Tucker at some point soon, so I had done some homework and had found out some minimal details as to what it was about. I pulled my notes together quickly and began making it ready for publication.
My story was vague in parts because I was unable to identify the claimant in the sexual harassment investigation. But while I was pulling a photo from our image service to use for the article, I noticed that there were a dozen photos of Brenda Tracy when I did a search for Mel Tucker. That’s interesting, I thought.
It was a foreshadowing of what was to come.
I published my initial version of the story at 12:47 AM and shared it on social media.
Its significance was short-lived.
Two minutes later, Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press posted the USA Today bombshell on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
While my story had unique info and filled in some details that weren’t elsewhere, it was quickly overshadowed by the USA Today piece with all the details and the name of the claimant – Brenda Tracy.
Thus began a day like no other in Spartan football history.
Here’s how it came about from my perspective:
When I finished reading the USA Today article, my jaw was on the ground. It was my understanding that this investigation was serious, yes, but I had no idea how devastating the accusations were until I saw them in print.
For me, this story started with a tip sent to me on August 16. It was light on details but pointed to an investigation into sexual misconduct by Mel Tucker. It sounded outlandish at first but I did my due diligence. I contacted several sources who would have known about it and not a single one was aware of anything. It was less than a week later, though, that I was contacted by another source who gave me details that made it clear that the story had legs.
I did as much research as I could and ultimately didn’t have enough details to publish. I kept my notes at the ready in case something changed.
On the night of Saturday, September 9th, something indeed changed.
I had just gotten back from covering the Michigan State vs Richmond game at Spartan Stadium; I received a text shortly after 11pm that the story was going to break “soon” – possibly this week. Then another source reached out and said it looked like something was going to happen the next day. That’s when I decided to put my story together and grab that Mel Tucker photo off the image service (where the Tracy/Tucker photos were sitting) and put it all in draft form so it was ready to go.
Obviously, the details in the USA Today story hit the Michigan State community out of the blue, and social media was ablaze, even at one in the morning. It was somewhat surprising to see how many people were still awake and engaged when I joined one of Justin Spiro’s X (Twitter) Spaces on the subject. Over 650 people were listening live. There were technical difficulties in the Spaces but it was clear – Spartan fans were shocked, obviously, and trying to figure out what to do with the information.
The overwhelming sense was one of frustration (here we go again) and anger (how/why would he do this).
I didn’t know what to do.
So, I re-read the USA Today story again.
My brain was racing. What is my role here? What do I do with this information? I had more questions than I did answers so I did what I usually do when I need to work through something – I started writing out my thoughts. By the time I had
As CEO of Michigan State’s football program, Mel Tucker has sat in the living rooms of Michigan State football recruits and told their family members he was going to help them grow and become honorable men if they committed to attend school in East Lansing. Not only would he help them pursue their dreams of playing football in the NFL, but he would surround them with good people who would help them navigate the complexities of college life and all that it entails.
Regardless of if he is found to be in violation of school rules regarding sexual harassment next month at his university hearing, Tucker no longer has the moral ground to sit in a recruit’s living room and make that promise to any of them, ever again. Even if he is found innocent of breaking university rules by sexually harassing a vendor of the university, the fact of the matter is that Tucker exhibited very, very poor judgment in what he has already admitted doing. The details he has confessed to are gross, immoral, and unethical – and he has already brought shame upon the university.
That’s what it came down to for me.
I finished my column:
The reported details are enough to warrant a suspension, immediately … Tucker simply can’t be trusted to lead the young men he has been put in charge of, based on what he has already admitted in his responses during the university investigation … Tucker has his right to due process and – whether the suspension turns into a firing for cause or a negotiated settlement to move Tucker out – one thing is clear, Tucker cannot coach this Spartan team this week, and most likely never again.
Added the headline: Alan Haller must act quickly and suspend Mel Tucker immediately.
And published it.
It was 3:43 AM.
10 minutes later, I posted my column on X (Twitter), went upstairs, and laid down in bed with every intention of falling asleep.
Over an hour later, I fell asleep and when I woke up around 8:00am, I logged on to social media and realized I had a decision to make – was I going to spend all day on X (Twitter) and Facebook explaining the intricacies of these types of investigations (of which I am not an expert). I knew that “explaining” was often times perceived as “defending” and I really wasn’t interested in that aspect of this whole thing, especially since there was so much unknown about this case.
Ironically, the day before, I had said to my wife that Sunday would be our first chill day in a while, we could relax and hang out together, and it would be a nice change of pace to our recent frantic pace. As she saw me on my phone Sunday morning, replying to texts, sharing posts on the Spartans Illustrated Message Board, answering questions on X (Twitter), and discussing the next steps with our Spartans Illustrated team, she gave me a knowing look – it wasn’t going to be the day we had planned on, and that was ok.
So, we went about our typical Sunday morning and headed out to church. I was making phone calls to sources, working out the updates to our stories with our SI team, and generally trying to get a sense of what was going to happen. Every single university source was silent. I turned my phone on vibrate and broke the rule that I set for my kids – I watched my phone during church for incoming calls or texts from my sources.
Once we made it back home, it was back to our message board and X (Twitter) again, answering questions, explaining things, “turning away the pitchfork crowd” as one person texted me later. It was tiresome but it was slowing down a bit. I told my wife we could go to the movie she wanted to see (Equalizer with Denzel Washington), so she bought tickets and we made plans to go.
Plans changed quickly when MSU called a press conference for 5:00 PM. We pivoted and changed our movie tickets to the 6:45 PM show. My wife came with me to campus, and we planned to head over to Celebration Cinema afterwards.
I had a guess that the press conference wasn’t going to go very long but I was surprised at how short it actually was. AD Haller and Interim President Woodruff took the podium (which had been stripped of the Michigan State name), in front of a black curtain (instead of the usual sponsor backdrop). The press conference was universally panned. Michigan State inexplicably invited all the media from around the state (looked like 30-40 or so to me) and only allowed one question each from the Free Press, the Lansing State Journal, and MLive. When the press conference was cut short, journalists were looking around at each other, confused. Where were the explanations? Where were the details that would answer the questions that everyone was asking?
I saw journalists trying to get more information from the MSU brass, to no avail.
The Spartans Illustrated team planned out our coverage and I was able to move on to dinner and a movie with my wife since the team was going to update our articles with the (minimal) press conference information.
Except at 5:56 PM, I saw a tweet from Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press telling me that my assertion that Haller et al probably learned the sordid details from the USA Today that morning was a “ridiculous take.” I showed my wife while we standing in line at Panera in South Lansing.
What did this veteran reporter know that I didn’t? I couldn’t possibly have been explaining it wrong all day, without someone with credibility telling me that I was wrong, could I? So, once again, there I was, researching, calling, reading, trying to figure out where I was wrong, if I was wrong. I’m no expert on these subjects after all.
Turns out McCabe didn’t have any reason to say that, except for his own misinformed thoughts. But I spent the better part of the next couple hours making sure. My wife enjoyed the movie; me, not so much.
Just before 9:00 PM, I saw ESPN’s Dan Murphy tweet information out that he had just confirmed with Michigan State. Information that I had been tweeting all day. But it’s different when a national writer shares it. It makes its way to the other national writers and helps determine the narrative. It’s not fair, but it’s true.
When I saw that Murphy had shared the accurate explanations on his X (Twitter) account, I knew that that was going to go a long way in making sure the national media had the proper explanations. However it was that Michigan State got that information to Murphy, it was a strategic success. The information was shared far and wide and helped form the national perspective on that part of the issue. Listening to podcasts on the topic showed that my instinct on that was correct. For all the mistakes MSU made throughout the day, this was the most successful PR move they made.
My wife drove us home so I could finish up posting on the Spartans Illustrated Message Board, X (Twitter), and Facebook. When we got home, it was pretty much a wrap on the day, one which started with shocking revelations and ended with Michigan State’s head coach suspended.
It was a blur at times and sometimes time really slowed down. But it was a successful day of reporting.
Oh, and Mick McCabe still owes me an apology … and a movie ticket.
(Happy to answer any questions)
I had heard rumor that ESPN was going to be publishing something about Mel Tucker at some point soon, so I had done some homework and had found out some minimal details as to what it was about. I pulled my notes together quickly and began making it ready for publication.
My story was vague in parts because I was unable to identify the claimant in the sexual harassment investigation. But while I was pulling a photo from our image service to use for the article, I noticed that there were a dozen photos of Brenda Tracy when I did a search for Mel Tucker. That’s interesting, I thought.
It was a foreshadowing of what was to come.
I published my initial version of the story at 12:47 AM and shared it on social media.
Its significance was short-lived.
Two minutes later, Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press posted the USA Today bombshell on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
While my story had unique info and filled in some details that weren’t elsewhere, it was quickly overshadowed by the USA Today piece with all the details and the name of the claimant – Brenda Tracy.
Thus began a day like no other in Spartan football history.
Here’s how it came about from my perspective:
When I finished reading the USA Today article, my jaw was on the ground. It was my understanding that this investigation was serious, yes, but I had no idea how devastating the accusations were until I saw them in print.
For me, this story started with a tip sent to me on August 16. It was light on details but pointed to an investigation into sexual misconduct by Mel Tucker. It sounded outlandish at first but I did my due diligence. I contacted several sources who would have known about it and not a single one was aware of anything. It was less than a week later, though, that I was contacted by another source who gave me details that made it clear that the story had legs.
I did as much research as I could and ultimately didn’t have enough details to publish. I kept my notes at the ready in case something changed.
On the night of Saturday, September 9th, something indeed changed.
I had just gotten back from covering the Michigan State vs Richmond game at Spartan Stadium; I received a text shortly after 11pm that the story was going to break “soon” – possibly this week. Then another source reached out and said it looked like something was going to happen the next day. That’s when I decided to put my story together and grab that Mel Tucker photo off the image service (where the Tracy/Tucker photos were sitting) and put it all in draft form so it was ready to go.
Obviously, the details in the USA Today story hit the Michigan State community out of the blue, and social media was ablaze, even at one in the morning. It was somewhat surprising to see how many people were still awake and engaged when I joined one of Justin Spiro’s X (Twitter) Spaces on the subject. Over 650 people were listening live. There were technical difficulties in the Spaces but it was clear – Spartan fans were shocked, obviously, and trying to figure out what to do with the information.
The overwhelming sense was one of frustration (here we go again) and anger (how/why would he do this).
I didn’t know what to do.
So, I re-read the USA Today story again.
My brain was racing. What is my role here? What do I do with this information? I had more questions than I did answers so I did what I usually do when I need to work through something – I started writing out my thoughts. By the time I had
As CEO of Michigan State’s football program, Mel Tucker has sat in the living rooms of Michigan State football recruits and told their family members he was going to help them grow and become honorable men if they committed to attend school in East Lansing. Not only would he help them pursue their dreams of playing football in the NFL, but he would surround them with good people who would help them navigate the complexities of college life and all that it entails.
Regardless of if he is found to be in violation of school rules regarding sexual harassment next month at his university hearing, Tucker no longer has the moral ground to sit in a recruit’s living room and make that promise to any of them, ever again. Even if he is found innocent of breaking university rules by sexually harassing a vendor of the university, the fact of the matter is that Tucker exhibited very, very poor judgment in what he has already admitted doing. The details he has confessed to are gross, immoral, and unethical – and he has already brought shame upon the university.
That’s what it came down to for me.
I finished my column:
The reported details are enough to warrant a suspension, immediately … Tucker simply can’t be trusted to lead the young men he has been put in charge of, based on what he has already admitted in his responses during the university investigation … Tucker has his right to due process and – whether the suspension turns into a firing for cause or a negotiated settlement to move Tucker out – one thing is clear, Tucker cannot coach this Spartan team this week, and most likely never again.
Added the headline: Alan Haller must act quickly and suspend Mel Tucker immediately.
And published it.
It was 3:43 AM.
10 minutes later, I posted my column on X (Twitter), went upstairs, and laid down in bed with every intention of falling asleep.
Over an hour later, I fell asleep and when I woke up around 8:00am, I logged on to social media and realized I had a decision to make – was I going to spend all day on X (Twitter) and Facebook explaining the intricacies of these types of investigations (of which I am not an expert). I knew that “explaining” was often times perceived as “defending” and I really wasn’t interested in that aspect of this whole thing, especially since there was so much unknown about this case.
Ironically, the day before, I had said to my wife that Sunday would be our first chill day in a while, we could relax and hang out together, and it would be a nice change of pace to our recent frantic pace. As she saw me on my phone Sunday morning, replying to texts, sharing posts on the Spartans Illustrated Message Board, answering questions on X (Twitter), and discussing the next steps with our Spartans Illustrated team, she gave me a knowing look – it wasn’t going to be the day we had planned on, and that was ok.
So, we went about our typical Sunday morning and headed out to church. I was making phone calls to sources, working out the updates to our stories with our SI team, and generally trying to get a sense of what was going to happen. Every single university source was silent. I turned my phone on vibrate and broke the rule that I set for my kids – I watched my phone during church for incoming calls or texts from my sources.
Once we made it back home, it was back to our message board and X (Twitter) again, answering questions, explaining things, “turning away the pitchfork crowd” as one person texted me later. It was tiresome but it was slowing down a bit. I told my wife we could go to the movie she wanted to see (Equalizer with Denzel Washington), so she bought tickets and we made plans to go.
Plans changed quickly when MSU called a press conference for 5:00 PM. We pivoted and changed our movie tickets to the 6:45 PM show. My wife came with me to campus, and we planned to head over to Celebration Cinema afterwards.
I had a guess that the press conference wasn’t going to go very long but I was surprised at how short it actually was. AD Haller and Interim President Woodruff took the podium (which had been stripped of the Michigan State name), in front of a black curtain (instead of the usual sponsor backdrop). The press conference was universally panned. Michigan State inexplicably invited all the media from around the state (looked like 30-40 or so to me) and only allowed one question each from the Free Press, the Lansing State Journal, and MLive. When the press conference was cut short, journalists were looking around at each other, confused. Where were the explanations? Where were the details that would answer the questions that everyone was asking?
I saw journalists trying to get more information from the MSU brass, to no avail.
The Spartans Illustrated team planned out our coverage and I was able to move on to dinner and a movie with my wife since the team was going to update our articles with the (minimal) press conference information.
Except at 5:56 PM, I saw a tweet from Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press telling me that my assertion that Haller et al probably learned the sordid details from the USA Today that morning was a “ridiculous take.” I showed my wife while we standing in line at Panera in South Lansing.
What did this veteran reporter know that I didn’t? I couldn’t possibly have been explaining it wrong all day, without someone with credibility telling me that I was wrong, could I? So, once again, there I was, researching, calling, reading, trying to figure out where I was wrong, if I was wrong. I’m no expert on these subjects after all.
Turns out McCabe didn’t have any reason to say that, except for his own misinformed thoughts. But I spent the better part of the next couple hours making sure. My wife enjoyed the movie; me, not so much.
Just before 9:00 PM, I saw ESPN’s Dan Murphy tweet information out that he had just confirmed with Michigan State. Information that I had been tweeting all day. But it’s different when a national writer shares it. It makes its way to the other national writers and helps determine the narrative. It’s not fair, but it’s true.
When I saw that Murphy had shared the accurate explanations on his X (Twitter) account, I knew that that was going to go a long way in making sure the national media had the proper explanations. However it was that Michigan State got that information to Murphy, it was a strategic success. The information was shared far and wide and helped form the national perspective on that part of the issue. Listening to podcasts on the topic showed that my instinct on that was correct. For all the mistakes MSU made throughout the day, this was the most successful PR move they made.
My wife drove us home so I could finish up posting on the Spartans Illustrated Message Board, X (Twitter), and Facebook. When we got home, it was pretty much a wrap on the day, one which started with shocking revelations and ended with Michigan State’s head coach suspended.
It was a blur at times and sometimes time really slowed down. But it was a successful day of reporting.
Oh, and Mick McCabe still owes me an apology … and a movie ticket.
(Happy to answer any questions)
